It’s the school bus from Neverland. And yet it sends a message to the powers-that-be in a way that could never have been imagined. -more-

In a decision that will mean public access to in excess of 15,000 pages of documents from Wal-Mart corporation, a California Appeals Court has ruled that an Alameda County Superior Court judge erred in sealing thousands of pages of documents in an employment lawsuit against the retail giant. -more-

The Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) emerged victorious in the American Civil Rights Foundation vs. Berkeley Unified School District lawsuit when Judge Winifred Y. Smith of the Alameda County Superior Court ruled in favor of the school district Monday. -more-

Members of the Homeless Commission slammed Mayor Tom Bates’ Public Commons for Everyone initiative as “mean spirited,” “punitive,” “vindictive,” and too vague to address effectively. -more-

The City of Berkeley scored a first-round legal victory when a judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging the City Council’s agreement with UC Berkeley that paved the way for the new downtown plan. -more-

The Berkeley Board of Education refrained from approving a resolution that would have allowed staff to move forward with the Solar Project at Washington Elementary School at the school board meeting Wednesday. -more-

The tree sitters at the Memorial Stadium Oak Grove got a visit from the UC Berkeley Police Department once again Wednesday. -more-

The upbeat voice that greets callers to Longfellow Middle School belongs to Barret Donahue, school secretary with the Berkeley schools for 10 years—and with San Diego Unified for 10 years before that. -more-

Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) meets Monday night to finish up work they weren’t able to finish by the mandatory midnight closing time last week. -more-

In the wake of a multi-million dollar employment discrimination lawsuit settlement by the City of Emeryville and charges of further, widespread racial discrimination in City of Emeryville employment, the Mayor of Emeryville is defending her city’s minority hiring policies, and is rejecting a proposal that one councilmember hopes will solve employee disputes before they go to court. -more-

If oil and water don’t mix, what about oil and academic freedom? -more-

Joy Holland—artist, poet, scholar, actor, fashion designer, neighborhood activist—died peacefully in her sleep April 3. She always declined to disclose her age, but she was a grandmother and great-grandmother. -more-

Contributed photo -more-

The recent passing of former Berkeley City Council Member John Denton, who served on the Council from 1975 through 1986, calls for remembering his enormous contribution to civic life. John Denton was an informal leader of the many Berkeley residents who cared about preserving Berkeley’s unique character and livability, and who did not strictly identify with either the Berkeley Citizens Action—BCA/left/progressive—or Berkeley Democratic Club—BDC/moderate/conservative—political factions. John was never politically correct enough to please many on the left, while the moderate/conservative faction tended to view him as a pro-tenant radical. But to his many supporters in the community, John was the conscience of the City Council. -more-

The digging of a vegetable bed of all gardening activities seems to elicit a passion like no other in the bosom of the horticultural writer. -more-

Editor’s Note: In early April, a South Korean cab driver set himself on fire in protest of the new free trade agreement between the United States and South Korea. The trade agreement, opposed by most Koreans according to a recent poll, would have a negative impact on working class Americans as well argues Christine Ahn, a policy analyst with the Korea Policy Institute and the national coordinator of Korean Americans for Fair Trade. -more-

MORE INFORMATION -more-

If corporations are threatened to be taxed or regulated by the government in ways that may reduce their profits, they use their riches to invest on K Street (otherwise known as “Lobbyist Boulevard”) in Washington. Currently, there are over 34,000 lobbyists in the United States. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the Citizens for Tax Justice, and Public Campaign, “41 companies (including GE, Microsoft, and Disney) ‘contributed’ $150 million to political parties and campaigns for U.S. Federal candidates between 1999 and 2001, and enjoyed $55 billion in tax breaks in three tax years alone.” The pharmaceutical industry employs the highest number of 3,000 lobbyists and has spent $759 million to influence 1,400 congressional bills between 1998 and 2004. -more-

Mark Sapir’s angry April 6 commentary about KPFA includes the following sentence: “When people...behave provocatively and are unwilling to clarify and negotiate over their differences within the institution, this advances the surreptitious attack on KPFA.” -more-

The superior court’s decision should ensure that the UC-City settlement continues to receive deserved examination, both legally and politically. That is because one premise of the court’s judgment—that the city could lawfully cut the public out of the settlement of a significant CEQA case—conflicts with the leading appellate decision on that subject, and thus deserves its own appellate review. -more-

It is indeed exciting for an alumnus of UC Berkeley to read in the Daily Planet stories related to citizens’ concern for greener and sustainable development in Berkeley city, particularly the stories on Sustainable Berkeley and the People’s Park renovation. -more-

If Berkeley is to lead the world in greatly reducing emissions, the city needs to set a target year of 2020 rather than the 2050 of Measure G. The looming crisis of climate change requires swift action. We can reduce emissions most effectively with a green tax shift. -more-

Our conservative friends—the traditional ones, not the pretenders who currently set White House policy—have long cautioned us to be careful about making new law. It is often accomplished in haste, but repented at leisure. Sometimes, we should listen to our conservative friends. They are not always wrong. -more-

Facing Albany Hill at the extreme northwestern corner of Berkeley is the Thousand Oaks neighborhood, subdivided in 1909. Noted for its scenic beauty, Thousand Oaks is also the land of a thousand rocks. These silica-rich volcanic rocks, named Northbrae rhyolite by geologist Andrew Lawson, are scattered wherever the eye may fall. Some of the largest may be found in public parks donated to the city by the Mason-McDuffie realty company, but many more are hidden from view in private gardens or under houses. -more-

It’s a little off the gardening track, but who could resist a title like Flower Confidential? Actually, anything by Amy Stewart would be hard to resist. Her previous book, The Earth Moved, was a quirky introduction to the world of earthworms, touching on the giant worm of the Willamette Valley (three feet long and lily-scented) and Charles Darwin’s late-in-life fascination with worms (his long-suffering wife Emma played the piano for them; they were unresponsive). -more-

I don’t know about you but my eyes are often bigger than my stomach. It’s a constant problem. Well my column last week suffered for this malady and left so much unaddressed that I just have to devote another page to these worthy issues. -more-

Are you read to walk? -more-

Dutch director Paul Verhoeven made his mark in 1977 with Soldier of Orange, a film about the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II. Now, after a 20-year-stint in Hollywood making films such as RoboCop, Total Recall, Basic Instinct and Showgirls, Verhoeven has returned to Holland to make another World War II epic, Black Book. But unfortunately the director took home with him every unpalatable and hackneyed trick he’d picked up in his travels. -more-