As Berkeley officials ponder revisions to the city’s ground-breaking 1989 creeks ordinance, city engineers have presented them with sobering news on the state of the underground concrete structures that enclose nearly half of Berkeley’s creek channels. -more-

As Alameda county races to meet new re-certification standards for its touchscreen voting machines, critics say they are still not satisfied with the machines’ security and are trying to give the county one last opt-out option before the November election. -more-

With the deadline for submitting ballot initiatives to the county fast approaching, the City Council Tuesday chose to take one last look at the wording of three controversial measures. -more-

In the lush South Berkeley Community Garden, beside the stumpy, green lemons hovering over raspberry brambles and below the dangling figs, a butterfly circles around the “for sale” sign announcing that the 17-year-old swath of vegetation at Martin Luther King Jr. Way between Russell and Oregon streets is on the market. -more-

With a long-range solution to the Gilman Street/Interstate 80 interchange stalled by the Bush administration’s refusal to approve the federal transportation bill, a Berkeley traffic engineer and CalTrans have come up with an interim solution. -more-

With a long-range solution to the Gilman Street/Interstate 80 interchange stalled by the Bush administration’s refusal to approve the federal transportation bill, a Berkeley traffic engineer and CalTrans have come up with an interim solution. -more-

The six women behind Berkeley-based Project Billboard will get to take their anti-war message to the streets of New York after all. -more-

A divided City Council voted to adopt the Arts and Cultural Plan created by the Civic Arts Commission during three years of research and public hearings. -more-

After winning the right to be classified as employees rather than independent contractors, local cab drivers will soon vote whether or not to join the Teamsters Union Local 70. -more-

While a band of neighbors determined to reduce the size of new buildings isn’t claiming victory in the battle over University Avenue, one affordable housing developer is ceding defeat. -more-

Albany Shooting Ends in Berkeley Crash -more-

The systematic, targeted disenfranchisement of large numbers of African-American Florida voters by the administration of Gov. Jeb Bush in 2000 probably cost Al Gore the election, and cost both the nation and the world a great deal more. We learn, now, that Brother Bush appears to be up to it again in preparation for the 2004 presidential vote. -more-

THIS WEEK -more-

I am writing to express my deep concern and distress over your decision to cover a protest organized by Berkeley City Councilmember Linda Maio, a close friend of the “nonprofit” developer Ali Kashani. While Affordable Housing Associates is the real party of interest being sued, the City of Berkeley is also a party in this litigation. Linda Maio was completely out of order to try to influence the outcome of the pending lawsuit for a property in District 3 since she is the elected representative for District 1, is on the staff of one of the litigating parties, and has a conflict of interest because of her close personal relationship with Kashani, former executive director of Affordable Housing Associates. -more-

The Israeli reaction to the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion regarding the legality of the Wall (or “Separation Barrier”) was as predictable as the verdict: absolute denial of both the saliency of the judgment itself and of the ICJ’s fundamental authority to even pronounce an opinion at all. The verdict was so damaging to Israel not because it fears UN sanctions—the U.S., for one, would never permit that—but because it directly challenges Israel’s PR line: that the problem is Palestinian terrorism and not its own increasingly brutal 37-year military occupation of Palestinian lands. For years Israel has presented itself as “the only democracy in the Middle East,” a small peaceful country fallen victim to an intractable Palestinian aggressor, a normal place, like Manhattan, smitten for no fathomable reason by terrorism. -more-

A flea market by any other name—bazaar, swap meet, or yard sale—will always be the ultimate example of free, or free-wheeling, enterprise. Any and all can wander along the stalls and socialize, fondle the merchandise, eat and drink, listen to music, and even shop. -more-

FRIDAY, JULY 16 -more-

The Berkeley Opera’s production of Bat Out of Hell, David Scott Marley’s witty English adaptation of Johann Strauss, Jr.’s Die Fledermaus, opens today (Friday) at the Julia Morgan Theater. -more-

FRIDAY, JULY 16 -more-