News

The city manager and the City Council will attempt to iron out differences in funding proposals this afternoon before approving Berkeley’s $449 million two-year budget at a special council meeting. -more-

Keep large vehicles off streets -more-

Tuesday, June 26

This summer’s 40th anniversary of the Bay Area’s champion of avant-garde film art, the San Francisco Cinematheque, will be celebrated with screenings of selected favorite films at the San Francisco Art Institute and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. -more-

“It’s show time. A decision must be made.” -more-

Sundays are usually pretty crowded at Wat Mongkolratanaram, Berkeley’s Thai Buddhist temple, but this Sunday there were more people than usual. -more-

SAN DIEGO — “Golden rice” has come to represent all the hopes and fears about biotechnology, but despite all the controversy, not a single genetically engineered rice seed has been planted in the ground, its inventors said Monday. -more-

SACRAMENTO — Like triple-digit heat, a stalemate over the state budget is virtually an assured summer event at the state Capitol. -more-

Efforts to settle claims from the California power crisis got under way Monday, as Western states accused power-generating companies of overcharging them by $15 billion in the past year. -more-

AVILA BEACH — A 12-year fight is over for a handful of residents bent on sparing this once-doomed 50-acre oasis on the central California coast from oblivion. -more-

UNITED NATIONS — One after another, African leaders at the United Nations’ first global gathering on HIV/AIDS made emotional pleas for help Monday in ending the devastation wrought by the epidemic. Nigeria’s president warned that entire populations face extinction. -more-

WASHINGTON — A closely divided Supreme Court upheld Watergate-era spending limits on political parties Monday in a decision that supporters said could shore up broader campaign-finance restrictions now before Congress. -more-

NEW YORK — A fundamental change has occurred in the housing market over the past few years, and it is likely to play an increasing role in changing people’s lifestyles. -more-

SAN JOSE — Intel Corp.’s quest to dominate the high-end server market got a major boost Monday as Compaq Computer Corp. said it plans to abandon its own Alpha processor in favor of Intel’s Itanium processor by 2004. It’s the latest sign that the server industry may be moving away from proprietary chips and toward standardization that marked the development, growth and flexibility of PCs. -more-

After one year of working without a contract, after going out on a series of one-to-three-day strikes, after endless hours at the negotiating table, hospital workers and Alta Bates Summit Medical Center management have agreed on a new contact. -more-

Power outage lasts four hours -more-

A 20 -year-old UC Berkeley student walking home on Channing Way was robbed at gunpoint at 1 a.m. Sunday. -more-

Camps

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Beth El followed every planning rule in proposed expansion -more-

Monday, June 25

Vice mayor celebrates 90 years -more-

From a field of 68 boys and 37 girls, it all came down to two final matches on Saturday at the United States Tennis Association NorCal Sectional 18-and-under Tournament. The matches were played at the Berkeley Tennis Club. -more-

School board members and proponents of sweeping reforms for Berkeley High School found a lot to agree on last week, but they seemed to part company with considerable confusion and disagreement about the next step in the process. -more-

The City Council will likely renew a long-standing contract with Berkeley Youth Alternative to continue the employment program which assists at-risk teenagers learn about work habits and gardening skills in the city’s parks. -more-

SAN DIEGO – As an array of officials prepared to represent California in federally ordered talks with power companies, Gov. Gray Davis on Sunday discounted suggestions that the state will accept far less in electricity rebates than he believes it’s owed. -more-

Data networks, telephone systems could converge to cause technology shift -more-

SACRAMENTO – Despite some of the best minds in the nation and its creativity in movies and technology, California is nearly as renowned for what’s wrong: gridlocked freeways, marathon commutes, smog and stratospheric housing prices. -more-

SAN DIEGO – There was a time, not so long ago, when biotech was such a clubby and chummy field that organizers of the industry’s annual conference welcomed protesters inside as amusing distractions. -more-

“Welcome to my chaos,” said Katrina Scott-George, as she watched a reporter walk into her Berkeley High math classroom a few weeks ago. -more-

Saturday, June 23

Investigate pedestrian death -more-

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm” An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more. “Recycling Center” Lets the kids crank the conveyor belt to sort cans, plastic bottles and newspaper bundles into dumpster bins. $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed Sundays, Memorial Day through Labor Day) Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 647-1111 or www.habitot.org -more-

The feud between a Nazi family and a Jewish family in 1930s Germany provides an updated framework for the strong Subterranean Shakespeare production of “Romeo and Juliet” currently running at LaVal’s in Berkeley. -more-

The Cal men’s basketball 2001-2002 schedule was released on Friday, highlighted by the Bears hosting two tournaments at Haas Pavilion. -more-

