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-

Today (the day after Thanksgiving) is widely believed to be the biggest shopping day of the year in the United States. Actually, according to the invaluable and entertaining Wikipedia, the days before and after Christmas are days when more retail dollars change hands, but Black Friday, as it’s called, wins out in terms of bodies on the streets and in the malls, though some of them are just shopping, not buying. One folk explanation for the name is that retailers finally make it into the black on that day after almost a year of red ink. -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-