-more-

To the Editor: -more-

If voters gearing up for the election Tuesday have forgotten problematic butterfly ballots and dimpled chads, then a new documentary screening Saturday, at the Berkeley Video and Film Festival, will bring it all back. -more-

Friday, Nov. 1 -more-

Rather than fearing death, Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) winks at it, seeing it simply as part of the natural cycle of life. Throughout Latin America and other places where the tradition is honored, the first two days of November are a time to remember deceased friends and relatives with altars, visits to their graves and offerings of music and food. -more-

Off-leash dog walkers and artists are howling mad over the final plan for the bayside Eastshore State Park. The plan set to be released this week forbids both groups from using a favorite stretch of Albany coastline. -more-

-more-

-more-

LOS ANGELES — After years of moving around the Fox prime-time schedule, the working-class comedy “King of the Hill” is back where it started. -more-

NEW YORK — Choosing a wedding dress is quite possibly the most important fashion decision in a woman’s life. -more-

-more-

A group of south Berkeley neighbors wants to meet the first African American to officiate a professional football game. But they’re not asking for his autograph. They want to tell him to fix up his run-down property on the corner of Sacramento and Julia streets. -more-

Mayoral candidate Tom Bates was cleared Wednesday of accepting illegal corporate campaign donations. -more-

To the Editor: -more-

-more-

-more-

To the Editor: -more-

-more-

SAN FRANCISCO — Amid concerns about marine life, a federal judge temporarily has blocked the U.S. Navy from deploying a new high-frequency sonar system used to detect enemy submarines. -more-

NEW YORK — Liza Minnelli won’t become another Ozzy Osbourne. -more-

-more-

LONG BEACH — Enrollment at California State University has reached a record 406,896 students, due in part to a shaky state economy and the growing number of children of baby boomers headed to college, the chancellor said Thursday. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — ChevronTexaco Corp. wrote off most of its investment in fallen energy merchant Dynegy Inc. on Thursday, resulting in a third-quarter loss of $904 million. -more-

STOCKTON — A Southern California paint company has agreed to pay $107.5 million to settle a class-action suit over faulty wood sealants that left mildew damage on fences, decks and houses. -more-

-more-

-more-

BATON ROUGE, La. — Authorities charged the Washington-area sniper suspects with murder Thursday in a Louisiana attack and said they had definitively linked the two men to an Alabama slaying just two days earlier. -more-

-more-

Former UC Berkeley Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien, the first Asian-American to head a major U.S. university, died Tuesday night at the age of 67. -more-

To the Editor: -more-

-more-

Thursday, Oct. 31 -more-

He’s a fan: Cal head coach Jeff Tedford will spend his Saturday just like millions of others across the country: watching college football on television. -more-

Telegraph Avenue merchants demanded justice Wednesday, one day after about 30 teenagers looted more than $2,000 in merchandise from a sporting good store. -more-

To the Editor: -more-

Staff Report -more-

The most gentlemanly campaign In Berkeley this election season is being run by the two women vying for Berkeley’s 1st District City Council seat. -more-

To the Editor: -more-

Girls Volleyball - Berkeley 3, Encinal 0 -more-

University of California lecturers announced Wednesday that they have rejected UC’s latest contract offer, which is likely to trigger state intervention in the 2 1/2-year-old labor dispute rooted in salary, job security and contract arbitration issues. -more-

To the Editor: -more-

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s broad-based coalition collapsed Wednesday when Cabinet ministers from the moderate Labor Party resigned in a dispute over funding for Jewish settlements, threatening to push Israel into a bitter election. -more-

Editor’s Note: Today is the first of a three-part series outlining the Berkeley ballot and provides a capsule of the ballot measures. Friday’s paper will profile candidates running for City Council and the Berkeley Unified School District board. Saturday’s paper will profile the mayoral candidates and their positions on various issues. -more-

SACRAMENTO — Republican candidate for governor Bill Simon repeated his frequent attacks Wednesday on Democratic Gov. Gray Davis’ handling of the state’s finances, saying Davis “spent California into a budget crisis.” -more-

OAKLAND — A spokesman for the Oakland Police Department says four men are in custody this Wednesday afternoon after leading officers on a brief vehicle chase from the scene of a bank robbery they allegedly committed. -more-

