New Orleans native Victor Lewis sat in an Oakland hotel lobby Sunday afternoon wondering when he would finally catch a break. His post-Hurricane Katrina westward migration began with five grim nights in the New Orleans Superdome, followed by 20 days shelter in Dallas’ Reunion Arena, four nights sleeping on Dallas streets, and finally a bus ride to Oakland, and a Red Cross-subsidized hotel room a few blocks from Jack London Square. In less than two weeks, he may be forced to move his few belongings again. -more-

Complaints about alcohol sales and possible city code violations have raised new questions about the Gaia Building, the tallest structure built in downtown Berkeley in recent years. -more-

Demonstrators crowded the narrow street leading to the east entrance to San Quentin Prison on Saturday morning to demand clemency for convicted murderer and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Stanley “Tookie” Williams. -more-

Among the kids playing basketball, the folks bringing food, the gardeners, the chess players and the homeless people who all fill some sort of niche in their lives in People’s Park, there’s been another creature hanging out there—a wild turkey. -more-

Smiling and brimming with upbeat assessments, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates and UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau last week gave the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce rosy views of the future of town and gown cooperation. -more-

For the third time in as many months, UC Police have torn down the freebox at People’s Park. -more-

Police are seeking clues in the mysterious Nov. 10 disappearance of a 23-year-old Berkeley man who left home that morning to drive a friend to work and hasn’t been seen since. -more-

Transportation commissioners voted Thursday night to raise the cost of evening parking at the Oxford Street lot and extend the time limits on the new pay and display meters downtown to 90 minutes. -more-

The walking tour of the area to be included in the new Downtown Area Plan will be held Dec. 3, and not Nov. 26 as reported in Friday’s Daily Planet. -more-

Pizza guy robbed -more-

To view Justin DeFreitas’ latest editorial cartoon, please visit -more-

DRUG HOUSE -more-

I got my first personal impression of UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau last Tuesday, when he and Mayor Bates were the featured speakers at the City Lunch sponsored by the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce. Up to then, I’d only encountered Robert Birgeneau in print—through quotes in many newspaper articles, and through the admirable speech he delivered when he was inaugurated as the campus’s ninth chancellor last April. I was curious to see how he and the mayor would address their announced theme, “The City and the University Partnership for Berkeley’s Future.” -more-

This semester at San Francisco State, I’m taking classes with several excellent, talented instructors. Nona Caspers is the recipient of the 2005 Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction. Toni Mirosevitch is the author of Queer Street and My Oblique Strategies, winner of the 2005 Frank O’Hara Chapbook Award. Michelle Carter’s play, Ted Kaczinski Killed People With Bombs, has won a slew of prestigious prizes including a 2003 Pen Award, a commission from the Mark Taper Forum, and a 2005 residency for the playwright at London’s Donmar Warehouse. -more-

So the lord sent down the rainbow sign, no more water the fire next time. -more-

The environmental impact report (EIR) procedure is far from perfect (see “West Berkeley Bowl EIR Conceals the Truth,” Daily Planet, Nov. 18), but the beauty of this legal process is that it permits the public to examine potential impacts of a development prior to its approval. -more-

The unrest in France provides us with the opportunity, even the necessity, to think about our world in some new ways. While the various sociological analyses about poverty and racism are important, a longer view may tell us even more. What happens when we hit the “zoom out” key and, instead of a perspective spanning a few years, or even decades, we look over a period of centuries? -more-

A few weeks ago I called the City of Berkeley about a mattress illegally dumped in front of my apartment, which was promptly removed within eight hours. In late October Berkeley fixed another problem after neighbors complained—the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) declared Dwight Way Liquors a public nuisance and ordered its closure (‘Liquor Store Declared Public Nuisance, Ordered to Close,” Daily Planet, Nov. 1). Cited for 32 violations, this alcohol outlet was disciplined for operating after hours, selling alcohol to intoxicated persons, public drinking by minors, excessive littering, prostitution, vandalism, illegal drug activity, noise, the harassment of passersby, double-parking, and loitering. -more-

After 25 years of community pressure to stop polluting Berkeley, Albany, El Cerrito and Kensington neighborhoods, Pacific Steel Casting is finally planning to take steps to curb its levels of emissions. We appreciate the recent announcement that Pacific Steel will take additional steps to reduce toxic air pollution from its West Berkeley plant but more needs to be done. -more-

With a fine mural of Marseilles’s Vieux Port as backdrop for César’s airy cafe right down on the quais—Greg Dunham’s set—the players are positioned to begin their round of Provençal comedy and passion. -more-

TUESDAY, NOV. 22 -more-

When conservationists talk about biodiversity hotspots, the association is usually with remote, exotic places: Madagascar, Yunnan, the tepuis of Venezuela, the Western Ghats of India. That’s not always the case, though; in fact, we live in one. The biodiversity of California is astounding. An island on the land, cordoned off from the rest of North America by mountains and deserts, our state is full of plants and animals that have gone their own evolutionary ways. Of a total of 5,500 California species, just over a quarter occur nowhere else in the world. -more-

TUESDAY, NOV. 22 -more-