On any given day, hundreds of people pass through Berkeley’s landmark Civic Center Park. -more-
WIMBLEDON, England — Back home on Centre Court at the All England Club, Pete Sampras served just like Pete Sampras. -more-
Two weeks ago, the Board of Education voted 4-1 to ask voters for a pay raise from $875 to $1,500 per month. Tonight, the City Council will decide whether to put the request on the November ballot. -more-
On June 25, 1962, the Supreme Court ruled that the use of an unofficial, non-denominational prayer in New York State public schools was unconstitutional. -more-
To the Editor: -more-
YOKOHAMA, Japan — On the eve of the semifinals, variations on the American cry “We wuz robbed!” litter the World Cup landscape. They cast suspicion on everyone packing a whistle and threaten to turn this event into another Olympic-scale figure-skating officiating mess. -more-
The 33,000 member student body of UC Berkeley has long been rallying for representation on City Council, and this November Zoning Adjustment Board member Andy Katz wants to be the one to bring it home for them. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO — The Blind Boys of Alabama have recorded nearly two dozen albums and are now in their 70s. But it is their most recent release, “Spirit of the Century,” that has brought wider fame and scores of new fans. -more-
CHICAGO — Darryl Kile of the St. Louis Cardinals likely died from a blockage of a coronary artery, Cook County’s chief medical examiner said. -more-
SAN JOSE – Federal authorities are investigating claims that Sun Microsystems Inc. favored U.S.-based foreign workers over American citizens during a recent round of layoffs. -more-
LOS ANGELES — Word by word, one outlet after another, Tavis Smiley is building an empire of talk. -more-
LOS ANGELES — Slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl left behind a legacy of truth and compassion that was enough to fill with pride anyone who ever came in contact with him, his parents said Monday night in their first interview since his death. -more-
WEST HOLLYWOOD, — More than 250,000 people turned out Sunday for the 32nd annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Parade and Celebration. -more-
SACRAMENTO — Years of persistent lobbying by high-technology leaders have led California’s tax board to give tentative approval to a $30 million tax break in software sales taxes at a time when the state faces a more than $23 billion budget shortfall. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO — California home prices surged to another record high in May, a real estate research service said Monday, magnifying worries that hyperactive buyers are creating an investment bubble by shifting money once earmarked for the sagging stock market into the state’s housing market. -more-
Affordable housing is topic of Saturday’s town hall meeting in Oakland -more-
Last year Governor Davis’ early budget projections estimated that California would finish the 2001/2002 fiscal year with a $10-12 billion surplus. After the state’s allocation of your tax dollars to bail out energy providers, that estimate was reduced to approximately $4.5 billion. One year later, Governor Davis announced an estimated $23.6 billion dollar state deficit. Furthermore, if local governments (cities, counties and special districts) had not made their ERAF (Education Relief Augmentation Fund), “contributions” today’s deficit would be $28 billion. -more-
St. Mary’s High boys’ basketball head coach Jose Caraballo submitted his resignation to the school late last week, Athletic Director Jay Lawson confirmed this weekend. -more-
James Ellroy scraped rock bottom for a long time. Things got so bad for the 54-year-old Ellroy that selling his own blood for money, eating out of garbage cans and waking up in drunken stupors became commonplace at one point in his life. -more-
We would like to thank Dairne and Linda of Fix Our Ferals for their recent letter responding to the Daily Planet article with the unfortunate title "Feral Cats Not Welcome." We would also like to take this opportunity to draw a distinction between Fix Our Ferals and Home At Last, and to specify more clearly what our complaints are regarding the cats in our neighborhood. -more-
YOKOHAMA, Japan – European teams have only twice failed to be in the top two in the World Cup’s 72-year history – in 1930 and 1950. -more-
The Berkeley Courthouse at 2120 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way will close from September through December of 2003 for seismic retrofit and other improvements, Alameda County Superior Court officials have announced. -more-
CINCINNATI – This sweep belongs to the A’s. -more-
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has sent a letter to the FBI asking whether the federal agency is currently conducting unlawful intelligence activities at the University of California. -more-
