For the first eight months of the year, Berkeley proved the East Bay’s hot spot for thefts, burglaries and other forms of property crime—topping the rates for Richmond and Oakland—while the city’s crimes of violence ranked in the mid-range. -more-

Staring in the face of a potential $1.4 million loss in annual sales tax revenue, Berkeley Planning Commissioners decided to look further into a plan to set up portions of West Berkeley as auto sales zones after hearing a bleak preliminary report from city staff at the commission’s regular meeting Wednesday night. -more-

Suppose they held an election in Berkeley, but no one showed up to open the polls? -more-

Plans for a new transit station in Richmond took a big step forward this week. -more-

A 20-year-old Richmond resident died in a fatal traffic accident at the intersection of University and San Pablo avenues at 2:30 a.m. Thursday. -more-

Berkeley city councilmembers passed the second and final readings of the soft story and condominium ordinances Tuesday, as well as the city plan and zoning changes needed to construct the Gilman Street Playing Fields complex. -more-

Photograph by Jakob Schiller: Kelly English, 35, rests under a makeshift rain shelter he made in People’s Park during the rain showers on Tuesday. A graduate of Kennedy High in Richmond and of Diablo Valley College, he handed out his resume, which said, “I bring work and personal attributes that foster positive, respectful and peaceful relationships with my co-workers and customers. I want responsible employment with a team that also values these attributes.” -more-

iJacked -more-

Mary Otani was born in Berkeley to hardworking immigrant parents from Okinawa. One of six children, she was a good student, and loved to play basketball. As a student at UC Berkeley, Mary was already interested in social justice, and worked with other YWCA students to support fair housing legislation. -more-

Do you ever not know what to do on a Friday or Saturday night? Do you feel like there is something going on you’re missing out on? -more-

Latino journalists are disturbed by what they fear could be a new trend in the Hispanic media market: the outsourcing of ethnic media. -more-

To view Justin DeFreitas’ latest editorial cartoon, please visit -more-

Unlike some ethnic enclaves, the Vietnamese-American community in Santa Clara county, does not lack for news in its own language. If anything, the community can access more news than a mainstream population reading in English only. -more-

NO DEAL -more-

In the wake of a United Nations investigation implicating a number of Syrian and Lebanese officials in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the Bush administration is calling for sanctions and leaking dark hints of war. But the United States is already unofficially at war with Syria. For the past six months, U.S. Army Rangers and the Special Operations Delta Force have been crossing the border into Syria, supposedly to “interdict” terrorists coming into Iraq. Several Syrian soldiers have been killed. -more-

If things continue upon their present course—which “things” have that interesting habit of not always doing—somewhere in a school in North Oakland 50 years from now, a teacher will stand before a class and tell her (his) students the story of the day in 2003 when a courageous black woman, grown weary of the lies of the Bush administration, stood up by herself in the United States Congress and cast the single vote against the Iraq War Authorization, thus sparking a national movement that eventually led to both the collapse of neoconism as well as the end of the stranglehold of the radical religious right on the government of the country. -more-

I’m sitting here Tuesday night in my South Berkeley home contemplating Andrea Pritchett’s venomous Oct. 25 commentary, “No Simple Solutions for Berkeley’s Drug Problems,” when six gunshots ring out close by. I instantly call 911 and report the number of shots, and estimate direction and distance. The scariest part about it was that this is a completely ordinary part of life here—counting the shots and praying they don’t come in your window. -more-

Secrecy has been perhaps the most consistent trait of the George W. Bush presidency. Whether it involves refusing to provide the names of oil executives who advised Vice President Dick Cheney on energy policy, prohibiting photographs of flag-draped coffins returning from Iraq, or forbidding the release of files pertaining to Chief Justice John Roberts’ tenure in the Justice Department, President Bush seems determined to control what the public is permitted to know. And he has been spectacularly effective, making Richard Nixon look almost transparent. -more-

The City of Berkeley projects budget deficits into 2007. Some argue that these deficits are due to excessive compensation received by city workers. While workers certainly receive fair compensation for their work, this compensation is not the source of the problem and is far from excessive. -more-

Soup stains, skid marks -more-

Concerning Antonio Rossman’s remarks in the Oct. 7 Daily Planet, I would like to make several comments. Rossman says the following: “In the court’s words, ‘It therefore appears compelling that the statutory allowance for settlements in closed session not override extrinsic requirements for public proceedings.’ In lay terms and common sense: more important than settling city litigation is the right of citizens to learn in advance and influence the settlement terms.” -more-

With cellphones off and no chance to call 911, the audience faces the ground floor interior of an old wood house in Seattle, strewn with packing boxes, the bannister of a staircase turning up and away from the tableaux of figures facing each other at the doorway, one in bright daylight, the next in darkness, as the grandfather clock tolls the hour. -more-

“We’re cooking live on-stage, every performance,” said director Clive Chafer of TheatreFIRST’s Northern California premiere of The Arab-Israeli Cookbook, opening tonight (Friday) at the Jewish Community Center. -more-

FRIDAY, OCT. 28 -more-

If you are one of those damned souls who has traveled “the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire,” the well-worn path from lisping your ABCs, to juvenile reader, to adolescent bookworm, to adult bibliophile, and finally to full-blown bibliomaniac, then you know that “of making many books there is no end and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” -more-

FRIDAY, OCT. 28 -more-