The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Republican Party’s latest tax bill, which could increase financial burden on graduate students, Thursday. As the law currently stands, tuition waivers that graduate students receive from their universities are not considered taxable income. Under the House’s version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or TCJA, tuition waivers would be considered taxable income for which graduate students would be required to pay.

Campus professor David Patterson published an essay Friday in response to former Google employee James Damore'€™s memo, in which Damore stressed that women are biologically different and not suited to working in technology companies like Google. Damore'€™s memo, which generated a lot of controversy when it surfaced in August, stated that Google has mistakenly made gender representation a priority.

Forty-two percent of all UC undergraduates are the first in their families to attend college. Campus sophomore Neida Mendez is one of these students. "There is a lot of pressure from family … because you are the investment to see if education works"€ Mendez said.

Berkeley residents gathered on the corner of Allston Way and Shattuck Avenue on Monday night for a vigil in honor of Kayla Moore, a Black transgender woman diagnosed with schizophrenia who died while in Berkeley Police custody in 2013. This year’s vigil, arranged by Justice 4 Kayla Moore, Berkeley CopWatch and Art Responders, marked the first time Moore'€™s poems were read aloud at a vigil. The vigil was meant to honor the memory of Kayla Moore as well as rally support for the transgender community.

Berkeley homes are selling for about 20 percent more than their list prices, with prospective homebuyers facing a shortage of options, as first reported by Berkeleyside. Patricia Bennett, president of the Oakland/Berkeley Association of Realtors, said that as an active agent, she has witnessed the high demand for real estate in Berkeley firsthand. According to Bennett, because of the shortage of available properties, one property could receive up to five or six different offers from potential

UC Berkeley saw a 1.2 percent decrease in international freshman applicants for the 2016-17 admissions cycle, the first dip in international applications the campus has experienced in over a decade, as first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.

A piece of legislation designating Election Day a statewide holiday was introduced in the state Assembly on Feb. 15. Assembly Bill 674, which was co-authored by Assemblymembers Evan Low, D-Campbell, and Chris Holden, D-Pasadena, would establish an Election Day holiday on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in the month of November each year a statewide or national election takes place.

A colorful brothel. Scantily dressed women. Intoxicated men ogling prostitutes. These set the scene for one of the most popular item numbers in Bollywood, “Munni Badnaam Hui” from the 2010 movie Dabangg. “Munni was dishonored, just for you darling” is the unsettling, catchy chorus of the item song that continues to entertain millions in India and abroad.

Stephanie DeSimone was pregnant when her husband, Navy Commander Patrick Dunn was killed at the Pentagon in the September 11 attacks in 2001. 15 years later, in 2016, DeSimone filed a lawsuit against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.