Burrowing owls, and docents, return to Berkeley park Five Western burrowing owls have been spotted in Cesar Chavez Park. The small ground-dwelling birds spend much of the day sitting alertly near their burrows, astonishingly close to all those humans with dogs, kites and strollers. [Photo, above, by Doug Donaldson.]

Anti-harassment cyclist law goes into effect in Berkeley On Thursday, Berkeley joined Los Angeles as only the second city in the nation to provide specific civil recourse for harassed and assaulted cyclists. No everyone thought this made sense.

Set-back for Mitch Kapor and his plans to build a home in Berkeley An environmental impact report will need to be conducted at 2707 Rose Street after a group challenging the philantropist’s proposal to build a new home there (pictured left) won their court appeal.

Berkeley passes police mutual aid agreements On Tuesday, the City Council opted to allow Berkeley’s police department to help out UC Police, among others, in a relaxation of its mutual aid policies — despite vocal protests from members of the public who expressed concerns over the “increasing militarization of the police.”

This week, Berkeleyside signed up Autodesk as a sponsor, and Qeyno Lab’s Kalimah Priforce and Andre Marquis, head of UC Berkeley’s Lester Center for Entrepreneurship as panelists for Startup Berkeley, our Local Business Forum on the evening of March 5th at the Freight & Salvage. Want to see Berkeley become a more welcoming city for new businesses? Be part of the conversation!

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Eighty feet of knitting added to downtown bike rack People love a good yarn bombing — well most people do, anyway. This time the stealth knitter struck on a pair of looped bike racks near the downtown Berkeley Library (above).
UC Berkeley hunger strike enters its eighth day Seven people stopped eating to protest the controversial consolidation of Ethnic Studies at Cal with other social science programs. Not everyone agreed with their tactics, or cause.
Will new restaurant break location’s unlucky streak? In the past 14 years, there have been five restaurants at 2826 Telegraph Avenue. Will the latest venture, a “farm to fork” eatery with a Catalan name, succeed where others have not?
Mitch Kapor takes first step to building Berkeley home Despite aggressive attempts to stop the Lotus founder from building a house on his Rose Street property, including most recently an injunction, demolition work at the site has now begun.
Berkeley schools show improvements in state tests In the Department of Education’s annual reporting of test results, Berkeley schools showed steady improvement.

In the past five days, as well as the stories above, we brought you tales of ghee and sliders and law enforcing vintners. We covered a city budget meeting and a neighborhood crime gathering, profiled a Berkeley violinist, and an expert Persian bread maker who came to our city from Ecuador via war-torn Iran. We love doing this, but we do it with limited resources. We need our readers’ support as well as that of our advertisers. So please consider becoming a Berkeleyside subscriber — from just $5 a month — if you value the independent, unbiased news you read on Berkeleyside. Thank you in advance.

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In case you didn’t have time to read every story on Berkeleyside this week, we’ve picked those that proved most popular for your leisurely weekend perusal.

Local Business Forum: a call to action – More than 250 people attended Berkeleyside’s business forum at the Freight & Salvage to talk about a vision for the city’s future and a frank discussion of the impediments to doing business now.
The future of West Berkeley (above) — After three years of planning, the City Council held a hearing on dramatic changes to the zoning of West Berkeley, an area that houses the city’s light industrial and manufacturing businesses. Advocates for changes say that more zoning flexibility is needed to bring in 21^st century companies; detractors are concerned that will lead to higher rents that will squeeze out artisans.
Mitch Kapor case is not over – Those opposed to his proposed home on Rose Street vow to return to court.
The rats of Telegraph Avenue — A vacant lot on Telegraph and Haste is swarming with rats.
Dayna Macy faces her food obsession – This Yoga Journal editor traces her successful quest to shed her extra weight by eating right.

Berkeleyside is publishing more top stories all the time and attracting increasing numbers of readers. Since our launch 15 months ago, we have posted 1,951 articles, published more than 8,400 comments, and this past month alone more than 55,000 visitors came to the site to read breaking news about their city. But reporting and producing news doesn’t come free. If you believe Berkeleyside is providing you with a valuable resource, please help us continue to do so by contributing to local journalism and becoming a Berkeleyside subscriber. Thank you.

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North Berkeley sees rash of armed robberies There have been more than a dozen armed robberies, including in broad daylight in Ohlone Park (above), in the city since November 11.
Tibetan Buddhism flourishes in downtown Berkeley Harold Way, a small street in the heart of downtown Berkeley, has become a new center for Tibetan Buddhism.
$1 million for branch libraries; lawsuit pending The Neighborhood Library Campaign has raised almost a third of its $3.5 million goal, but not everyone is happy with the planned renovations.
How brainy is Berkeley? It’s safe to report we crush both Boulder and Ann Arbor, but just how smart a city is Berkeley?
Judge hears Mitch Kapor Berkeley home case Almost a year after the Lotus founder got the go-ahead to build a new home in Berkeley, the residents who oppose the project got their day in court.

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