Berkeley—which really did not need any more bad news on the budget front this fiscal year—got it anyway with the surprise, sudden, and stunning announcement this week that the almost universally respected Paul Navazio was resigning as Budget Manager at the end of January to become the Finance Director for the city of Davis. -more-

FRIDAY, JAN. 9 -more-

City Councilmember Gordon Wozniak’s op-ed piece “Rush to IRV Ballot Raises Troubling Questions” (Daily Planet, Dec. 26-29) is full of factual errors and misleading statements. It also ignores one of the strongest arguments for Instant Runoff Voting: IRV offers voters a stronger voice. Under our current system, many people are afraid to vote for their first choice in candidates when that candidate is not one of the frontrunners. They are afraid their vote will be “thrown away,” or that their alternative candidate will be a “spoiler.” So, voters hold their noses and vote for the lesser of two evils. When that candidate wins, s/he claims “I must implement the platform I ran on.” But, with traditional single vote elections, it is unclear how many voters actually agree with the platform. -more-

When early music scholar and performer Eileen Hadidian was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1994, the longtime East Bay resident used the music she loved most to help herself through difficult times. -more-

FRIDAY, JAN. 9 -more-

It’s wet out there. It’s mud time, mushroom time, the Season of the Newt. -more-

With the announcement Monday that Avenue Books would soon close its doors forever, a visitor to Elmwood’s only bookstore discovers an atmosphere that feels like a wake. -more-

Editors, Daily Planet: -more-

While Berkeley public access television is now available to a world-wide audience, that doesn’t mean it’s ready for prime time. -more-

A 44-year old Berkeley peace activist detained and jailed in the Occupied West Bank for participating in a New Year Eve’s protest over the construction of Israel’s new “security fence” was freed on bail Thursday morning after nine days in a Ministry of the Interior detention center in Khadera, north of Tel Aviv. -more-

BERKELEY HIGH LIBRARY -more-

“I get ideas, I start things, but then I don’t know what to do with them. I’m not a good administrator. It’s a serious fault,” said Zoia Horn, looking down apologetically. -more-

A world-renowned Berkeley landscape architect has paired with a relatively unknown City of New York employee to win the competition to design the memorial for victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. -more-

Heavy rains over the holiday break left a number of teachers and students at Malcolm X Arts and Academic magnet school without classrooms after water from the surrounding area came spilling into the annex building, forcing a major cleanup and renovation that will keep ground-floor rooms closed until the Tuesday after Martin Luther King Day. -more-

Immigrant communities and their news media were quick to respond to the implementation this week of a program that fingerprints and photographs most foreign visitors upon entry to the United States. -more-

Among European foreign correspondents based in the United States there is an uproar. Returning from their homelands after their end-of-the-year vacations, for the first time in history many had the unsavory experience of being asked at the border to provide their fingerprints and their pictures. -more-

Planners Discuss UC Hotel -more-

New Chancellor Search -more-

Meat Cleaver Attack -more-

Bay Area hospitals have issued an urgent call for blood donors after regional supplies fell so low that a San Francisco hospital was forced to delay open heart surgery Tuesday. -more-

Randolph Ward came to the Greater Mandana Action Coalition meeting the other night and patted his own back as the guy who’s had the courage and the cojones to make the “tough choices” to reform the Oakland Unified School District, adding more than a minor implication that Oakland school stewards in the recent past have not displayed such leadership. Wrong on both counts, Mr. Ward. But we’ll get back to that point in a bit. -more-