The long-running battle between developer Gary Feiner and residents of the landmarked Sisterna Tract neighborhood has flared up again. -more-

The hours of several instructional aides in the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) may get slashed, whereas the Berkeley Board of Education considers pay increases for district administration. -more-

Mixed baby greens dressed in Sesame Goddess vinaigrette and soy bacon bits drenched in Miso Ginger dressing paved the way for the nation’s first ever certified organic kitchen on an American college campus at UC Berkeley’s Crossroads dining commons on Thursday. -more-

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Thanks to a grant from a major national nonprofit, arts education in Alameda County is a quarter of a million dollars richer. -more-

Rain. Rain. And more rain. We have sure had a lot of it this spring. Around the bay, March’s 31 days produced from 22 to 25 days of rain, depending on where you were standing when you counted, breaking records going all the way back to the middle of the 19th century. The total amount of rain in March set records too, ranging from 7.22 inches at the usually warm and sunny Oakland airport to 8.74 inches in San Francisco, always somewhat damper than the East Bay. And the prediction is that it won’t let up for a while. -more-