Berkeley city councilmembers voted Tuesday to pledge $4 million in federal funds to pay for community services and affordable housing as collateral for a federal loan to help fund the David Brower Center and Oxford Plaza. -more-

Sitting in his curio shop on University Avenue, Tsewang Khangsar recalls the onerous journey that he had made almost 45 years ago across the Himalayas from Tibet. -more-

There’s no denying that Berkeley has a worldwide reputation, not always positive. From humble beginnings in the 1850s, through the turbulent 1960s and up to today, Berkeley’s citizens are seldom shy about voicing their passions. -more-

Members of the joint commission formed to look into the city’s density bonus are moving closer to formulating suggestions for a new ordinance. -more-

A report on negotiations between the Oakland Unified School District and the Oakland Education Association has brought the city closer to a teacher strike or closer to a settlement. -more-

Planning Commissioners tackled creeks, cars dealerships and a proposed transportation services fee Wednesday—long-term issues that will eventually result in new city ordinances. -more-

In September 2003, two days after receiving an excellent evaluation, Chaplain James Yee was arrested, charged with espionage and thrown into solitary confinement for 76 days. When he left the Army in 2005 after all charges were dropped, he received a medal. He recounts his journey from Muslim American poster boy to “enemy of the state” in his memoir, For God and Country. Yee was interviewed by Sandip Roy, host of “UpFront,” New America Media's radio program. -more-

Brenda ran Los Angeles’ citywide marathon representing John Adams Middle School. After finishing at the top of her age group, she felt “on top of the world.” -more-

Two-alarm blaze -more-

Burglar nailed -more-

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

TRANSIT VILLAGE -more-

Since I first saw the city’s Caltrans grant application last month, I had the gut feeling that the 50 units per acre it envisioned was nowhere near dense enough to make a for-profit project on the site economically feasible. This week, I finally found the data to back up that guess: a 2004 study performed by the Berkeley consulting firm Strategic Economics for the East Bay Community Foundation. -more-

Karl Marx was right; he only had to wait a little longer. Marxists once claimed that European capitalism was advancing into its final stages, decadence would overwhelm the West and capitalism’s contradictions would cause the system to collapse. Today, demographic collapse and cultural decadence may finally usher in the end stage of the ancient culture we share with Europe. -more-

Thank you for publishing your Jan. 24 front-page story, “Lake Merritt Tree Supporters Unmoved by Public Works Tour.” It revealed some new and troubling details about the Oakland city staff’s mentality behind its pig-headed plans to “rebuild” the Lake Merritt shorelines by killing more than 200 mature trees. This mentality seems to be “we had to destroy the shoreline to save it.” This would seem to parallel the Bush plan for Iraq: first destroy it and then rebuilt it at an obscene profit, as per the notorious no-bid contracts let to Halliburton. -more-

In a March article in The New Republic, Robert Reich wrote of four essential American stories. One of these is “the triumphant individual,” the little guy who pulls himself up by the bootstraps. Thanks to the Bush administration, that story has died for most Americans. -more-

Competitive elections give citizens a rare opportunity: a chance to participate in a discussion that could actually affect the future of their community. -more-

Eighteen years ago, when I started in the inspection business, my clients were always buyers and never sellers. In fact, sellers and, all too often, their agents, viewed the inspection as an assault on their homes. This was often miserable and I was sometimes foolish enough to take the bait and join in the adversarial tone of the conflict. When sellers insisted on being home, pitch-fork in hand to defend their turf from my unfair assertions, I would debate and even argue on occasion. -more-

Last week I counseled patience with a newly acquired garden. Honest to Ceres, it really does pay off, or at least cost less in terms of lost plants and ego-damage, to wait a full year before doing anything major and permanent to your land. You don’t have to sit on your thumbs: put in some encouraging annuals, watch when sprouts from whatever was left behind, and get your hands in the dirt in the meantime. You know you want to. -more-