Literacy makes the grade
Struggling readers appear to be making significant progress under a four year-old “early literacy” program in the Berkeley’s elementary schools, according to a report released last week. -more-
Struggling readers appear to be making significant progress under a four year-old “early literacy” program in the Berkeley’s elementary schools, according to a report released last week. -more-
To the Editor: -more-
For most of his young life, Sean Young didn’t want to go to Cal. Enter new Golden Bears coach Jeff Tedford – now it looks like Berkeley fans will be able to see Young at Memorial Stadium on a regular basis. -more-
A north Berkeley housing complex planned for where an old gas station once stood at 1797 Shattuck Ave. could pose health risks to neighbors, according to nearby residents. -more-
To the Editor: -more-
SAN FRANCISCO — Just mention Pacific Bell Park and what’s the first image that comes to mind? Barry Bonds plopping balls into the water, of course. -more-
Democracy, public safety and about $47 million in taxpayer dollars will be at stake Nov. 5 when Berkeley voters cast ballots on Measure J. -more-
To the Editor: -more-
Berkeley police arrested 12 men for soliciting prostitutes along San Pablo and Heinz avenues during a four-hour sting Friday evening, police said. -more-
ROCKVILLE — In a tantalizing turn in the hunt for the Washington-area sniper, investigators said Monday the killer apparently tried to contact them in a phone call that was too “unclear” to be understood. They pleaded with the person to call back. -more-
OAKLAND — The Oakland Police Department reports that investigators are looking into the city's 90th killing as of Monday. -more-
A lot of attention has been given to green building lately. With that attention has come some confusion about what precisely green building is. Other terms, like “healthy” building, “natural” building, and “sustainable” building, or development, also add to the confusion. This is a complex topic that we will try to clarify in today’s “Power Play” and in the Nov. 11 “Power Play.” -more-
SACRAMENTO — California’s teen birth rate has dipped below the national average for the first time since 1980, the state Department of Health Services reported Monday. -more-
NEW YORK — Investors rewarded Wall Street for an upbeat earnings season again Monday, pushing stocks sharply higher and extending two weeks of stunning gains. The market overcame an earlier round of profit taking and saw the Dow Jones industrials shoot up more than 200 points. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Gas and Electric Corp. continued negotiating with lenders Monday, hoping to extend the deadline on a $431 million loan to its unregulated energy trading arm that it says it can’t afford to pay. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO — United Airlines announced Monday the closure of a reservation center, leaving more than 500 employees on furlough, according to a United Airlines spokesman. -more-
CHICO — Gov. Gray Davis rallied rural residents and workers while Republican challenger Bill Simon courted farmers Monday as each scrambled to secure support from crucial blocs of voters with 15 days until Election Day. -more-
SACRAMENTO — California’s job and population growth continues to outpace its supply of homes and apartments, steadily worsening one of the nation’s most severe housing shortages, says a new report by a nonprofit group that studies economic and budget trends. -more-
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court refused Monday to review a challenge of police powers in car searches, the latest post-Sept. 11 example of the justices’ siding with law enforcement in a privacy case. -more-
NEW YORK — Nearly every TV season brings a newly designated “It Girl.” -more-
A pediatrician by trade, Dr. Helen Caldicott’s call to save the children is a fight against militarism. -more-
The St. Mary’s High football team kicked off their Bay Shore Athletic League season with a 37-14 stomping of Kennedy (Richmond) High on Saturday, getting three rushing touchdowns from Fred Hives in their easiest win of the year. -more-
In her eight years on the Berkeley City Council, Polly Armstrong has long argued that council’s time and energy was better spent dealing with “police and potholes,” not the international issues raised by colleagues. -more-
ASHLAND, Va. – A man was shot and wounded in a steakhouse parking lot Saturday night while walking to his car with his wife. Authorities were investigating whether the Washington-area sniper who has killed nine people had struck again, for the first time on a weekend. -more-
Ed Rossbach, a pioneer in the fiber-arts movement, has died at age 88. -more-
A Berkeley police officer shot and killed a pit bull Sunday while responding to a domestic disturbance in northeast Berkeley, authorities said. -more-
A spokesman for Highland Hospital confirms that a man died after being shot in the back in West Oakland around 4:30 a.m. this morning. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO – Eddie “Gwen” Araujo was a good-looking girl – so good, it cost him his life. -more-
