SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco Bay area environmental advocacy group sued the Department of Energy Wednesday, claiming the department plans to ship radioactive material in unsafe containers to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — Health care costs and the quality of schools are the most important issues for California voters, not gubernatorial candidates’ views on abortion, according to a Field Poll released Thursday. -more-

Stop the insanity – Don’t use your mouth to siphon -more-

When you walk into a store or some other commercial building and look up at the ceiling and see something that looks akin to a tic-tac-toe board, chances are you are looking at a suspended ceiling. -more-

We’re outdoors a lot — in the yard, on picnics, hiking and camping. Those are places where it’s easy to accidentally disturb a beehive. Such an accident can be serious, especially when bees attack in numbers. You can spot, avoid and survive killer bees the same way you do less-violent common honeybees. At home, fill open cracks with steel wool or caulk, and cover larger holes with window screen. Outdoors, expect to find them in places such as holes in trees or in wood piles or rock piles. Also, under picnics tables, in drain pipes, sheds and in water meters. Watch for bee activity and listen for the buzzing that tells a hive is near. Watch children and keep pets on a leash. If you are attacked, don’t flail or run. Hide in a dense bush instead. -more-

Q. Gary asks: Why is water seeping around the bottom of the water closet and how do we remedy it? -more-

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LAS VEGAS — In jeans or in white, pregnant or pushing a suitcase, brides and their grooms rushed to the county courthouse on Valentine’s Day, eager to exchange vows in the city of quickie, no-frills weddings. -more-

LAS VEGAS — One of the busiest holiday weekends on the Las Vegas Strip could get an extra boost this year thanks to Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day, tourism officials say. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court nullified as many as 100 logging permits, a decision mainly affecting tree harvesters in the Tongass National Forest in southeastern Alaska. -more-

LOS ANGELES — Construction activity in California declined 13.1 percent last year as the slumping economy scared off lenders, an industry report shows. -more-

OAKLAND — After a report suggested the East Bay Municipal Utility District could beat Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s rates, the public utility is considering adding electricity to the water and sewer service it provides to 1.3 million customers. -more-

PALO ALTO — They share a name, but that’s about it. Hewlett-Packard Co. wishes Walter Hewlett would just go away. -more-

A recent study of the Writers’ Room, a one-year-old Berkeley High School program, which provides students with one-on-one writing coaches, suggests it is having a significant positive impact on students’ skills. -more-

Berkeley High boys’ soccer coach Janu Juarez named three captains at the beginning of the season: seniors Chris Davis and Liam Reilly and sophomore Kamani Hill. The trio proved worthy of the honor on Wednesday night, as each had a hand in two goals of a 3-0 Berkeley win over Washington High in the first round of the North Coast Section 3A playoffs. -more-

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Thursday, Feb. 14

Two Berkeley citizens will be leaving for Japan on a mission of peace today. -more-

Freshman Dea Wallach scored the game-winning goal in the second overtime period to give the Berkeley High girls’ soccer team a 1-0 first-round 3A North Coast Section playoff victory over Castro Valley on Wednesday night. -more-

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As Washington lawmakers strategize about increasing efforts abroad to wipe out terrorism, several East Bay activist picketed outside the Oakland Police Department demanding its end here. -more-

A controversial penalty kick just seconds before halftime gave Piedmont a 1-0 playoff win over St. Mary’s on a cold Wednesday night, ending the Panthers’ season. -more-

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When most of us daydream about vacationing, the scene is usually set with plenty of sunshine, white sandy beaches and exotic fruit cocktails festooned with paper umbrellas. -more-

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Today is Thursday, Feb. 14, the 45th day of 2002. There are 320 days left in the year. This is Valentine’s Day. -more-

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OAKLAND – The streets of Oakland’s Chinatown were strewn Wednesday with the red flakes of firecracker wrappers used to celebrate the beginning of the Chinese New Year. But Chinese who’ve celebrated the New Year in China said the day barely seemed like a holiday. -more-

About 10 members of the Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste demonstrated outside the Lawrence Hall of Science Wednesday afternoon to call attention the oxidation of tritium just down the hill at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. -more-