OAKLAND – State Sen. Don Perata and representatives from a number of environmental and cancer prevention groups strongly criticized the Bush administration’s environmental policy during a press conference to support a bill to establish higher standards for arsenic in drinking water. -more-

When baseball-great Cal “Iron Man” Ripken, who holds the professional baseball record for playing the most consecutive games, announced he was calling it quits last week it caused more than a few of Elena Griffing co-workers at Alta Bates Hospital to snicker. -more-

Berkeley Observed -more-

Former mayor and Berkeley Symphony Orchestra Board member Jeffrey Leiter, center, was honored Thursday night as he prepared to leave Berkeley for a new home in Grass Valley. Leiter served as interim mayor between March and December 1994 when then mayor Loni Hancock left her post for a job in the -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge halted oil and natural gas exploration off central California’s coast Friday, saying the area can’t be drilled or explored until the federal government studies the environmental impacts and the California Coastal Commission approves of the plan. -more-

SAN DIEGO — Demonstrators who get out of hand at next week’s biotechnology industry convention could get a blast from the newest weapon in the police department’s arsenal. -more-

LUCERNE VALLEY — Two parents barged into a school superintendent’s office, handcuffed him, announced he was under citizens’ arrest and drove him away in their vehicle, authorities said Friday. -more-

President Bush nominated conservative Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl of Los Angeles and Republican activist Richard Clifton of Honolulu on Friday to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, considered among the most liberal federal courts in the country. -more-

RICHMOND — Shawn Jones, the 10-year-old boy mauled to the edge of life by pit bulls, faced an uphill road to recovery as local law authorities continued the search for the animals on Friday. -more-

LOS ANGELES — An appeals court refused Friday to reverse a judge’s ruling granting parole to a gay man who gunned down his boyhood friend 16 years ago. -more-

SACRAMENTO — Former workers at Duke Energy’s South Bay power plant accused the company of shutting down production units there in what they called a scheme to drive up electricity prices. -more-

SACRAMENTO — State budget negotiators approved a massive education package Friday that scales back new spending proposals but still increases school funding by $2 billion. -more-

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration urged the Supreme Court to take up school vouchers Friday, arguing that an Ohio school choice program does not violate the Constitution’s ban on government promotion of religion. -more-

WASHINGTON — Republicans on Friday proposed giving employers ironclad protection from lawsuits under patients’ rights legislation, while Democrats said they were willing to limit, if not eliminate, the liability contained in their bill. -more-

WASHINGTON — Half the states using the “motor voter” program – which lets a voter sign up while renewing a driver’s license – suffered serious glitches last election. In some cases, Americans were denied ballots, a government review found. -more-

Dear Tom and Ray: -more-

One day last week a high-tech company whose stock had collapsed from more than $170 to $3 and change in little more than a year, revealed that conditions were even worse than he had anticipated. -more-

SACRAMENTO — Tower Records, a worldwide music, book and video retailer that began in a family drug store, is downplaying the possibility it may have to file for bankruptcy because of tightening credit. -more-

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Don’t forget us -more-

Friday, June 22

Don’t go to the Berkeley Stamp Company to beef up your postage stamp collection. -more-

Rattlers to be first junior team to visit Castro. -more-

Members of Berkeley’s African American community – church leaders, community leaders, parents, teachers, and students – turned out en masse at the Wednesday night School Board meeting to denounce the school district for not doing enough to help students of color improve their academic skills. -more-

The best junior tennis players in northern California are squaring off this week at the Berkeley Tennis Club, trying to add on points to qualify for the junior national tournament in August. -more-

Residents of the University Avenue Co-op Homes want to take advantage of a rare opportunity to buy their affordable housing development and have asked the City Council to fund a study of the proposed purchase. -more-

The American Chemistry Council, an organization representing the U.S. chemical industry, tested the soil at the Cedar and Rose Park playground in north Berkeley Thursday, to determine whether the site is contaminated with arsenic. -more-

SANTA CLARA — Forty teachers in one of the nation’s tightest housing markets won coveted spots Thursday in inexpensive apartments being built on school district property as part of a program believed to be the first of its kind anywhere. -more-

SACRAMENTO — Facing a bare-bones budget, California’s high-speed rail planners are trying to scrape together enough money to keep the project limping along over the next 12 months. -more-

Veteran bluesman John Lee Hooker, whose foot stompin’ and gravelly voice electrified audiences and inspired several generations of musicians, died Thursday at his Los Altos home. He was 83. -more-

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LOS ANGELES — Gov. Gray Davis does not have blanket powers to deny parole to murderers, a judge ruled Thursday in ordering the release of convicted killer Robert Rosenkrantz. -more-