DENVER – Property-rights groups plan to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether President Clinton acted illegally when he protected Colorado’s Canyons of the Ancients, California’s groves of giant sequoias and six other federal tracts as national monuments in 2000. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO – After promising this week to produce proof of a dockworker slowdown at West Coast ports, shipping companies embroiled in a labor dispute with longshoremen on Friday again delayed filing the documents with Department of Justice lawyers. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO – Adobe Systems Inc. today launched its popular Acrobat software in a new direction aimed at increasing the use of the Internet to fill out contracts, tax forms and other key documents. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco city attorney filed a civil lawsuit that claims one of the Bay Area’s largest mechanical contractors faked a partnership with a Filipino firm to defraud the city’s minority contracting program of $8 million. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO – Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco have developed a new mad cow disease detector they claim is faster and more accurate than existing models and could “significantly reduce human exposure” to the fatal brain-destroying malady. -more-
Less than three weeks until the mayoral election, candidate Tom Bates and incumbent Mayor Shirley Dean are defending themselves against charges of campaign finance impropriety. -more-
Local historical archives are enlivened with thousands of still pictures showing Berkeley's places, people, and events of past decades. But for a more animated glimpse into early local life, nothing beats old home movies, newsreels and other film footage. -more-
Apparently no one told the Yellowjackets that there are no points for degree of difficulty in football. -more-
City Council candidate Carlos Estrada doesn’t expect to win. But he does have a larger goal in mind – a new, radical political movement. -more-
NEW YORK — New Jersey poet laureate Amiri Baraka criticized Israeli and Jewish groups’ involvement in U.S. politics and reiterated that he would not give up his post as official state poet amid accusations of anti-Semitism. -more-
When Cal has the ball -more-
Three months after the retirement of long-standing Police Chief Dash Butler, Berkeley has formally begun its search for a replacement. -more-
NEW YORK — He hardly mentions his fatal illness, and makes a brief, sarcastic reference to allegations of plagiarism that surfaced in the last year of his life. -more-
The Cal women’s soccer team broke two ugly streaks on Friday during their 2-0 win over Oregon. The Bears scored their first goals of the Pac-10 season, and Laura Schott got her first goal in almost a year. -more-
POINT SUR — Two unarmed Super Hornet fighter jets crashed over the Pacific Ocean about 80 miles southwest of Monterey during routine training Friday morning. The Coast Guard searched for four missing members of the Black Aces squadron from Lemoore Naval Air Station. -more-
LOS ANGELES — Scientists in California and Virginia will try to decode the genetic makeup of two plant-destroying microbes, including one blamed for killing tens of thousands of oak trees along the West Coast. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO – The attorney for the son of Bay Area food critic and chef Narsai David said Friday that he may stop defending Daniel David, 36, against federal charges of fraud and money laundering because of a potential conflict of interest. -more-
Students say burgers and doughnuts instead of vegetables -more-
SAN FRANCISCO — PG&E Corp. suffered another financial blow Friday when Moody’s Investors Service said it was downgrading the credit rating of one of the energy giant’s subsidiaries. -more-
LOS PADRES NATIONAL FOREST — A second California condor hatched in the wild has been found dead here, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said. -more-
Surfers all have a common bond: the love of waves. But for pro-surfer-turned-musician Jack Johnson and many of the people that have stepped into his life, the bonds go beyond that. -more-
NEW YORK — If “The West Wing” were the real White House, glum-faced presidential operatives would be obsessing over worrisome poll numbers. -more-
Mayor Shirley Dean and challenger Tom Bates traded jabs over Dean’s student appointments to city commissions and Bates’ 1988 role in temporarily blocking construction of UC Berkeley’s Foothill Residence Hall during a sharply-worded campus debate Wednesday night. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO — The feud over Barry Bonds’ historic 73rd home run ball has gone to court, starting a flurry of arguments from both sides about what it means to be a spectator to the great American pastime and whether scuffling over baseballs hit into the stands is just the name of the game. -more-
Community to receive funds for public transportation study -more-