LOS ANGELES — Californians lined up at liquor stores and supermarkets Wednesday in a last-minute rush to buy tickets for a $136 million SuperLotto jackpot. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — The father accused of starving his 19-month-old son to death and neglecting a dozen other children was also investigated 12 years ago for the mysterious death of an infant daughter. -more-

LOS ANGELES — A terminal at Los Angeles International Airport was evacuated for an hour Wednesday when a cylinder was found in a planter near a second-floor entrance. The plastic object turned out to be harmless and no flights were delayed. -more-

SACRAMENTO — After months of scraping for money, the project to link California’s major urban areas with trains traveling at more than 200 mph may be headed back on track, despite a worsening state budget. -more-

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — They showed up, unannounced, to call John Walker Lindh a traitor. The mother, father and widow of slain CIA officer Johnny Micheal Spann have a score to settle — and no hesitation about saying so. -more-

CENTURY CITY — As a mother, First Lady Laura Bush said she feels sympathy for the American Taliban’s parents, but said they also serve as a valuable example of how important it is to pay attention to adolescents. -more-

WASHINGTON — Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus told the Bush administration Wednesday that congressional support for its trade policy could melt away if it fails to protect the U.S. lumber and steel industries from cheap imports. -more-

FALLBROOK — Firefighters appear to have finally gained the upper hand on a blaze that destroyed 36 homes and consumed 5,000 acres in the town known as the “Avocado Capital of America.” -more-

SAN JOSE — First-quarter profits at Hewlett-Packard Co. more than tripled on strong computer and printer sales to consumers, beating analysts’ recently raised forecasts Wednesday. Even so, executives said HP still needs to buy Compaq Computer Corp. to solve long-term problems. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday launched its biggest weapon yet in its battle to dominate the emerging Web services market. -more-

Protesters in SF advocate for medical marijuana, while the DEA raids Bay Area clinics and scares Berkeley patients -more-

Despite some sloppy play and a short bench, the Berkeley High girls’ basketball team easily beat Encinal, 64-43, in a preview of next weekend’s ACCAL championship game. -more-

It was like his 1995 photograph of the railroad station in Bombay where a train had just pulled up: crowds of people anxious to get in. -more-

Wednesday, Feb. 13

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Superintendent Michele Lawrence warned that the Berkeley Unified School District will layoff a significant number of employees next year, and she cast doubt on the fate of an under-enrolled City of Franklin School at a public forum Monday night. -more-

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The Planning Commission will hold the first public hearing tonight on the Southside Plan, the document designed to guide development in the area around upper Telegraph Avenue for about the next 20 years. -more-

Theo Boguszewski, eighth-grader at Longfellow Middle School, is a little nervous. -more-

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 13, the 44th day of 2002. There are 321 days left in the year. This is Ash Wednesday. -more-

WASHINGTON — One in four American Indians lives in California or Oklahoma, according to the 2000 census. Cherokee and Navajo are by far the tribes most often checked off on forms. -more-

SACRAMENTO — A California Senate committee, convinced that bankrupt energy giant Enron has destroyed financial documents under legislative subpoena, voted Tuesday to seek criminal charges against the company for concealing evidence and conspiracy. -more-

SAN JOSE — Apple Computer Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Ericsson Telephone Co. said Tuesday they have teamed up to develop a system for bringing multimedia content such as movie clips to cell phones and other wireless devices. -more-

SAN DIEGO — A director of Enron was reappointed Tuesday to Qualcomm Inc.’s board over the objections of labor groups and some shareholder activists. -more-

Being the daughter of a famous writer, being a BI-coastal child to divorced parents, being bi-racial and being a “movement child” of the sixties has not been easy — being Rebecca Walker has not been easy. -more-

PARK CITY, Utah — This town knows how to host a party. -more-

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Tuesday, Feb. 12

A man was wounded in the back when his Sacramento Street apartment was sprayed with about 10 bullets at 10:25 p.m. Friday. -more-

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Licensed child care in Alameda County is both scarce and expensive, according to a report released last week by the California Child Care & Resource Referral Network, a statewide organization that conducts research on child care issues. -more-

Today is Tuesday, Feb. 12, the 43rd day of 2002. There are 322 days left in the year. -more-

An eye for an eye, a pig for a pig -more-

WASHINGTON — The FBI issued an extraordinary terrorist alert Monday night, asking law enforcement and the American public to be on the lookout for a Yemeni man and several associates who might be plotting a terrorist attack as early as today. -more-