Cancer awareness ads criticism -more-

Animal lovers try to halt poison drop -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — Seeking to win back bargain-minded shoppers, slumping jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co. on Wednesday unveiled a discount clothing line that will be sold by Wal-Mart Stores next year. -more-

BRISBANE — The tree home on San Bruno Mountain that attracted national attention when two squatters refused to leave a pair of meager huts after 12 years there, is now just a tree again. -more-

-more-

-more-

Wednesday, Oct. 30 -more-

To the Editor: -more-

Jazmin Pratt is the key to St. Mary’s girls volleyball rebirth. -more-

There’s only so much a mayor can do about education, given that the Berkeley Unified School District has jurisdiction over the city’s 15 schools. But that hasn’t stopped the two chief mayoral candidates, incumbent Shirley Dean and challenger Tom Bates, from laying out competing visions on an issue that tops poll after poll. -more-

To the Editor: -more-

-more-

-more-

To the Editor: -more-

The Cal women’s basketball family grew by one Tuesday. -more-

-more-

To the Editor: -more-

MORAGA - Fifth-seeded Cal senior Balazs Veress defeated No. 4-seed Scott Lipinsky of Stanford 7-6, 6-3, in a quarterfinal match of the 2002 Omni Hotels ITA Northwest Regional to advance to the semifinals of the main draw. Veress will face No. 2 Alex Vlaski of Washington in the semifinals. -more-

-more-

To the Editor: -more-

OAKLAND — Police are reporting that a gunshot victim who barricaded himself in an east Oakland home is currently in critical condition at Alameda County Hospital. -more-

OAKLAND — A hotel security guard described in Alameda County Superior Court Tuesday how he watched in horror as a sheriff's deputy was hurled backward by a hail of bullets at an Outback Steakhouse in Dublin four years ago. -more-

-more-

STANFORD — One of the nation’s wealthiest universities has frozen hiring for some nonfaculty positions and may be forced to lay off workers as early as next spring. -more-

SACRAMENTO — Bad road conditions and driver inexperience contributed to an accident that killed three firefighters this summer, a U.S. Forest Service investigation has concluded. -more-

-more-

LOS ANGELES — In the vast, suburban expanse of the San Fernando Valley, one of the largest industries thrives quietly, hidden inside unmarked warehouses, walled estates and hidden studios. -more-

NEW YORK — An unexpected plunge in consumer confidence incited another wave of profit-taking on Wall Street Tuesday, but stocks recovered by late in the session, and renewed buying offset some of the losses. -more-

LAS VEGAS — Congressional inaction on Internet gambling is handcuffing the casino industry and favoring shady corners of international commerce, according to gambling industry analysts and attorneys. -more-

-more-

MINNEAPOLIS — A memorial service that began as a poignant farewell to the late Sen. Paul Wellstone culminated Tuesday night in a furious series of partisan speeches, with Wellstone’s family and friends exhorting supporters to help his ballot replacement to victory next week. -more-

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Island’s landmark lawsuit against lead paint makers ended in a mistrial Tuesday after the jury said it was hopelessly deadlocked in the potentially multimillion-dollar case. -more-

FRESNO — With a grape glut statewide and raisins dying on the vine in the San Joaquin Valley, growers and politicians Tuesday asked the federal government for more help. -more-

UKIAH — The primary task of a deer hunter is not shooting, but seeing. -more-

It’s almost Halloween and something spooky is happening in Berkeley. With Election Day just a week away, dozens of campaign signs for candidates across the political spectrum have disappeared. -more-

LOS ANGELES — “Jackass” has pulled its craziest stunt yet, debuting in first place at the box office. -more-

Tuesday, Oct. 29 -more-

ANAHEIM — Barry Bonds probably wanted to cry, too. -more-

U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone was a man of honor who worked fearlessly to make a difference in the lives of those corporate America has sought to exploit. His death is a great loss to our country, but his life is proof that American democratic ideals are still very much alive – in spite of decades of corporate media distortions manipulating public opinion in the name of corporate profits. -more-

Lawyers for the University of California and 32 pro-Palestinian student activists sparred in court Monday over student efforts to block the use of UC police videos, police reports and officers’ testimony in university-run student conduct hearings that could result in student expulsion. -more-

-more-

-more-

For a woman who spends most of her working hours crunching numbers, Ann-Marie Hogan doesn’t have to spend much time handicapping her election prospects. -more-