No one wants to stand by and watch their tomato plants wilt away to nothing in dry weather. Then again, who wants to run their well dry or waste water? The challenge is to keep plants happy and, at the same time, conserve water. -more-

Q: I have two questions. I have cracks in my concrete basement floor from which I believe radon gas is creeping in. -more-

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WASHINGTON — Americans’ demand for foreign-made TVs, toys and clothes waned in April, helping to narrow the U.S. trade deficit. Exports fell for the second month in a row. -more-

WASHINGTON — A gene mutation that arose thousands of years ago now protects hundreds of millions of people from severe malaria, the mosquito-borne disease that is the world’s deadliest infection. -more-

Three co-workers of Jayne Ash, a pedestrian who was killed by a cement truck at Shattuck and Hearst avenues last March, urged the council Tuesday to approve funds to implement bicycle and pedestrian safety measures. -more-

Relay team finishes year with third-place at national event; Guy to attend Northridge St. -more-

Spend tax windfall on charity GW hates -more-

Berkeley’s Aurora Theater opened a well performed but not-quite-satisfying production Thursday of David Mamet’s difficult 1977 backstage story “A Life in the Theater.” -more-

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By Tracy Chocholousek -more-

School’s highest ranking ever -more-

Queer organizations, overwhelmed by an increasing demand for services, may find a way out in the next few years through the opening of a new Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community center in Berkeley. -more-

Cal also has 31 honorable mention award winners -more-

A group of about 50 teachers, parents, principals and administrators turned out before the school board meeting Wednesday to bid a fond farewell to Berkeley school district -more-

Things haven’t come easily for the City of Franklin Microsociety Magnet School. -more-

A West Coast Pizza employee was robbed at gun point Tuesday night on the 1600 block of Harmon Street, according to police. -more-

LOS ANGELES — U.S. students lack general knowledge about Asia – the most populous and fastest-growing area in the world – partly because materials used in schools are outdated, superficial, and even inaccurate, a study found. -more-

Police have asked Rep. Gary Condit for a second interview about his relationship with a missing 24-year-old woman. -more-

As flags flew at half staff on state buildings a day after California Supreme Court Justice Stanley Mosk died, speculation ran rampant Wednesday over who would succeed the state’s longest-serving justice. -more-

LOS ANGELES — The Red Planet is ready for its close-up. -more-

SACRAMENTO — For any lover of trees, the deadly fungus called Sudden Oak Death is alarming enough, as it has killed thousands of oaks in Northern California. -more-

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Wednesday he’s not worried that the new $1.35 trillion tax cut might plunge the federal budget into deficit. -more-

WASHINGTON — The state attorneys general who pursued the antitrust case against Microsoft are privately discussing a new lawsuit, concerned that the software giant’s latest products will unfairly hamper competition, two leaders say. -more-

OAKLAND – Adding 21 months to the original plea bargain agreement between prosecutors and the defense, a federal judge sentenced wealthy Berkeley landlord Lakireddy Bali Reddy Tuesday to 97 months in prison and the payment to his victims of $2 million in restitution. -more-

Wednesday, June 20

Caring for the caregivers -more-

Kent Nagano comes back to conduct the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra in a program that nicely reflects his career. -more-

OAKLAND – Members of the organizations involved in the campaign for a just punishment for Berkeley landlord Lakireddy Bali Reddy reacted positively to U.S. District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong’s decision Tuesday to sentence the Berkeley landlord to eight years in prison. -more-

A Superior Court judge has ruled that three commissioners can sue the city for reinstatement of their full authority on the Landmarks Preservation Commission. -more-

Eighth graders at Martin Luther King Jr., Middle School know when they walk into English teacher Rachel Garlin’s classroom that they could be in for a show. -more-

AC Transit, along with Berkeley officials held an unveiling ceremony Tuesday for the new informational displays to be installed at major bus stops throughout Berkeley. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — Coastal California slipped out of reach of all but the well-to-do in the ’90s as demand pushed house prices up and the poor and middle-income out. The problem was that households boomed, by 10.8 percent, but housing didn’t, growing only 9.2 percent, recent U.S. Census data show. At the same time, healthier seniors hung on to their homes, more people lived alone and immigrants entered the housing market. -more-

WASHINGTON — President Bush ordered federal agencies Tuesday to help states locate and use community services – rather than institutions – for people with disabilities. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was accused Tuesday of rampant discrimination against female employees in a federal lawsuit against the nation’s largest private employer. -more-

WASHINGTON — Housing construction dipped in May but remains at a healthy level, further evidence of the industry’s resilience in the face of a faltering national economy. -more-