LOS ANGELES — Forty alleged members of the Aryan Brotherhood, a white supremacist prison-based gang, have been indicted on racketeering charges stemming from a series of violent crimes that included 16 murders and 16 attempted murders, federal officials announced Thursday. -more-
On Monday, the lights will go on. -more-
With his eye on the prison system Oakland singer/activist Steve Harris brings his politically-charged music and poetry to Berkeley’s La Pena Cultural Center tonight. -more-
Someone check the fire extinguishers in the Cal locker room. They could be all used up from cooling off the Bears at halftime. -more-
About 60 pro-Palestinian UC Berkeley students and supporters gathered on the steps of Sproul Hall Wednesday calling on the university to drop conduct charges against 32 student activists who participated in the April 9 occupation of Wheeler Hall. -more-
To the Editor: -more-
The Oakland Ballet’s program 2, featuring two world premieres and two company premieres, made for an entertaining evening of dance last weekend at Oakland's opulent Paramount Theatre. Of the four pieces, the most successful were Agnes de Mille's “Three Virgins and a Devil” and Mexican choreographer Gloria Contreras’ “Opus 45.” -more-
Chris Huffins, former NCAA decathlon champion at Cal and current assistant track & field coach at Georgia Tech, will return to Berkeley as the school’s new director of track and field and cross country, Cal Athletic Director Steve Gladstone announced Wednesday. -more-
Berkeley police officers and firefighters endorsed Mayor Shirley Dean Wednesday in her bid for re-election. -more-
SAN RAFAEL — A former Lucasfilm employee faces 13 felony counts of theft for allegedly stealing sound effects recordings, images, video files and the musical score to the movie “Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones.” -more-
If all goes well, the 69 residents of UA Homes who were displaced by fire in August will be able to return home next week. -more-
LOS ANGELES — With a deadly sniper terrorizing the suburbs of the nation’s capital, 20th Century Fox has decided to delay the release of a thriller about people being pinned down in a phone booth by a gunman they can’t see. -more-
UNITED NATIONS — The United States came under a barrage of criticism Wednesday as the Security Council held an open debate at the behest of dozens of countries angry with the Bush administration’s threat to attack Iraq. -more-
A 32-year-old East Bay woman was killed in a possible suicide attempt when an Amtrak passenger train struck her Toyota pick-up truck at Camelia Street in Berkeley at 9:45 p.m. Tuesday. -more-
OAKLAND – A 17-year-old boy suspected of shooting an Oakland police officer in the head last month made his first appearance in Alameda County Superior Court Wednesday. -more-
OAKLAND – BART police say a woman was struck and killed by a train as she walked on the tracks at the West Oakland Station Wednesday afternoon. -more-
ANAHEIM — With civic pride and a lot of publicity about their World Series bet at stake, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown refused to wear mouse ears. -more-
BRISBANE — A woman who had lived with her husband for more than a decade in a 300-year-old oak tree on San Bruno Mountain will move into temporary housing. -more-
SACRAMENTO — A majority of California nursing homes fail to meet federal standards and nearly half have not met minimum nurse-staffing levels set by the state, a review by a health care group found. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO — The West Coast port shutdown was not a calamity for all involved: food banks from San Francisco to New York City are finding pantries fat with tons of perishables that never made it to market. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO — It’s a familiar story: generic upstarts shaking a long-established industry left vulnerable by expired patents on blockbuster products. -more-
SACRAMENTO — The California Energy Commission and the California Power Authority have set up a program to distribute $1.25 million in grants for schools to install rooftop solar energy systems, officials said Wednesday. -more-
SACRAMENTO — California is getting a $2.3 million federal grant to expand benefits and continue group crisis counseling for family members and survivors of last year’s terrorist attacks, officials said Wednesday. -more-
LOS ANGELES — An Orange County tourist who narrowly avoided being caught in the deadly Bali nightclub bombing that killed his friend returned to California on Wednesday, breaking into sobs as people told him, “It’s good to have you back.” -more-
Just two months after hundreds of UC Berkeley office assistants, childcare workers and library assistants walked off the job, the university’s clerical employees, locked in a bitter contract dispute with the university over wages and workplace safety, began a new round of voting Tuesday to authorize a second strike. -more-
To the Editor: -more-
Alameda High was supposed to be just another speed bump in Berkeley High’s road to a third straight volleyball league championship, but they turned out to be more of a traffic jam. -more-