NEW YORK — Rick Fox was suspended for six games, Doug Christie was banished for two, and every member of the Sacramento Kings who left the bench during a fight with the Los Angeles Lakers got off scot-free. -more-

The Sierra Club San Francisco Bay Chapter, Golden Gate Audubon, and the Citizens for the Eastshore State Park urge a yes vote on Measure N to protect Berkeley's waterfront from massive development. -more-

A U.S. District Court Judge indefinitely postponed a decision Monday on whether to reduce the sentence of wealthy Berkeley landlord Lakireddy Bali Reddy, who was imprisoned for his role in smuggling Indian girls into the country for sex and cheap labor. -more-

n the 7th District City Council race (Daily Planet, Oct. 26-27), Mayor Shirley Dean has discredited herself by endorsing an obviously unqualified 18-year-old candidate. -more-

TUCSON, Ariz. — A student flunking out of the University of Arizona nursing school shot three of his professors to death Monday, then killed himself as dozens of terrified students rushed to get away. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO – While most Giants’ fans lamented their team’s heartbreaking loss in Sunday’s seventh and deciding game of the World Series, two others continued their legal battle yesterday over possession of a baseball hit last year by Barry Bonds. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — A homecoming for the San Francisco Giants players and some of their most stalwart fans Monday briefly brought Pacific Bell Park to life one last time this season. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge has ordered the National Science Foundation and several research institutions to stop mapping the ocean floor along the Gulf of California using intense blasts of sound, saying that practice likely has harmed whales. -more-

SACRAMENTO — A federal judge ordered the release Monday of documents from a decade-old racketeering case in which a convicted felon implicated Gov. Gray Davis in a bribery scheme in a failed attempt to win a lighter sentence. -more-

-more-

-more-

NEW YORK — Wall Street pulled back Monday, its second decline in three sessions, as investors succumbed to profit-taking in the absence of significant earnings news. -more-

-more-

EUREKA — Representatives of coastal fishing communities and Indian tribes on Monday laid the blame for the massive Klamath River salmon kill on low water controlled by the federal government. -more-

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Harry Crawford is an ironworker with a deep-fried Southern drawl and pro-union politics. It is difficult to imagine him hugging a tree. -more-

LAS VEGAS — A poll of likely Nevada voters shows most have made up their minds on two controversial state ballot initiatives, with large margins opposing a measure to legalize marijuana and supporting a ban on gay marriage. -more-

-more-

-more-

Tens of thousands of protesters filled downtown San Francisco streets Saturday, demanding that President George Bush stop preparations for a war against Iraq. -more-

To the Editor: -more-

NEW YORK – For one week this summer, Bruce Springsteen was the biggest star on television. -more-

Monday, Oct. 28 -more-

The St. Mary’s High football team used big plays on offense and special teams to maul the Albany High Cougars, 43-17, on Saturday, leaving the Panthers as one of just two teams without a loss in Bay Shore Athletic League play. -more-

-more-

To the Editor: -more-

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Steven Jackson rushed for a career-high 239 yards and three touchdowns to revive a sputtering offense, helping Oregon State end a three-game losing streak Saturday with a 24-13 victory over California. -more-

The University of California’s roughly 2,500 lecturers will likely reject a comprehensive contract proposal put forward by the administration earlier this week, union officials said Friday. -more-

To the Editor: -more-

Cal men’s soccer has started a new win streak. -more-

Berkeley firefighters staged a one-day walkout last February to protest shortcomings in their labor contract, department officials acknowledged Friday. But they maintained that fire stations were fully manned throughout the protest and that the work stoppage never posed a threat to Berkeley residents. -more-

To the Editor: -more-

MOSCOW – A shocked, wary Russia counted its rising toll of dead and steeled itself for new terrorist blows Saturday in its never-ending Chechen war, after commandos striking behind clouds of disabling gas brought a sudden bloody end to a hostage nightmare. -more-

The Oakland police reported that a man died after being shot multiple times outside of an Oakland liquor store. -more-

-more-

Girls attack martial arts class -more-

Bizarre accident in San Francisco tunnel -more-

HETCH HETCHY RESERVOIR – Just north of Yosemite Valley’s grassy meadows and tumbling waterfalls, another slice of paradise lies submerged beneath more than 100 billion gallons of water. -more-

-more-

SACRAMENTO – A state audit revealed California’s Office of Criminal Justice Planning failed to properly keep track of domestic violence grant recipient’s and evaluate the effectiveness of their programs. -more-

