Multimedia by Tyler Sipe
As Election Day draws near, local African-Americans describe the electric atmosphere during this year’s historic presidential election.

Video by Will Jason, Angela Kilduff and Casey Miner
When you’re CodePink, even a moving-out sale attracts controversy.

Video by Angela Kilduff and Casey Miner
See what’s on people’s minds in Berkeley with four days left until the election.

By Amanda Dyer
Get in the Halloween and election-season spirit with political pumpkins.

By Karen Weise
The ceremony commemorating the 140th anniversary of the Hayward Fault earthquake emphasized the urgency of learning from the magnitude 6.8 trembler in order to minimize devastation from future quakes. Calling for greater disaster preparedness, the ceremony blended history and science about the quake to jolt the public and officials into action.

By Angela Kilduff
BERKELEY — It was standing room only at last week’s mayoral debate, and the audience heard from twice as many candidates’ perspectives than the event billed. Two write-in candidates, Kahlil Jacobs-Fantauzzi and Zachary RunningWolf, joined Mayor Tom Bates and Shirley Dean on stage to discuss their positions on Berkeley issues. Over 100 people attended the debate, sponsored by The Berkeley Daily Planet and held at the West Berkeley Senior Center.

By Adelaide Chen
A local nonprofit developer has purchased land in Oakland’s Eastlake area to build affordable rental units for low-income families. But some residents say the influx of new households will bring parking and traffic congestion to their relatively calm neighborhood.

By Adelaide Chen
Oakland’s ReGeneration Church is popular with college students and singles for its rock n’ roll sermons and acceptance of all denominations.
But lately, another program is becoming popular among families who live in the area but who are not officially part of the church — martial arts.
Known as the Taekwondo Ministry, the Korean martial arts class brings the gospel to youth as early as the age of five.

By Will Jason
By the time “Yellowjackets” closed Oct. 19 at the Berkeley Repertory Theater, the play helped raised more than $6,000 for the cash-strapped high school newspaper, the Berkeley High Jacket. But while the play—which follows a racial controversy involving the Jacket 14 years ago—helped to solve the newspaper’s financial crisis, it also brought to light a more persistent challenge that continues to face the paper today.
Set at Berkeley High School in 1994, the play follows the boycott of the Jacket by a group of minority students and teachers after …

By Casey Miner  A rally in support of Proposition 8, the ballot measure that would ban same-sex marriage in California, turned ugly as supporters of the measure taunted passersby and counter-demonstrators near Lake Merritt in Oakland.
The demonstrators yelled slurs like “faggot,” according to several people who said they were harassed. Some said they were pushed, poked, and hit with signs by aggressive demonstrators.