OAKLAND — University of California registered nurses voted to ratify a new contract Friday, the culmination of months of negotiations and a threatened strike that was narrowly avoided last month. -more-
SAN JOSE — Momentum for children’s universal health care is spreading to cities throughout California, a trend that goes against scaled-back state support for the uninsured. -more-
OAKLAND – In his halting English, Elvia Marin’s husband struggled to tell the nurses and doctor that the pain in his wife’s stomach and back was so intense, it was worse for her than giving birth. -more-
Lawmaker says new evidence could prove antitrust behavior -more-
SAN FRANCISCO – It wasn’t his first job choice, but at least the Pets.com sock puppet hasn’t joined the high-tech unemployment line. -more-
Decade of issues leads lawmakers to call for tighter restrictions -more-
SACRAMENTO – For 20-year-old Sadie Gardere, it just makes sense to call home on her cell phone. Instead of paying 9 cents a minute through Sonoma State University, she pays a flat fee of $45 a month to call her family in the Bay Area. -more-
LOS ANGELES – Cardinal Roger Mahony chose his boyhood parish Sunday morning to read a pastoral letter apologizing for not acting sooner in the face of evidence of clergy sexual abuse. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO – When pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel student groups clashed verbally at San Francisco State University in May, racial taunts and epithets flew but violence was avoided though tensions roiled in for days. -more-
Study finds nearly a third of gay men at clinics use anti-impotence pills -more-
SHOW LOW, Ariz. – Two mammoth wildfires were burning together Sunday and were expected to push flames unchecked into this mountain city. Firefighters prepared to defend homes where they could. -more-
Similarities of two recent incidents in which a male suspect allegedly laid in wait inside the UC Berkeley dorm rooms of female victims have the police thinking the occurrences are related. -more-
When Berkeley was incorporated in 1878, Shattuck Avenue was already established as its "main street" at Berkeley Station. There was a hotel, a handful of shops, a social hall, a railroad station and a few homes. The blocks surrounding Berkeley Station soon became the civic center as well as the business center, linking Berkeley’s early shoreline community of Ocean View with the campus community nestled around the University of California. -more-
A girl comes of age -more-
CINCINNATI — Every move by the Oakland Athletics is coming up a winner. -more-
Next year, Berkeley taxpayers will fund a drummer, an African/Haitian dance class, a video production program and extra science labs at Berkeley High School. -more-
MILWAUKEE — David Jacobson, director of an independent feature film about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, says his goal wasn’t to make a slasher movie but to examine what drove Dahmer to commit his crimes. -more-
MILWAUKEE — David Jacobson, director of an independent feature film about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, says his goal wasn’t to make a slasher movie but to examine what drove Dahmer to commit his crimes. -more-
For Cynthia Papermaster, newly-declared candidate for the Board of Education, it’s all about parent involvement. -more-
To the Editor: -more-
NEW YORK — Even a veteran of network television booking battles like Connie Chung has found the last few weeks seeking guests for her new prime-time CNN news hour to be eye-opening. -more-
INGLEWOOD — Azeri, who has made a strong case as North America’s top older female in training, will carry a career-high 125 pounds in Saturday’s $250,000 Vanity Handicap at Hollywood Park. -more-
A hearing to discuss the removal of a federal judge’s gag order placed on the jury in the Bari vs. FBI case has been set for next Friday. Attorneys from the San Francisco Chronicle and the Oakland Tribune claim that Judge Claudia Wilken’s June 11 gag order was unreasonable and violated the First Amendment of the Constitution. -more-
Rarely seen whale found dead on Southern California beach -more-
Saturday night’s 27th anniversary show for Berkeley’s La Pena Cultural Center could not come at a more appropriate time. -more-
Nasdaq index fell to lowest level of the year on Friday -more-
Wall Street sustains fifth consecutive losing week -more-
COLOR: a personal choice -more-
It’s no wonder that grand banquet halls are rarely found in North American homes — our architectural heritage is limited enough that our commercial edifices and residential neighborhoods are built primarily for utility, not grandeur. Still, as evidenced by increasingly elegant suburban homes, we long to incorporate such spaces into our modern abodes, perhaps because they satisfy a small part of our fairy-tale dreams. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO — It’s payday for the lawyers and consultants in the 14-month-old Pacific Gas and Electric Co. bankruptcy case. -more-
