A 76-year-old man died early Thursday as flames did more than $1 million in damage to his North Berkeley home. -more-

In two dramatic votes Wednesday, members of Berkeley’s Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC) adopted a preservation-oriented platform and called for transforming a block of Center Street into a pedestrian plaza. -more-

As the Berkeley Landmarks War heads for a second showdown at the ballot box, preservationists opened a second front in the courts Tuesday. -more-

Those who may have thought that Ron Dellums would alter his political positions before the business community now that he has entered Oakland’s City Hall, or that the business community would be less than favorable to Dellums’ previously announced positions, got a sense they may be wrong at the San Francisco Business Times’ Annual Mayors’ Economic Forecast breakfast at the San Francisco Hilton on Wednesday morning. -more-

The Berkeley school board voted unanimously on Wednesday to accept the Berkeley High School environmental impact report on the Berkeley High School South of Bancroft Master Plan and to approve the Master Plan project. -more-

As a non-card-carrying but nonetheless proud Old Blue (I think that’s what University of California at Berkeley graduates are still called), from the class of ’61, back in the days when the local campus was called simply “Cal,” never “Berkeley,” I’m delighted to see that the school is still following its traditions. Well, “delighted” might be a bit strong. “Bemused” would be more like it. The tradition I’m referring to in this instance is acting with utter stupidity when anything approaching public relations is concerned. -more-