Separate fires struck Berkeley Wednesday, one doing over $1 million in damage to a 98-year-old home on College Avenue -more-

Planning commissioners voted Wednesday night to designate downtown Berkeley and five thoroughfares as targets for state-funded high-density development: Telegraph, southern Shattuck, University and San Pablo avenues and Adeline Street. -more-

Ridiculed as the “Public Commons for Everyone but the Homeless” initiative and lauded as a measure badly needed to rid shopping areas of people who act inappropriately and drive customers away, the City Council approved in concept Tuesday night Mayor Tom Bates’ Public Commons for Everyone Initiative, a laundry list of proposals that will be further refined into laws, and considered again in about six months. -more-

The Berkeley City Council voted 4-3 on Tuesday in favor of holding a public hearing on the “Wright’s Garage” project proposed for 2629 Ashby Ave., but no such hearing is currently scheduled. -more-

Graduation was a family affair at the Berkeley Adult School (BAS) Tuesday. -more-

Heralded as a clean break with an inglorious past, a new board took the reins Tuesday of the “troubled” Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) and began immediately to plan to govern the 1,800 federally-funded Section 8 apartments and 75 units of public housing. -more-