City Council spared two popular programs from the chopping block Tuesday, including winter swimming at Willard Pool. But as officials dealt with city budget forecasts, they agreed that additional across-the-board cuts would be inevitable. -more-
ANAHEIM – Everywhere the Anaheim Angels go, the question is the same: Pitch to Barry Bonds or walk him? -more-
Board of Education members want a raise. But first, they’ll have to get past a skeptical public. -more-
To the Editor: -more-
HELENA, Mont. — A U.S. senator is demanding an explanation from the National Park Service for why it cut short the season of a Yellowstone National Park ranger who earlier was ordered to stop speaking out about unscrupulous hunters. -more-
OAKLAND – A significant budget gap is plaguing the Oakland Unified School District and county officials have appointed a fiscal advisor while they wait to find out just how much money is missing. -more-
OAKLAND – A 17-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of shooting an Oakland police officer in the head last month, police said. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO – Immigration activists in 12 states are rallying and lobbying congressional representatives this week in an election-season effort to generate support for legalizing undocumented workers. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO – Opening statements are scheduled to begin today in San Francisco Superior Court in a legal dispute over possession of Giants slugger Barry Bonds’ 73rd home run baseball. -more-
REDWOOD CITY – A Foster City man charged with murdering his family by driving off a cliff into the Pacific told rescuers that his foot was stuck on the accelerator, according to court records. -more-
SACRAMENTO – State regulators announced Tuesday measures to add volunteers to help monitor nursing homes and to expand a consumer assistance program for residents and their families. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO – It was all smiles Tuesday at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors meeting, where the sometimes contentious panel voted 11-0 to give the city’s Olympic bid a vital green light – three years ahead of schedule. -more-
SACRAMENTO – More of the fastest-growing businesses, as ranked by Inc. Magazine, are from California than from any other state, negating an impression the state’s business climate is too unfriendly, state officials said. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO – Pressplay, the joint online music venture of Sony Corp. and Vivendi Universal SA, has inked a deal with BMG to add its music catalog to the song streaming and download service. -more-
WASHINGTON – The maker of America’s fastest train is shopping around a new product that could bring high-speed rail service to areas outside the Northeast. -more-
SAN FRANCISCO – The one suspect investigators had in the Zodiac killings of the late 1960s does not match DNA evidence, a newspaper reported Tuesday. -more-
LAS VEGAS – Protesters capped a weekend of demonstrations and arrests at the Nevada Test Site and the planned Yucca Mountain radioactive waste dump with a rally in Las Vegas claiming minority communities are disproportionately contaminated by federal nuclear facilities. -more-
PORTLAND, Ore. – A man accused of conspiring to fight U.S. troops in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks pleaded innocent Tuesday. -more-
SAN DIEGO – The trial of a former toxicologist accused of poisoning her husband began Tuesday with prosecutors using a series of passionate e-mails and a glass drug pipe to illustrate the twin obsessions they claim led her to commit murder: a torrid office affair and an addiction to methamphetamine. -more-
VOLCANO, Hawaii – Mauna Loa is stirring after an 18-year pause, and an eruption could be devastating to the neighborhoods built on the giant volcano’s slopes in the intervening years, scientists said Monday. -more-
WASHINGTON – Hikers, mountain climbers, hunters and others who could find themselves lost or hurt will have a new way to call for help: a handheld device that signals the same satellite rescue system that has watched over pilots and boaters for two decades. -more-
NEW YORK — So far this season, David Letterman has gotten the prime-time help he asked for from CBS. -more-
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Six men were indicted Monday on charges of supporting terrorism by training at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden declared that there “is going to be a fight against Americans,” authorities said. -more-
This holiday season, nearly a thousand of Berkeley’s neediest families will find a check in the mail. -more-
By John J. Lumpkin -more-
BAGRAM, Afghanistan — U.S. troops are giving confiscated weapons and ammunition to warlords in Afghanistan, a practice that critics say strengthens private militias and undermines attempts to establish a national army. -more-
BISMARCK, N.D. — Duck hunters in two boats died in separate accidents after their vessels capsized or sank in choppy North Dakota lakes. Three bodies were recovered by Tuesday as divers continued searching for a fourth man. -more-