Just as its balance sheets finally approach equilibrium, Berkeley Unified School District is losing its top numbers cruncher—the man universally credited with helping to erase a $6.5 million deficit and getting the district out of the red for the first time in three years. -more-

Anne Crowden, the beloved music teacher who founded the Crowden School in Berkeley in 1983, died Monday morning in her birthplace of Edinburgh, Scotland, of pancreatic cancer. She was 76. Berkeley composer John Adams, in a 1997 tribute, said that Crowden used “her enormous energy and powers of persuasion to create a place where children from all economic backgrounds could immerse themselves in music while enjoying the highest levels of academic schooling.” A violinist herself, passionate about chamber music, she started her school with eleven junior high school children in a church basement. -more-

Berkeley resident Karen Rose did not have to hire someone to accompany her to the voting booth during the March primary and read the ballot to her. With no one looking over her shoulder, Rose was able to vote without having to reveal to anyone else who she voted for. -more-

FRIDAY, MARCH 19 -more-

It was about a year ago, according to Ocean View Gardens tenant Desiree Lambert, that water began to drip from her living room ceiling whenever it rained. One day the drip from the weak spot turned into a pour. In December of 2003, the weight of the water sent plaster crashing onto her sofa, leaving a hole in her ceiling the size of a basketball. -more-