Dante Green and his girlfriend Krystina Brown, both undergrads at Xavier University in New Orleans, evacuated to Atlanta just before Hurricane Katrina hit and jumped at the offer to come study at UC Berkeley when the waters rose around their campus. -more-

Plans for a downtown UC Berkeley museum complex moved to the forefront Tuesday when the university issued a call for a project design architect. -more-

An off-campus incident between a student and a UC Berkeley undergraduate advisor that led to explosive allegations of racist and sexist epithets against the student has a local activist organization calling for the firing of the employee and the UC officials conducting a review of the university’s initial response. -more-

Members of the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) Monday tackled everything from a nuclear accelerator building to UC Berkeley expansion plans. -more-

The popular and sometimes controversial watch commander of North Oakland’s PSA-2 beat is leaving his post for the department’s central office, leaving regretful North Oakland citizens behind. -more-

Forget blue states and red states. At the Berkeley City Council Tuesday, it was green signs versus orange signs. -more-

The School Board meeting on Wednesday night marked the end of the presidency of Nancy Riddle. The board passed a unanimous resolution honoring Nancy Riddle for her work. Riddle was described as a strong leader who ran meetings smoothly and calmly. -more-

Student attendance declines as students grow older, the Berkeley School Board learned last week. -more-

Berkeley police arrested five Berkeley High School students last Friday after a fight between two youths escalated into a large scale fracas. -more-

The Alameda County district attorney’s office Thursday refused to press murder charges against a 42-year-old former Berkeley man accused of killing his parents and sister. -more-

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

OAKLAND -more-

There is a moment in Jeffery Goldberg’s New Yorker profile of Brent Scowcroft, George Bush Senior’s former national security advisor, when the current administration’s combination of arrogance and cluelessness crystallize. Over dinner, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice tells Scowcroft that the “good news” from the Middle East is that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is pulling out of Gaza, the first step toward resolving the issue of a Palestinian state. -more-

Abraham Lincoln being my favorite U.S. president, I often follow his advice on unconstructive criticism: “If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business.” But two types of criticisms get my immediate attention. One is if someone accuses me of a factual error—my opinions are my opinions, but they ought to be based on the correct facts. The second is if I get called out of my name, which I do not appreciate. -more-

A review of the art exhibit, “Justice Matters”, sponsored by the Middle East Children’s Alliance was recently published in the Berkeley Daily Planet (Friday Dec. 2). The writer, Peter Selz, a man with a stellar reputation as an art historian, is an expert in German expressionism as well as many other areas. Unfortunately, in this case, he has stumbled into another world, one that depends not on truth but on propaganda, a world in which art is being misused to serve as a tool to spread hatred and justify violence. -more-

A small but vocal minority twists logic into a pretzel in its clamor for the death of Tookie Williams on Dec. 12. In contrast, the opposition to the execution stands upon a hierarchy of values and logic that digs deep into the positive side of America and repudiates the murderous side of our history. At the abolitionist base are folks, many of them religious, who believe that taking life, except in self-defense, is egregiously abhorrent. Because this view underpins the declared moral principles of civilization, when a cop kills someone who turns out to not have a weapon, the police plea is often that the officer thought the suspect was armed. That becomes the only acceptable public justification. -more-

The Christmas Revels celebrates the Winter Solstice—and its 20th anniversary—with songs, dances and stories of medieval England for 10 weekend matinee and evening shows, Dec. 9-18, at Oakland’s Scottish Rite Theater by Lake Merritt. -more-

FRIDAY, DEC. 9 -more-

FRIDAY, DEC. 9 -more-

Although I have a pretty strong stomach, there is nothing that will sour it as quickly as a beautiful old home that’s had all its wooden windows replaced with those awful aluminum jobs. This is called getting ferclampeted, which, in Yiddish, means “to find oil on your land and find yourself living in upscale digs you ought never to have occupied.” -more-

Dear Matt: -more-

If you have a child on your gift list this year, and he or she looks susceptible, it’s time to pass on that benign garden bug. It doesn’t need to be missionary work to infect the kids around you (and you don’t get a toaster); just let them play in the mud with the right tools like the rest of us. -more-