The four-year criminal prosecution of Berkeley’s most scandalous family ended in federal court Monday when Judge Claudia Wilken sentenced Prasad Lakireddy, 45, to five years probation, one year under house arrest and a $20,000 fine for his role in his family’s plot to smuggle girls into the country for sex and cheap labor. -more-

Dozens of Latino students at Berkeley High are working extra hard this finals week to once again save the job of the librarian they lovingly call “La Doña,” the head mistress. -more-

Berkeley teenagers looking for work this summer face two monumental hurdles: a lagging economy and a job market in which desperate adults are taking the jobs once the preserve of the young. -more-

Is anti-Semitism on the rise on the UC Berkeley campus? -more-

Release of the long-awaited report tallying millions in UC Berkeley’s unreimbursed costs to the city will likely be delayed one week, Assistant City Manager Arrietta Chakos said Monday. -more-

“De mortuis nil nisi bonum.” That’s the old rule. About the dead, nothing but good should be said. In the ancient world, perhaps, it was followed. In the 19th century it was widely quoted and usually observed for a long time after death. In the last half of the 20th, it was followed for a shorter period of time, at least by the press, until historians got started on their revisions. In the speeded-up 21st, bloggers have rushed to judgment on Ronald Reagan even before the completion of the elaborate funereal observances which the First Actor planned long ago. Berkeley’s Best Blogger, Economics Professor Brad DeLong, weighed in on Saturday: “He tried hard, but by and large he didn't have the brainpower to think his way out of the boxes that his prior commitments and initial personnel choices handed him.” For including faint damns with his mild praise of the late president, DeLong was roundly excoriated by some of his correspondents. A Mr. or Ms. Zarkov reflected the opinion of several: “One would think you could put the criticisms aside on the day the man died. Nasty, nasty. I’m disgusted.” -more-