The first week of 2012 didn’t have a lot of hard news in Berkeley, but there were plenty of stories that stirred our readers.

Parking around Trader Joe’s sparks “vigilante” action. The confused parking regulations around the Trader Joe’s at University and MLK have generated a bonanza of parking violations for the city. But they have also provoked neighborhood action and a pending change in the regulations.

Gobble, gobble: Turkeys roam streets of Berkeley, Albany. Perhaps you had too much turkey over the holiday season? That doesn’t mean you can resist the photos of the wild turkeys wandering through Berkeley streets.

Occupy food: College co-op advocates gather in Berkeley. An intensive, three-day retreat in Berkeley helps train students to create co-op stores and cafés that offer something other than processed fast food.

Willard School teacher has students doing the math rap. As the video above shows, Willard School’s Robert MacCarthy has a unique approach to teaching middle school math.

This week, we also marked the passing of three much-loved members of the Berkeley community: Rebecca Fromer, Terry Doran, and Rabbi Arnold “Avi” Levine.

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Lance Knobel (Berkeleyside co-founder) has been a journalist for nearly 40 years. Much of his career was in business journalism. He was editor-in-chief of both Management Today, the leading business magazine...