People’s Park has a new freebox and this one, say supporters, has been built to last. -more-

Members of the Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees have introduced a resolution censuring fellow trustee Marcie Hodge for what the resolution calls “behavior that is out of compliance with the established Peralta Community College District policies” of “civility and mutual respect” and accusing her of “emotionally ºviolent behavior.” Trustees are prepared to vote on the censure resolution at Tuesday night’s regular trustee meeting. -more-

Safeway plans to tear down its 1500 Solano Ave. store in Albany and replace it with a new store and 40-or-so-units of condominiums—signaling a major shift in the focus of the giant grocery retailer. -more-

Alameda County voters got their first look at life in the paper-trail, electronic voting era when four companies showed off their machines Monday at the Alameda County Conference Center in Oakland. -more-

University of California Regents come to the UC Berkeley campus this week for a series of rare regular meetings, and unions and student activists have planned a traditional Berkeley-type welcome of protest demonstrations. -more-

Minority students blasted UC Berkeley’s administration Thursday for not taking bolder steps to diversify the student body. -more-

Berkeley’s newest addition to the National Register of Historic Places overlooks the first, a small laboratory in the attic of one of the smaller buildings on the UC Berkeley campus. -more-

Evictions, RFIDs, the Drayage, the infamous Downing Street Memo and by-right additions are just a few of the items on Tuesday night’s City Council agenda. -more-

Homeless organizers began sleeping openly in Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Jr. Park Sunday night to protest the lack of space where homeless people are allowed to sleep in the city. -more-

Downtown parking, perhaps Berkeley’s favorite complaint subject after George W. Bush and the Bush administration, tops the agenda for Thursday night’s meeting of the Transportation Commission. -more-

When President Jean Bertrand Aristide was forced out of Haiti Feb. 29, 2004, every township in the nation was touched. -more-

We’re in a seismic season. From the recent South Asian disaster to the approaching Centennial of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, earthquakes are attracting increasing public attention. -more-

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

DRUG DEALERS -more-

Berkeley police responded to a call of an argument on 1418 Curtis St. around 7 p.m. Monday. -more-

Bank robber sought -more-

All the elements for the outbreak of youth rebellion are present in Western Europe. Hardly unique to France are the marginalized second or third generation immigrants out of place in their parents’ old countries but not fully accepted by their own. So are unemployment, social discrimination and underclasses packed in dismal neighborhoods of despair. -more-

For two hours last Friday I was home alone. This may not seem remarkable to most people, but for me it was an unexpected miracle. My husband’s attendant and a former attendant decided, on their own initiative, to take Ralph shopping. -more-

The United States Justice Department is reviewing the proposed merger between New Times and Village Voice Media, a deal that would create a 17-paper alternative newspaper chain and do incalculable damage to the alternative press in this country. There’s a chance that the federal regulators will recognize the obvious media-concentration and anti-competitive issues and delay or block the deal. -more-

Are horticultural freedom of expression and Mother Nature both currently outlawed by the vegetation section of the “blight” ordinance of the City of Oakland? This highly intrusive law needs to be severely pruned back to allow a breath of horticultural freedom in Oakland. -more-

If politics is comparable to making sausage, then I was placed in a meat grinder last Tuesday—my first time working as a clerk at the polls. -more-

Berkeley may pass up a golden opportunity to enhance the quality of life for our children by not moving to build the largest possible, multi-purpose field at Derby Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. We are not talking about a “Big League” baseball field, but a multi-purpose field to be used by high school soccer, lacrosse, field hockey and baseball players, as well as the neighbors. Money, of course, is the key, but I can’t believe our community cannot come up with a creative means to fund this great project by using already committed school district funds, City of Berkeley funds and money from both public and private organizations. -more-

I have never been to the South. I never went to the Jazz Festival or Mardi Gras. So working with an East Bay city in developing a program to respond to the needs of evacuees is paradoxical. I am grateful to have worked with such a resilient group of people and saddened by the entire tragedy. I cannot capture in writing the experience that these people have endured. I can only imagine, and with certainty fall short of the mark, in terms of understanding their sense of loss, grief, anger and exhaustion. When I try to imagine being there, some specific accounts come to mind: -more-

By a strange coincidence, two of the brightest young stars in jazz are both from Motown, both born in the ’60s and both named Carter: saxophonist James and violinist Regina. Because of their incredible promise and virtuosity, it is painful to admit that both have been known to falter occasionally in the heat of improvisation. Still, it is always worth catching either of them whenever they appear locally. Whatever momentary failures they may experience, they have more than enough personal incandescence to carry the flame of jazz into the future. -more-

Coming into the Ashby Stage for the Shotgun Lab production of Cry, Don’t Cry (running through this Thursday), the audience has to wonder: “What sort of show are we in for?” -more-

TUESDAY, NOV. 15 -more-

Got fruit? -more-

TUESDAY, NOV. 15 -more-