Kali Grosberg of Berkeley lay down on the sidewalk in front of the Oakland Federal Building on Tuesday. Two friends wrapped her in a shroud and placed green rosemary springs on her still body. -more-

UC Berkeley officials are pushing ahead with plans to transform Bowles Hall into a corporate executive education center with a new call for a seismic consultant. -more-

It’s not often that Berkeley Technology Academy students get a chance to fly, but last week was different. -more-

While a new governance structure for the Berkeley Housing Authority may buy federally subsidized renters more time in their Berkeley homes, subsidy cuts could force them out. -more-

The man who was the lead drafter of the Instant Runoff Vote language that eventually became Oakland’s Measure O says that the chance that differences in vote-counting procedures in various forms of IRV could affect the outcome of an election are “incredibly small,” and the example cited in a recent Daily Planet article would not affect an election outcome at all. -more-

The incident involving 23-year-old UCLA student Mostafa Tabatabainejad, who was shot with a taser by campus police officers last week, has sparked off debate in the national media and led to protests at the UC Berkeley. -more-

Jim Slaten’s sewing machine service shop has been on Solano Avenue for more than four decades. Slaten says he doesn’t need an organization to help keep his sidewalks clean and certainly doesn’t need a new planter in front of his store. -more-

Two men—and possibly a third—were shot Tuesday night as gunfire shattered the evening on Sacramento Street. -more-

The Berkeley City Council and Police Review Commission will meet behind closed doors on Monday to discuss a Berkeley Police Association lawsuit against the city, although the requirement for a closed session meeting is disputed by a least one councilmember. -more-

San Francisco Opera singers and fourth-graders at Malcolm X Elementary School joined forces in a one-hour production of Rossini's Barber of Seville at Malcolm X last week. -more-

Fowl delivery -more-

New station opens -more-

CORRECTION -more-

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi isn’t checking her motherhood at the door. Addressing the House of Representatives, the microphones falter and she says, “Do I have to use my mother-of-five voice?” She has also begun numerous sentences with: “As a mother and grandmother and the leader of the House Democrats…” -more-

Art Goldberg’s complaints (“Myopia, Not Vision, in North Shattuck Plan,” Daily Planet, Oct. 20) about the proposed North Shattuck Plaza amount to a cry of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” -more-

Unlike Mr. Rivera, I do not deem myself a student of violence. Rather, I like to think of myself as a student of human nature, of which violence is one facet. I have, however, been in dozens (possibly hundreds) of physical altercations in a professional capacity, as a doorman at some of the biggest and busiest nightclubs in San Francisco. -more-

Berkeley’s Warm Pool is important and magical. It is important to everyone who goes there to partake of the healing waters. -more-

Annette Fleming never used to stop to pick up dinner in Old Pasadena. It used to take five or 10 minutes each way to walk between the restaurant and the parking lot, and she did not have that extra time on her way home from work. -more-

A few things need to be said regarding the issue of Pacific Steel Casting. While the following opinions could be controversial, and perhaps even disagreeable to some readers, I do believe that they need to be said. To begin with, I am a resident of West Berkeley, whose family has resided in the East Bay since about 1903. For most of my fifty plus years on this planet, I have been an environmentalist and a staunch advocate for a clean and healthy San Francisco Bay. During the most recent election, I voted Green. Nevertheless, I have certain reservations about the growing local movement against Pacific Steel Casting. While I most strongly agree that toxic pollution is a grave problem in our community, and must be rigorously contained and controlled, I do take issue with those who would want to find a solution by simply shutting down Pacific Steel’s foundry. -more-

Eisa Davis’ upcoming play by Shotgun Players is Bulrusher, not Bulrushers as was printed in the Nov. 17 issue of the Planet. One of the characters is a visitor from Birmingham, Ala., not Montgomery, as was printed. And, Davis first saw Aaron Davidman, now the artistic director of A Traveling Jewish Theatre, as Mack the Knife in a 1985 Berkeley High production of Threepenny Opera. -more-

One of the more persistent guessing games in Oakland politics these days is who will be the next president of the Oakland City Council. -more-

As the dust begins to settle from the mid-term elections, popular thinking is that, over the next two years, the Democrats will force the Bush administration to edge away from the unilateral militarism that has entrapped the nation in two open-ended wars. -more-

Although travel is educational not much can be learned from short, packaged tours. You learn more from longer than from shorter tours especially if you’re on your own. I was in the Air Force in the 1950s and stationed on Guam for two years. I learned a little bit there but in two short trips to Japan I learned next to nothing. Not so when I earned my living in China for two years doing the same job Chinese did. -more-

It is not yet light, but the day has started, led by a conspiracy of gizmos throughout the house, each doing its assigned duty. These devices are awake already and, untouched by human hands, start to organize my day. The heat is on. The coffee is brewing. NPR lulls me awake with overnight news, weather, and traffic reports. -more-

For Indian-Americans it seems there is much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. By and large they vote Democrat, and the Democrats have regained control of the House and the Senate. And the U.S.-Indian nuclear cooperation agreement just cleared the Senate by a whopping 85-12 margin. “Cold War blinkers have finally come off in India-U.S. ties,” rejoiced an editorial in The Times of India, remembering the days when no matter what the issue, the United States reflexively cold-shouldered India because it was perceived to be in the Soviet bloc. -more-

I suppose it’s the season that’s pulling my thoughts toward the organisms and processes of decay: molds, mildews, earthworms, compost in general. Certainly I’m encountering them a lot lately, in the garden and in the wilds. We’ve had just enough rain to encourage little brown mushrooms to pop up, and the more annoying fungi and their companions on plants and walls and books and shower curtains are getting bolder too. Our winter companions, fungi are often such agents of destruction that we can just plain hate them. -more-

Dear Matt, -more-

Have You Met Your Neighbors? -more-

The news headlines resound of doom and gloom for the real estate market; but what is the back story? Most of these articles refer to the national scene, and to certain parts of the country that are the hardest hit. “18 percent drop here, 16 percent drop there, no relief in sight.” -more-