For the first time in recent memory, Berkeley has a professional politician in the mayor’s office — a schmoozer, a comedian, a dealmaker, a diplomat. He is a 20-year veteran of the state Assembly who, after terming out in 1996, fought like hell to overturn the law that pushed him out of office. -more-

For those accustomed to being spoon-fed our messages at the movies the documentary films of Frederick Wiseman can be a little hard to swallow. -more-

FRIDAY, APRIL 11 -more-

IN MY THOUGHTS -more-

City Council previewed four budget-cutting proposals Tuesday that could result in higher parking fines, massive cuts to city services and the loss of over 100 city jobs. -more-

FRIDAY, APRIL 11 -more-

In his piece “Big Box Targets City” (Daily Planet, April 4-7), John Geluardi raises a number of issues regarding the construction of a Target Store on Eastshore Highway in Albany. -more-

Berkeley composer John Adams won the Pulitzer Prize in music this week for his homage to the Sept. 11 victims, “On the Transmigration of Souls,” but his elation was tempered by criticism of the award. -more-

I have lived in Berkeley for 34 years and have been actively involved in civic life for the past six. I have been often dismayed and occasionally sickened by the low, mean level at which many civic participants operate, and I know that this grim atmosphere keeps many intelligent and interested residents away from the civic table. -more-

I report this more in sorrow than in anger, but I have been flipped off three times in the past couple of weeks by middle-aged women driving expensive vehicles. -more-

FRIDAY, APRIL 11 -more-

The other day my wife brought home a baby bunny. She had stopped at the pet store on the way home from work and picked it out from a bunch of baby bunnies. There is nothing like a baby bunny. They are perhaps the cutest thing in the world. -more-

Both the Oakland Police Department and the demonstrators who clashed with them at Monday’s anti-war protest will have a chance to testify at a hearing later this month. The public hearing will be held before the Public Safety Committee on April 29 at 3 p.m. in Oakland’s City Hall. -more-

I work for a Berkeley-based nonprofit organization that offers comprehensive services to help homeless people gain independence. I have worked here for 17 years, and watched as attention to the war on poverty ebbed and flowed as public priorities changed. We are seemingly no closer to a solution than when I first arrived. Or are we? -more-

A UC Berkeley ceremony honoring Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control, as “Alumna of the Year” became an impromptu press conference last week on the mysterious disease SARS, which stands for severe acute respiratory disease. -more-

City Council handed a partial victory to neighborhood opponents of an American Baptist Seminary of the West proposal to demolish two century-old cottages to make way for a five-story building. -more-

“I’m scared,” she said as she stood on the sharp edge of the shallow end of Willard Pool in Berkeley. -more-

Elderly woman robbed -more-

Students Protest for Palestine -more-

For those accustomed to being spoon-fed our messages at the movies the documentary films of Frederick Wiseman can be a little hard to swallow. -more-