By Diana Montaño/510 Report
The tropical crops of Maria Inés Catalán’s youth don’t grow in Hollister. Instead of winding through the papaya and mango trees of her native Guerrero, Mexico, here, wearing black loafers caked in mud from the past week’s rain, she tramples weeds, carefully stepping over the kale, broccoli and artichoke plants that thrive in the Northern California winter.

By Angela Kilduff
Halloween festivities combined with election-day fervor at “Abuzz for Obama” on Friday night. Berkeley resident and artist Stacey Moss celebrates Halloween each year with a candy corn-themed fête. For this, the seventh annual get-together, she transformed candy corn cutouts into honeybees abuzz for presidential candidate Barack Obama.

By Casey Miner  At a chain clothing store on Telegraph Avenue, catching shoplifters isn’t just about ethics — it’s about making money.
On a recent weekday afternoon, one employee, who said he has worked at the store for about a year and a half, proudly displayed a row of stickers affixed to the back of his nametag – one for every thief caught. Once he catches ten, he said, the store gives him a $50 gift card.
“It’s annoying,” he said of the shoplifters. “But kids will be kids.”
Employees at …

By Casey Miner  The street vendors of upper Telegraph Avenue are fixtures of Berkeley life; their colorful stands lend the few blocks near campus some of its legendary character. But as anxious consumers cut discretionary spending, those stands see fewer and fewer patrons.
“They can’t afford to buy,” said Bill Tumath, 62, who sells “cosmic spirals” – metal or copper hanging spirals that spin around brightly colored spheres – from a table near Bancroft Way. “They have the money, but they have other priorities.”

By Will Jason
More than a year after announcing plans for redevelopment, the owner of a long-vacant lot in Berkeley’s Southside neighborhood has still not filed official plans with the city. And with the city officials and the owner’s partners growing impatient, the chance to revive what many see as a neglected corner – Telegraph Ave. and Haste St. – could soon fade away.
“A new building would be good for the neighborhood,” said Mario Tejada, 78, who said he has owned
Mario’s La Fiesta restaurant, across the street from the site, since …