FOSTER CITY — The federal government approved severe limits to protect several depleted species of fish, but some anglers said they were grateful the changes weren’t more restrictive. -more-
EL MONTE — The state’s anti-smog board has adopted the world’s stiffest air quality standards for particles of soot and dirt tinier than a human hair but dangerous enough to damage lungs. -more-
ABOARD THE RESEARCH PLATFORM FLIP — Nine miles off San Diego, in water 500 feet deep, it’s hard to avoid that sinking feeling as you watch the stern dip down, down, down into the deep blue ocean. -more-
SACRAMENTO — Fast-track teacher credential laws that make it easier to get teachers into the classroom appear to be working, but California still faces a major teaching shortage, state officials say. -more-
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO — A sick sea lion was recuperating Friday after it wandered across the runway at San Francisco International Airport, prompting airport officials to consider fencing off miles of the bay front. -more-
ROANOKE, Va. — The former president of the struggling National D-Day Memorial Foundation was charged with lying about the amount of donations his organization collected in an effort to secure money to build the $25 million monument. -more-
SHOW LOW, Ariz.— Fanned by blowtorch winds, two explosive wildfires took double-barreled aim at Arizona mountain towns Friday as firefighters desperately cleared brush and doused homes with flame-retardant foam. -more-
The tricky question of what makes a person mentally retarded now falls before state lawmakers, judges and prosecutors, following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found executing such people unconstitutional. -more-
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Two brothers were convicted Friday of helping run a North Carolina-based support cell that funneled cigarette-smuggling profits to the militant group Hezbollah. -more-
ORLANDO, Fla. — President Bush put the 2002 fund-raising tally for himself and Vice President Dick Cheney over the $100 million mark Friday with a Florida dinner boosting brother Jeb Bush’s gubernatorial re-election. -more-
BUFFALO, N.Y. — A federal judge Friday threw out the Seneca Indian Nation’s claim of ownership of Grand Island and other islands in the Niagara River near Buffalo. -more-
NEW YORK — President Bush is reportedly studying Aristotle. Book clubs proliferate in the media. A self-published, 1,200-page science text sells and sells. -more-
NASHVILLE, Tenn.— Nearly two years after its release, the soundtrack of the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” film continues to cause ripple effects in the music industry. -more-
NEW YORK — How durable is a brand if its eponymous founder becomes mired in a much-publicized scandal — and can the consumer separate the product from the person? -more-
LOS ANGELES — Martin Scorsese, Etta James, Kevin Bacon, Susan Sarandon, Carmen Zapata and Kermit the Frog are among entertainers who will be enshrined in the Hollywood Walk of Fame next year. -more-
City leaders have reconfirmed their commitment to confront sudden oak death – the disease caused by a little-understood fungus that has killed tens of thousands of trees in Northern California. -more-
One of the initially curious things about the new book by Berkeley author Jeffrey Meyers is the author’s image on the dust jacket. It’s not a photo, but a reprinting of a painting depicting Meyers as the character Senor Ferrari from the film “Casablanca.” Ferraro, played by Sydney Greenstreet (the corpulent, semi-regular Bogart rival who also played opposite him in “The Maltese Falcon”) was the overseer of all things illegal in Casablanca and the owner of The Blue Parrot, the far less glamorous gin joint than Rick’s Café Americain. In the painting Meyers/Greenstreet/Ferraro is wearing a dinner jacket and fez, seated regally at the Café behind a notepad and a bottle of Jack Daniels while Rick and play-it-for-me Sam are brooding in the background. Ferraro, a Mabusian vulture, knows all the dirty dealings in Casablanca. -more-
Tom Pappas cemented his place at the top of the United States’ decathlon hierarchy by winning the U.S. Championship Thursday at Cal. -more-
Board reviews fiscal recovery plan, approves personnel changes -more-
Dodge, the crusty patriarch of the seriously screwy clan Sam Shepard dissects in his 1978 Pulitzer prize winner, "Buried Child," eyes his complaining wife, Halie. "My flesh and blood is out there in the back yard," he intones, and she falls ominously silent. -more-
