They came, they saw, they liked. -more-

Just one week after the City Council approved the tallest building to hit downtown Berkeley in decades, an appellant has charged that Mayor Tom Bates’ meeting with the project’s developers before the crucial vote violated city rules on ex parte contact. -more-

Before the crack of daybreak, a nondescript white van cruises the residential streets of central Berkeley picking up people unknown to neighbors. -more-

The City Council Tuesday is set to approve three affordable housing projects totaling 231 units—nearly double the number developed in Berkeley over the last five years. -more-

The proposed new Berkeley Bowl at Ninth Street and Heinz Avenue comes up for a Planning Commission workshop and hearing Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. -more-

The union representing 30,000 northern California grocery workers announced Monday that it reached a contract settlement with three large grocery chains. -more-

A delayed district planning proposal is back on the agenda for Peralta Community College Trustees Tuesday night, when trustees will consider authorizing a six-month contract with Scala Design & Development company. -more-

Berkeley Iceland on Monday delivered to city officials a long-awaited plan to bring its 64-year-old skating rink up to code. -more-

A little more than a year after a district-commissioned report called for an overhaul of Berkeley Unified School District’s Special Education program, an internal report has revealed that many of the major problems still remain. -more-

Four and a half months after he came on the job, Berkeley High Vice Principal Mark Wolfe has announced his resignation for what he described as personal and family reasons. The resignation was effective immediately, and Wolfe’s last day was Wednesday of last week. -more-

PUBLIC LIBRARY -more-

One day after Condoleezza Rice’s Senate confirmation hearing I curled up with the book that provides her best claim to seriousness as a scholar: Germany Unified and Europe Transformed. -more-

Click here to view the latest work by Justin DeFreitas-more-

Flying back from Jamaica to New York, in less than three and a half hours I went from nude, waited on and warm, to overdressed, ignored and freezing. It was an effort to put on clothes in Braco. It was equally hard to take them off once I returned to White Plains. From 85 degrees and sunny, to 1 degree with a wind chill factor of minus seven, it began to snow the moment our plane touched down at Kennedy and it didn’t stop until almost 24 hours later. The day before I was lying on the beach under a palm tree. Now I was shoveling snow from a porch in West Chester County. Where before I was sipping Piña Coladas and cooling off with multiple dips in the Caribbean, now I was drinking bad coffee and doing jumping jacks to keep warm. No one was calling me “madam” anymore or asking me if there was anything I wanted. Instead, people I didn’t know were yelling at me to get my ass in gear. -more-

On Jan. 30 there will be national elections in Iraq. Insurgent violence will keep many Iraqis from voting and, as a result, some groups, particularly the Sunnis, will be under-represented in the new Assembly. Nonetheless, Jan. 30 represents a milestone f or the U.S. occupation, and, therefore, an opportunity for Americans to assess our prospects, to question our plan going forward. -more-

Ran, Not Hit -more-

THE CYCLIST AGENDA -more-

Most honorable profession at the point of a blade. -more-

The Howard Wiley Trio will perform a tribute to jazz inspiration John Coltrane this Friday at 9 p.m., presented by The Jazz House at 21 Grand Art Gallery, 449 B 23rd St., Oakland. -more-

Berkeley filmmaker Tom Weidlinger wanted to make a documentary about international aid workers fostering self-sufficiency rather than dependency. In 2003, Weidlinger visited Action Against Hunger amid stifling heat, scorpions and malaria-carrying mosquit oes in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. He decided he had come to the right place and found the right people. -more-

For an afternoon excursion to San Francisco, two galleries offer lively shows this week: -more-

TUESDAY, JAN. 25 -more-

Oh joy, it’s January and the acacias are blooming. -more-

TUESDAY, JAN. 25 -more-

A certain quiet seemed to gather over Berkeley on Thursday morning. As President Bush was inaugurated for his second term, it seemed many in Berkeley could only sit and watch in displeasure. -more-

The City Council gave the go ahead Tuesday to the Seagate Building, which when completed will rise nine stories—the third tallest building in Berkeley. -more-

Berkeley’s town-gown dispute moved one step closer to the courtroom Thursday when the UC Board of Regents certified UC Berkeley’s 15-year-expansion plan. -more-

A throng of anxious residents and two city councilmembers turned out Wednesday to meet the new owners, operators and remodellers of Berkeley’s long-troubled Harriet Tubman Terrace Apartments. -more-

With no dissent and much praise, the Berkeley Unified School District’s Board of Directors approved Berkeley High School’s third small school this week. -more-

