Reorganization of the Nutrition Services Department, a progress report from the B-Tech, and a presentation by the Life Academy at Berkeley High School were highlights of the BUSD Board meeting on Wednesday. -more-

Since 1973, the Berkeley community has been able to air complaints in public against its police officers and compel them to respond. But a recent California Supreme Court decision may have knocked the teeth out of the ordinance that created Berkeley’s Police Review Commission. -more-

Prakash Stephen Pinto wants the deserted glass-strewn lot at San Pablo Avenue and Harrison Street near his Stannage Avenue home replaced by shops and new housing, but he told the City Council Tuesday night that the project before them “is a serious detriment to the neighborhood.” -more-

With the specter of Proposition 90 lurking in the wings, Berkeley’s City Council Tuesday passed a conditional new law governing the sizes of apartment and condominium buildings. It attempts to reconcile conflicts between size bonuses offered by the state of California and the City of Berkeley as a reward for the provision of affordable housing. -more-

In an effort to bring public awareness to the issues involved in critical contract talks between the City of Oakland and the powerful Oakland Police Officers Association, members of the Black Elected Officials of the East Bay sponsored a public forum Wednesday night on the contract negotiations. -more-

Berkeley should be ready to boost downtown parking prices for a host of reasons, declared members of the panel charged with developing a new plan for downtown Berkeley Wednesday night. -more-

Some library activists have been watching the search process for a new library head and say they don’t like what they see. -more-

A Federal Court in San Francisco denied a request by Oakland-based environmental nonprofit Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) on Wednesday for a preliminary injunction against Berkeley-based Pacific Steel Casting (PSC) citing insufficient evidence that CBE would prevail on the merits of its arguments. -more-

Opponents of Oakland’s massive Oak to Ninth development project have amended their California Superior Court complaint against the project, asking that the court invalidate the City Council’s approval of the project because the final version of the project agreement was never available to the council or the public at the time of the council vote. -more-

A 15-year-old Berkeley High School student was assaulted Tuesday afternoon near Planet Juice in downtown Berkeley. -more-

Berkeley police are offering a $15,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the killer of a 23-year-old Oakland man who was shot in Berkeley Sept. 4. -more-

The plight of artists seeking to live and work in West Berkeley is the subject of a special meeting to be held this afternoon (Friday). -more-

Upside the head -more-

SUNSHINE ORDINANCE -more-

Having just gone through the process of accepting that Cody’s on Telegraph would be no more, I found the sale of Cody’s Fourth Street and San Francisco stores to a Japanese buyer something of a further shock. As well as an important reality check. Let us never forget, I thought to myself when I learned of the sale, that business is about money. -more-

As a BUSD parent who has been working on improving the food that the district serves for the past 10 years, I think that there is basic level on which Ms. O’Malley misses the point about the food project at the Berkeley schools. -more-

A little over 10 years ago, just after the explosive launch of the Internet information age, I wrote a feature-essay for Metro newspaper in San Jose called “W.W.W.—World Without Wisdom.” (The essay was all mine; the idea for turning the “world-wide-web” initials into “world without wisdom,” however, was the Metro editors’—I’d always wished I’d thought of that.) -more-

Scare the hell out of the American people. That, in a nutshell, is the Republicans’ fall congressional campaign strategy. If you doubt it, consider the following: George W. Bush launched a propaganda offensive in the run-up to the 9/11 anniversary with a speech in which he called Islamic terrorists “successors to fascists, to Nazis, to communists and other totalitarians of the 20th century”; Donald Rumsfeld in turn likened administration critics (read Democrats) to those who appeased Nazi Germany in the 1930s; Dick Cheney, appearing on Meet the Press, accused opponents of the war of inviting more violence; Rep. Peter Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee in August released a hyped report on the supposedly grave threat to US national security posed by Iran—one strikingly similar to the hyped intelligence documents the administration used to build its case for war in Iraq. -more-

At 10 a.m. every Friday, Mary Ann Broder opens the Friends of the Library Bookstore for business. She’s been doing that since 1998 when the Friends of the Berkeley Public Library first moved into their present location in the Sather Gate Mall housed in the public parking structure a half block below Telegraph Avenue, between Channing Way and Durant. -more-

One of the largest residential parcels in the Berkeley, the John Hopkins Spring Estate, commonly known as the Spring Mansion, occupies 3.25 acres in the Southampton area of the north Berkeley Hills. The property is so large as to require three addresses: 1960 San Antonio Ave., 1984 San Antonio Ave., and 639 The Arlington. -more-

Everyone has something particularly annoying about their job. I’m sure yours has at least one (I can see the heads nodding). O.K. It’s more than one. Me too. I’ve got a few and one of these serenity-busters that bugs me the most is being asked which building code justifies an item that I’ve called-out during an inspection. -more-

When we start thinking good thoughts about rain, it must be the peak of fire season. That means fall planting season is coming soon, and it’s time to start looking for plants to fill in (or overcrowd) our gardens. Especially California natives, because this is a good time to plant them, to take advantage of the winter rains. Even drought-loving plants need a bit of watering help in their first year. -more-

How Much Food and Water? -more-