Athlete is U.S. defending -more-
The Pacifica Foundation’s national board of directors is meeting in Berkeley today for the first time since 1999 when the radio network executives abandoned their East Bay offices for Washington D.C. amid mounting criticism of their management style. -more-
NEW YORK — The mother of twin toddlers adopted from China, Nancy Kennon was excited when she heard that an ABC comedy, “My Adventures in Television,” was going to feature a Chinese adoption. -more-
Over the years, Robert Fisk has read a lot of hate mail. Movie stars, Rabbis and politicians have berated him in letters and in public. Papers refuse to reprint his articles and television channels won't play his documentaries. -more-
A 36-year-old Hayward man is in critical but stable condition at San Francisco General Hospital this morning after surviving a 100-foot fall off the Bay Bridge that was caused by an alleged drunken driver. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco Police Chief Fred Lau announced Thursday he would resign from office next month. -more-
llegedly used bogus -more-
Q: I moved into my one-bedroom apartment a year ago and have been paying $1300 in rent. I’m about to renew my lease for $1300 again, but I learned that my landlord has just rented the apartment next to mine, which is virtually identical in size and amenities, for $1050. Is there any way I can lower my rent? -more-
Railroad short $200 million, could shut down next week -more-
SAN FRANCISCO — Levi Strauss & Co. said Thursday the cost of closing eight manufacturing plants and offering discounts to merchants saddled the jeans maker with a second-quarter loss of $81 million, marking the first time the company has lost money in three years. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO — Wells Fargo & Co. said Thursday it has agreed to handle the credit card business of online payment provider PayPal Inc., which has struggled to stay in good graces with both the Mastercard and Visa payment systems. -more-
PALO ALTO — Hewlett-Packard Co. is reviewing whether it will dismiss some of the 4,000 contract employees in the company’s internal technology department, and most of the group is being forced to take three weeks off without pay, an HP spokesman said Thursday. -more-
Nana Rose loved her carnations. She saw great beauty in all growing things, and kept an enormous garden, filled with stunning shrubs and flowers. But, her carnations were her pride and joy — those and her roses. -more-
FRESNO — The San Joaquin Valley is headed for the dubious distinction of being the only region in the country to voluntarily place itself in the nation’s worst smog pollution category. -more-
SANTA ANA — A Superior Court judge was allowed Thursday to withdraw from a November run-off election in Orange County while fighting child pornography and molestation charges. -more-
LOS ANGELES — Sheriff Lee Baca has released 842 jail inmates in the past week and plans to close two detention facilities because of overcrowding and looming budget cuts, the Sheriff’s Department said Thursday. -more-
LOS ANGELES — Firefighters struggled Thursday to control a wildfire that had chewed through 1,000 rugged acres in the mountains of eastern San Diego County. -more-
DENVER — U.S. Forest Service employee Terry Barton pleaded innocent Thursday to charges she set the biggest wildfire in Colorado history. -more-
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A federal jury Thursday convicted a Roman Catholic nun and two other protesters of trespassing at the Oak Ridge nuclear weapons plant during a “stop the bombs” demonstration. -more-
MILWAUKEE — A man who was turned in by “Dear Abby” after asking for advice on dealing with his child sex fantasies pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography this week and was given eight years on probation. -more-
ATLANTA — A government advisory panel rejected smallpox vaccinations for the general public Thursday, instead proposing that the shots be given to special teams of people in each state who would be designated the first to respond in case of a bioterrorism attack. -more-
CHICAGO — The American Medical Association this week urged researchers to study whether financial payments would boost the nation’s critical shortage of transplant organs. -more-
CHICAGO — The American Medical Association endorsed a new 80-hour-a-week work limit for medical residents Thursday to try to keep doctors-in-training from becoming so bleary-eyed they hurt themselves or their patients. -more-
NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors closed their investigation Thursday into whether former President Clinton’s grant of clemency to four swindlers was political payback arranged by his wife, now-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. -more-