God of Compassion, -more-

Two days before a four-hour community meeting on the proposed 2,500-slot addition to the Casino San Pablo card room, Sen. Diane Feinstein’s office announced she would introduce a bill to remove the site’s eligibility for tribal gaming. -more-

Mired in an eight-figure debt and hemorrhaging red ink just seven months ago, Richmond has finally emerged from debt, announced City Councilmember Tom Butt -more-

In a demonstration of Ward Connerly’s ability to influence California events even on his way out the door, the University of California Board of Regents this week debated diversity issues in American law schools and passed a policy affirming intervention in the K-12 achievement gap battles in Connerly’s last meeting as a regent. -more-

Lily Hearst (nee: Lily Elisabeth Roger), the oldest citizen in Berkeley, died Wednesday at her home in her sleep. -more-

BERKELEY BOWL -more-

Click here to view the latest work by Justin DeFreitas-more-

Two actions by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in recent days show that the bare threads are beginning to show on his coat of many colors (note: “coat of many colors” is a Biblical reference for my Christian friends who think I don’t love them). -more-

Bus Fracas Suspect Charged -more-

I celebrated Dr. King’s dream by accompanying my family to a church in West Oakland where my granddaughter and her choir had been invited to sing. This was the seventh annual Dr. King celebration for the Taylor Memorial United Methodist Church at Adeline and 12th Street. With almost 500 people packing the benches and the aisles, from nearly every community in the East Bay, I felt an excitement and enthusiasm that took me back to my college days organizing in the South during the late ‘60s. Like then, children came with their parents, music bounced up into the upper balcony, and we all merged our identities to celebrate Dr. King’s dream. -more-

Next Wednesday, Jan. 26, the Planning Commission will hold a public hearing run like a workshop on the proposed West Berkeley Bowl. The stipulation that the hearing is to be run like a workshop may seem trifling. It’s not, given the efforts of city staff and certain Planning Commissioners to railroad this controversial project through the legal channels required for approval. -more-

A quarter-sheet flier can cause a lot of fuss. -more-

The Rockridge Soccer Club Running Rhinos of the Jack London Youth Soccer League were crowned state champions Sunday in the under-12 boys division of the California Youth Soccer Association (CYSA) Tide American Cup. -more-

Berkeley Symphony’s inaugural Young Artist Award recipient Nigel Armstrong, a 14-year-old violin prodigy from Sonoma with invisible braces on his teeth, will perform his first professional concert with the Berkeley Symphony on Wednesday at Zellerbach Hall. -more-

FRIDAY, JAN. 21 -more-

Following a complex move from Golden Gate Park and a hiatus in public exhibit programs, the California Academy of Sciences has been back in action for some months in abbreviated quarters in downtown San Francisco. -more-

FRIDAY, JAN. 21 -more-

Wow. We never thought the city of Berkeley was such a major philanthropic organization. You probably didn’t know that Berkeley citizens annually provide scholarships to at least 1,100 UC students, but this figure was confirmed last week by Chancellor Birgeneau himself. He told the Regents that if UC Berkeley paid $3 million toward what it costs the city of Berkeley to host the University of California, that would mean depriving 300 UC students of an education. You can do the math, no matter whether your S.A.T. math scores would have gotten you into Cal or not. Since the city actually subsidizes the University to the tune of more like $11 million in uncollectible property taxes, according to Birgeneau’s figures we are now providing 1100 students with a education that they’d have to forego if UC paid its own way, as do other universities like the University of Michigan, Stanford and Yale. If we take the population of Berkeley to be in the neighborhood of 110,000 (give or take a few thousand for ease of calculation) that means that every man, woman and child in Berkeley contributes about $100 a year to this scholarship fund. Pretty generous, wouldn’t you say? -more-

Although I’ve lived in California for more than half my life, I’ve never gotten used to the way the seasons crowd each other here. In the Midwest, where I spent my childhood and 12 years as a young adult, winter meant a decent respite from the seductions of the natural world. There was no stigma attached to sitting at home next to the fire with a good book, no feeling when you looked out the window that life was moving on and if you sat still you’d get behind. Here in idyllic northern California the narcissii, the first garden flowers in more normal climates, are part of the Christmas decorations. Our Christmas tree is still green, and we’re slow to want to take it down, but outside the salvia wagneriana and the primroses are in the midst of their spring show. The tree next door that I see from my desk is in full bloom. The rainy intervals are welcome, because it’s hard to reconcile yourself to indoor work when there’s so much going on outdoors. -more-