Alex Fang

After 14 years as mayor of Berkeley — the longest tenure in the city’s history — and 38 years of public office, Tom Bates, age 78, has decided to retire. It marks the end of a long career of public service that was punctuated with significant accomplishments that benefited many, from people with disabilities to Berkeley youth to local breweries and sports fanatics.

After 12 years as District 5 City Council member, Laurie Capitelli is now throwing his hat into the race for mayor.

The upcoming November ballot will feature a measure that would implement a public financing system for Berkeley city elections and could potentially diversify the pool of candidates in future elections.

City Council is taking steps toward establishing more shelter spaces and resources for homeless residents for the coming winter after a regular meeting Tuesday night.

This election season, in addition to mayoral and city council races, Berkeley residents have the opportunity to vote on candidates running for seats on the governing boards of BART and AC Transit.

Those in need of a job can look at several position openings within the city of Berkeley, such as animal services assistant, assistant city clerk and landscape gardener.

On Sept. 9, the UC Berkeley Fire Fuel Management Program announced that its Hill Campus Fire Hazard Reduction Program is delayed due to a termination of funds previously awarded to the campus.

A crowd comprising mostly students and faculty from the campus’s electrical engineering and computer sciences department filled Soda Hall’s HP Auditorium on Wednesday night for a town hall discussion, in response to concern spurred by long waitlists for various EECS courses.

At its first Tuesday regular meeting since its eight-week summer recess, Berkeley City Council directed the city manager to develop a way to mitigate years of rent overcharging by Acton Courtyard, an apartment building developed in partnership with the city.

UC Berkeley professors emeriti Jerry Craddock and Charles Faulhaber, both former chairs of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, have been selected to life time appointments as foreign corresponding members in the prestigious Royal Spanish Academy.