A day after Berkeley High School students mourned the sudden death of Vice Principal Denise Brown, over 800 Berkeley High sophomores filed into the gymnasium to take the California High School Exit Exam Tuesday. -more-

Is the referendum fast becoming the weapon of choice for Berkeley voters to challenge City Council decisions? -more-

When residents and merchants of North Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto walked into the North Shattuck Plaza workshop on Wednesday evening, the walls were sans plans, sans easels. -more-

While Councilmember Gordon Wozniak thinks it would be a stellar idea to develop the old Wright’s Garage at 2929-23 Ashby Ave. as a restaurant and shops, some criticize the District 8 councilmember, saying he should keep an open mind on land-use questions that may come before him. -more-

Despite heated opposition from representatives of both bus drivers and the bus riding community, the Board of Directors of Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District voted unanimously last week to go forward with a contract that would put 50 new revised models of the controversial Van Hool 40-foot buses on East Bay streets. -more-

“Our goal is to bring the 1910 feeling back to the Bay Area with 2010 amenities that appeal to the corporate traveler,” said the man who will oversee the renovation a downtown Berkeley landmark. -more-

The question before DAPAC Wednesday night was whether to give the elephant in the room its own corner or simply treat it as part of the furniture. -more-

Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmember Linda Maio had planned a very civil two-hour evening, focusing on Pacific Steel Castings whose “burnt potholder” smell and possibly dangerous emissions have been a community concern for more than two decades. -more-

Deputy superintendent Eric Smith presented board members of the Berkeley Unified School District with information on the governor’s budget for fiscal year 2007-2008 on Wednesday. -more-

Following up on an issue he originally raised in last fall’s election campaign, freshman Peralta Community College District Trustee Abel Guillen questioned ongoing renovation work on the district’s board room, saying that it should not come before renovation at Peralta’s colleges. -more-

Following a breakfast gathering in which local law enforcement officials painted a bleak picture of youth crime in Alameda County, representatives of Alameda County’s black elected officials and black clergy took one of the first public tours the other week of the county’s soon-to-be-opened Juvenile Justice Center. -more-

The man with the sparkling eyes and shoulder-length salt and pepper hair who laughs and jokes with a visitor and shares his passion for photography and writing could have spent much of his life homeless, living in backyards in what he describes as a tube, or shut away in a mental institution. -more-

When the governor released his budget in July, he terminated funds for mental health programs, best known as State Assembly bill AB2034, saying that this funding source, available since 2000, would be replaced by the 2004 voter-approved Proposition 63. -more-

A news analysis article on page 17 of the Feb. 6. edition misidentified one of the recipients of research funds from British Petroleum. It should have been Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, not Lawrence Livermore Laboratories, as reported. -more-

Roving firefighters discover trailer fire -more-

“Is there a president anywhere in the history of America as bad as George W. Bush? I believe there is. It is Jefferson Davis. He came from privilege. He wasn’t elected. And he marched thousands of young men to their death in a long war for immoral ends,” declares Chris Chandler of the Chandler and Roe political/musical duo in a rap he gives between songs—as he did recently at Berkeley’s La Pena night club. -more-

1. Sleep shmeep -more-

At a time when Americans throughout the country are frustrated by the failure of public schools to teach their children, Mexico is increasing its efforts to help struggling school systems deal with immigrant children who speak Spanish. -more-

LT. WATADA -more-

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one in a series of columns submitted in response to the Daily Planet’s call for tributes to Molly Ivins. -more-

In her Jan. 30 article, “ZAB Rejects Cell Phone Antennas on UC Storage,” Riya Bhattacharjee writes: -more-

Matthew Taylor’s recent op-ed blaming Israel for just about everything is filled with every manner of distortion, falsehood, reliance on dubious and partisan sources, and a very selective reading of history. Here are just a few examples: -more-

Since, with respect to Mideast policy, the United States and Israel are inseparable, it is not surprising that, with the disastrous collapse of the Iraq project, for the first time in a long time criticism of Israel’s policies is being heard in this country. Not only political realists like James Baker, Jimmy Carter, and professors Mearsheimer and Walt, but also the anti-war left have been almost forced, despite their reluctance, into looking anew at the occupation of Palestine. Many American Jews, liberal and anti-war by inclination, have been experiencing some discomfort from this turn of events. This discomfort has been deliberately aggravated by a Zionist campaign, mounted for several years now both here and in Europe, to convince Jews that they are experiencing a huge new wave of anti-Semitism, coming, against all expectations, from the left. -more-

Let us begin this week’s discussion with the question where we ended a previous column: “So what actually happened at the Paramount, and how did the allegations of anti-Latino racism get blown up by some into the defining moment of that event?” -more-

If you’ve ever dined in the rear portion of the Great China restaurant on Kittredge Street, you might have noticed that this space is markedly different from the front part. Redwood board-and-batten wainscots; redwood doors and window trim; a beamed tongue-and-groove ceiling with elegantly carved brackets; and a doorway incorporating a fan of Victorian spindlework all suggest that these rooms were part of a former home. -more-

A couple of months ago, I wrote about Berkeley Indoor Gardens, an indoor gardening (surprise!) store down at the tidal end of University Avenue. I got to feeling bad because I hadn’t written about the other indoor gardening store across the street. This one even advertises on KPIG, my favorite radio station. (So does Memphis Minnie’s, home of the best Sunday brunch in San Francisco. Don’t take my word for it—go eat!) -more-

Breakers of the space-age: In 2003 there were over 73,000 electrical fires and nearly 600 resulting deaths, not to mention about a billion dollars in property loss. Most of these fires were caused by electrical “arcing.” -more-

Luis Garcia and Richard Krech, two lifelong Berkeley poets, will read for Monday At Moe’s, the series produced by Owen Hill at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave., 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 12. -more-