It’s not all fun and games at the Adeline Youth Service Center, though it appeared that way Wednesday afternoon at a summer barbecue. -more-
Dan O’Brien’s comeback took a bad turn, when the 1996 Olympic gold medalist pulled out of the 400 meters, the last decathlon event of the first day of the USA Outdoor Combined Event Championships Wednesday at Cal. -more-
The Berkeley Unified School District will not fill the vacant principalship at the high school next year, according to a letter released Wednesday by Superintendent Michele Lawrence. Instead, the district will build on its current co-principal structure, adding a fifth administrator to its present team of four. -more-
PITTSBURGH — The Oakland Athletics have some of the best arms in baseball, and not all belong to their pitching staff. -more-
Within the last month, the deaths of a senior citizen hit by a car in May on Addison Street and a 68-year-old bicyclist struck Monday on Adeline Street have fueled safety debates. Members of the city’s Commission on Aging met Wednesday to present a laundry list of concerns. -more-
Ferociously funny, blatantly bawdy, sharply poignant – that’s “First Love,” playwright Charles Mee’s latest excursion into the troubled territory where human longing breeds thorny tangles of love and hate. East Bay audiences got a double dose of Mee recently. Berkeley Repertory set “Big Love” on a giant pink floor mat, and University of California Dramatic Arts gave us a biting “Orestes.” Those plays were modern versions of Greek myths, set in times of war and pillage, but “First Love,” now at the Magic Theater, examines the oldest war of all, the one between men and women. -more-
Julia Cross believes in the sound of silence. -more-
LOS ANGELES — Three years for any television series is considered a decent run. For one like Showtime’s “Soul Food,” it’s a miracle. -more-
Berkeley is honoring one of the area’s openly gay politicians while declaring June “Pride Month.” -more-
NEW YORK — Nickelodeon is going ahead with a children’s special about same-sex parents, despite receiving so many e-mails that the network had to create a separate address to avoid a computer crash. -more-
A three-alarm grassfire burned about 20 acres in Walnut Creek Tuesday, and was contained within an hour-and-a-half, said a Contra Costa County Fire Protection District official. -more-
LOS ANGELES — The California Air Resources Board will consider amending the state’s air quality standards for microscopic pollutants to make them the world’s strictest. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO — The city has sued the Petco Animal Supplies Inc. for allegedly keeping dead or poorly cared for animals on the shelves at two San Francisco locations. -more-
LOS ANGELES — California continues to underperform the national economy, but a respected economic report released Wednesday forecasts that the state’s fortunes will improve in the second half of the year, as long as early signs of recovery in the technology sector continue. -more-
SACRAMENTO — Oil giant BP-ARCO has agreed to pay $45.8 million to settle alleged widespread underground gasoline storage tank violations, including the nation’s largest cash penalty in the enforcement of tank regulations, state Attorney General Bill Lockyer said Wednesday. -more-
SAN DIEGO — Xenerex Biosciences, a unit of Avanir Pharmaceuticals, expects to receive $75,000 from a consortium to help develop a treatment for anthrax toxins. -more-
SACRAMENTO — Three years ago, Rebecca Crane of Modesto bought a Volkswagen Jetta. One month later, the car started having electrical problems. Then the radio blew up. Then the odometer showed she had driven thousands of miles when she had merely driven to the auto mechanic. -more-
Peace rang throughout Berkeley Tuesday morning. -more-
Donovan Kilmartin lived up to his billing and Julie Pickler surpassed her star sister after Day 1 of the USA Track and Field Junior Outdoor Combined Event Championships at Cal’s Edwards Stadium.Kilmartin, representing Team Idaho, is the leader after five events of the decathlon championship with 3,949 points. Robert Bates, competing unattached, is second with 3,675 points. -more-
Youth advocates prepare cost-saving rehabilitation plan for county leaders -more-
YOKOHAMA, Japan — South Korea survived the pressure of the knockout round of the World Cup on Tuesday. Japan, its co-host, didn’t. -more-
Federal report raises new questions about discrimination -more-
BERKELEY - The 2002 USTA Berkeley Futures Tournament begins Tuesday at the Hellman Tennis Courts on the Cal campus. The $15,000 prize money tournament is sure to feature hotly contested battles as budding tennis professionals fight for precious ATP points and money prizes (Collegiate players compete as amateurs and do not accept prize money.). The tournament features eight players ranked inside the world's top 500 in singles. -more-
