An Alameda County Superior Court judge Tuesday dismissed a challenge filed by the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation that threatened to undo Berkeley’s plan for integrating its schools. -more-

On the first anniversary of the bloody waterfront confrontation between Oakland Police and antiwar protesters, officers did their best to stay out of the way of several hundred anti-war protesters—including a large group from Berkeley—who demonstrated Wednesday along the docks of the Port of Oakland. -more-

The Planning Commission’s UC Hotel Task Force’s final public input session Wednesday focused on the project’s likely impact on the downtown business community. -more-

FRIDAY, APRIL 9 -more-

Lawrence McGrew, a Berkeley High football standout who finished his NFL career a Super Bowl champion, died last Friday of a suspected heart attack. He was 46. -more-

The most arresting fact so far uncovered in Richard Brenneman’s ongoing series on rental vacancies in Berkeley was this quote from Ted Burton, the city’s Economic Development Project Coordinator: “The last update I had was a year ago, and we were running about 10 percent [commercial] vacancies downtown then.” This is the reason that Berkeley observers of the hectic pace of building projects to which Berkeley has been subjected in the past four years are tempted to call the city’s planning department “The Department of Data-Free Development.” We have no current data showing that we need more commercial space, and in fact our old data shows that we don’t, but let’s just build some anyhow. -more-