Elderly man indicted for concealed knife at LAX -more-

-more-

-more-

-more-

To the Editor: -more-

Certain buildings on Shattuck Avenue define the historic character of downtown Berkeley and have changed little over the last 50 years. Old postcards are a wonderful source of historic images and downtown was a favorite subject of postcard publishers. -more-

Lala, the main character in Sandra Cisneros’ new novel “Caramelo,” clambers through her life’s journeys, as it twists and turns, like a free-wheeling road trip. Like Lala’s storytelling, the facts in “Caramelo” are based on real people from Cisneros’ life, but the “means for the end” are Cisneros’ own creations. The long-awaited second book from the author of the highly celebrated novel “The House on Mango Street” is a tale about a young girl who adroitly retells the story of her family and illustrates what it is like to be the youngest and only female among her siblings. -more-

Saturday, Oct. 26 -more-

Tell Pinole Valley we’re coming for them!” -more-

Berkeley’s not insulated from the nationwide surge in hate crimes reported since Sept. 11, 2001. And so, the city sponsored a Thursday-evening forum “A Community Dialogue to Prevent Hate Crimes.” -more-

To the Editor: -more-

DETROIT — No need to worry. -more-

SEATTLE – Junior Melissa Bennett assisted on both Washington goals Friday, including Jaime Carstensen’s 75th-minute tally that lifted the 25th-ranked Huskies to a 2-1 upset of No. 7 Cal. -more-

-more-

To the Editor: -more-

LOS ANGELES — Hollywood has long stereotyped Hispanic women as spitfires, bombshells and maids. -more-

When Cal has the ball -more-

City Councilmember Kriss Worthington, up for re-election in November, is denouncing a mysterious letter that accuses him of “siding with anti-Jewish and anti-Israel forces” and calls on Berkeley residents to donate to the campaign of his opponent, UC Berkeley student Micki Weinberg. -more-

To the Editor: -more-

MERCED — On a remote foothills site marked by seven years of determination and controversy, Gov. Gray Davis inaugurated a 10th University of California campus Friday. -more-

Bill Beasley has had guns drawn on him twice: once by the Los Angeles Police Department and once by the Ku Klux Klan. But in four decades of civil rights activism, antiwar protests and gay pride celebrations, Beasley has never backed down in his fight for justice and basic human rights. -more-

Pedestrian safety sting -more-

OAKLAND — A spokesman for the Oakland Police Department Friday identified a man police say was shot Thursday night as he sat in his car, bringing the city's homicide tally to 92 victims this year. -more-

Bad news for grape growers -more-

Suit filed against state -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — An environmental group has filed papers in a federal court here to intervene in the California Farm Bureau Federation’s most recent suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to extend the exemption of farms from air quality regulations. -more-

NEWARK — To family members, Eddie “Gwen” Araujo was a struggling but beloved teenager whose killing, allegedly committed in a fit of homophobic rage, is a private sorrow. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court on Friday overturned laws in San Francisco and Santa Monica that ban certain ATM fees charged by banks. -more-

WASHINGTON — Government investigators said Friday they want to find out whether a former Enron Corp. executive improperly hid the company’s stake in three California wind power farms. -more-

LOS ANGELES — William J. Bratton was sworn in Friday as the city’s new police chief, with a mandate to reform the corruption-tinged department and a goal of eliminating graffiti and minor offenses as a way of preventing more serious crimes. -more-

OAKLAND — An Alameda County Superior Court judge ordered Friday that a man charged with murdering his wife, former San Jose Mercury News photographer Lucille Houston, be held without bail. -more-

OAKLAND – U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken is scheduled today to hear challenges to a court decision that awarded two Earth First! activists $4.4 million for First and Fourth Amendment violations by the FBI and Oakland Police Department. -more-

CACHUMA LAKE — Friday, 7 p.m. I feel darn smug, sitting here around the campfire. -more-

Voters in Alameda County will cast votes on an array of ballot measures Tuesday, with voters in Castro Valley poised to decide whether to become an incorporated city and Fremont and Berkeley voters considering raises for local officeholders. -more-

State officials said Tuesday that a UC Berkeley student group seeking to boost minority enrollment is spreading false information about admissions procedures at California’s public universities. -more-

-more-

Two Bay Area legislators received high marks from an environmental watchdog group that handed out report cards last week. -more-

-more-