Bay Area Briefs -more-

SAN JOSE — Stanford University will require some companies that perform campus work to pay their employees a “living wage,” but student activists who have insisted upon such a rule said Monday the plan falls short of what they wanted. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — City Attorney Dennis Herrera sued Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s parent corporation Monday, accusing it of driving the utility into bankruptcy through unfair and illegal business practices. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — Jerry Roberts will step down as managing editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, the paper and Roberts announced Monday. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — PayPal Inc. warned Monday its popular online payment service is about to be shut down in Louisiana by that state’s banking regulators, casting another cloud over the company’s widely anticipated initial public offering of stock. -more-

SANTA CLARA — Intel Corp. introduced a family of microprocessors Monday that promise to improve the performance and increase the battery life of handheld devices such as cell phones and palm-sized computers. -more-

LOS ANGELES — Shares of Toymax International Inc. were up 38 percent Monday after it agreed to be acquired by Jakks Pacific Inc. for more than $54 million in cash and stock. -more-

College Freshman Derek Moser tried to capture a pose of the golden-brown King Cheetah lounging on a table in front of his anatomy and life drawing class. -more-

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Monday, Feb. 11

Halfway through the third quarter on Saturday night at Contra Costa College, the St. Mary’s Panthers were digging themselves into the deep hole. They had already blown a halftime lead and were down, 42-38, to archrival Salesian. But St. Mary’s head coach Jose Caraballo still had an ace up his sleeve: DaShawn Freeman. -more-

Berkeley, which has a long history of firsts in accessibility issues, is among the 10 finalists for the National Organization on Disability’s first annual Accessibility America contest. -more-

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Cal in four-way tie for third place in Pac-10 Conference -more-

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, came home to the most gorgeous weather – and the cheeriest group of well-wishers when she and Loni Hancock, a candidate for the state Assembly, appeared at their joint campaign office on Saturday. -more-

The County Board of Education and County Office of Education have the responsibility to educate the most at risk students in Alameda County. -more-

Today is Monday, Feb. 11, the 42nd day of 2002. There are 323 days left in the year. -more-

Jean Chen is trying to teach a class about HTML, but there’s a DJ next to her and the music is getting louder by the second. Chen ignores the intrusion until her students can no longer hear her voice. "Could you please turn it down,” she shouts and then, without missing a beat, turns back toward her class of five teenagers. -more-

BERLIN — Marlene Dietrich was not the femme fatale she played in her films, but was an emotionally distant woman and a harsh disciplinarian with her only child, her grandson said Sunday. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — A strange relationship between a man and four women he lived with has been marred by tragedy. The five adults face a Monday arraignment on charges related to an infant’s death and the mistreatment of their 12 other children. -more-

University of California Berkeley student Woody Hartman’s tic-tac-toe skills will be tested when he matriculates to Hollywood Squares as a contestant, beginning Tuesday, February 19. -more-

LOS ANGELES — Jakks Pacific Inc., which makes World Wrestling Federation action figures, is buying Toymax International, Inc., which makes kites, water toys and other products. -more-

Hours after Governor Gray Davis released an advertisement slamming Richard Riordan, the GOP front runner in the gubernatorial race, for his shifting views on abortion issues, Riordan launched a counterattack of his own. -more-

SANTA CLARA — Digital photography is constantly improving, allowing, for instance, 3-megapixel cameras to drop in price from $1000 a year ago to under $500 today. -more-

The San Francisco Airport Commission wants the Board of Supervisors to adopt a resolution that authorizes the $19.3 million purchase of several explosive detection systems to improve the airport’s security. -more-

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Experience or new blood? That was the question at the heart of a debate on Proposition 45 in Professor Alan Ross’s “Election 2002” class at UC Berkeley Wednesday. -more-

Stop! or I’ll dry you -more-

A missing heart -more-

BEIJING — The Chinese-speaking world ushered in the lunar Year of the Horse with dancing dragons, caroling soldiers and all-night fireworks barrages. -more-

Menfro soil is salt of the earth -more-

WASHINGTON — Emboldened by success in Afghanistan, some lawmakers are beating the drum for quick action to get rid of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. They take a different view of other nations singled out by President Bush as trouble. -more-