Community members in south Berkeley have launched a petition-drive in the wake of the death of a 68-year-old Berkeley bicyclist killed Monday around 8:30 a.m. after a car struck him near the corner of Fairview and Adeline Streets. -more-
Amid pressure from four labor unions, Berkeley’s city manager said Tuesday night that he would begin meeting with union leaders today to resolve a contentious contract dispute between city management and more than 1,000 municipal workers. -more-
On June 19, 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, were executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, N.Y. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO — Legal experts were left scratching their heads following an unexpected ruling Monday in the San Francisco dog mauling trial. -more-
WALKER — The air tanker that crashed killing three crew members fighting a Sierra Nevada wildfire had undergone repairs to fix wing cracks, a representative for the plane’s owner said Tuesday. -more-
Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean was voted by her colleagues Tuesday to serve as a member of the Advisory Board of the U.S. Conference of Mayors during their 70th annual meeting in Madison, Wis. The board provides leadership and guidance to the development and implementation of conference policy and programs. -more-
SACRAMENTO — The California Power Authority announced a program Tuesday to pay large industrial power users to cut their electricity use on demand — paying less than they would for actual energy and resulting in less pollution. -more-
It’s a steel version of the plastic Big Wheel -more-
Several hundred people worked at data centers around the world -more-
SAN DIEGO — Peregrine Systems Inc. is axing 1,400 jobs, or nearly its half work force, and closing some of its offices to cut costs amid an investigation by federal securities regulators. -more-
LOS ANGELES — Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon launched his first television and radio ads of the general election campaign Tuesday — in Spanish. -more-
SAN CLEMENTE — State officials plan to give potassium iodide tablets to more than 400,000 people living within 10 miles of two nuclear power plants that could protect the public if they are exposed to radiation. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO — Sonoma County will pay $1 million to the family of a woman killed by her estranged husband even though she had a restraining order against him and repeatedly appealed for sheriff’s deputies to enforce it. -more-
SACRAMENTO — California’s brightest students might be allowed to skip from elementary school directly to college, missing high school altogether, under legislation recently approved by the state Assembly. -more-
SAN DIEGO — A female assistant principal was demoted for lifting girls’ skirts to make sure they weren’t wearing thongs to a high school dance. -more-
LOS ANGELES — The world’s two largest telescope makers are locked in a battle that amateur astronomers and federal regulators alike fear could monopolize the market for a popular type of stargazing equipment. -more-
NEW YORK — Annie Hubbard was three sips into a glass of wine when her night out turned into a nightmare. -more-
An international research team announced today it has begun drilling a hole 1.4 miles deep along the San Andreas Fault near the Central California town of Parkfield – the site of one of the largest ongoing earthquake experiments in the world. -more-
On June 22, 1940, during World War II, Adolf Hitler gained a stunning victory as France was forced to sign an armistice eight days after German forces overran Paris. -more-
EMERYVILLE – The former superintendent of the Emery Unified School District, who resigned two years ago leaving the three-school district with more than $2 million debt, has pleaded no contest to felony criminal charges filed against him. -more-
ST. LOUIS — Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett reported smooth sailing early Thursday — and said he even got some sleep — as he continued his sixth try to become the first solo balloonist to circle the globe. -more-
NEW YORK — ABC on Tuesday appointed George Stephanopoulos to anchor “This Week,” and the former Clinton aide urged those who question his objectivity to watch him with an open mind on Sunday mornings. -more-
LOS ANGELES — Many Californians plan to take to the road this summer, preferring driving vacations rather than suffering through delays caused by security measures at airports, according to poll results to be released Thursday. -more-
MIAMI — A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit alleging that ABC discriminates against disabled people trying to become contestants on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” -more-
