Alarmed by news that American manufacturers have run out of flu vaccine, people showed up starting at 5 a.m. Saturday for the flu shot clinic at Longs Drug Store at 5100 Broadway in Oakland. -more-
First off, you could start a pretty good argument about the title of the Shotgun Players’ new production—and brand new it is—The Death of Meyerhold. -more-
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one in a continuing series by UC Berkeley students on the paths of Berkeley. -more-
One of the University of California’s best-heeled rivals for the contract to manage Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) has dropped out of the competition before it even began. -more-
Saddam Hussein’s capture and eventual trial, if properly conducted, could begin a new and more positive phase in the saga of the United States and Iraq. Or it could devolve into a continuation of the pattern of exploitation of Saddam’s monster image that the Bush administration has adopted throughout the conflict to justify its actions. -more-
Berkeley citizens tired of hearing about the city’s ongoing budget problems will certainly want to skip tonight’s (Tuesday, Dec. 16) City Council meeting, which features two sessions on the subject. -more-
Nearly 3,000 people packed the Berkeley Community Theater Sunday evening to remember and celebrate the life of Father Bill O’Donnell, Berkeley’s well-known and beloved priest who passed away early last week. -more-
I took time off from my San Francisco State MFA studies to take my husband, Ralph, to the doctor. It was a routine appointment with his urologist but we had some concerns. Due to his paralysis, Ralph cannot feel pain below his shoulders. But I can tell when he’s sick in a variety of ways: fever, slurred speech, lethargy, sediment in his urine, unpleasant smells. -more-
Some Berkeley restaurant and café goers found closed doors at their favorite spots Friday after employees took the day off to join a statewide strike in support of immigrant rights. -more-
The community should be alerted to the fact that with almost no warning, City Council is currently considering cutting funding for people with disabilities and seniors. On the chopping block at the next Council meeting is $149,000 that is appropriated for the warm water pool and almost $346,000 for new curb cuts. These cuts would be in addition to approximately $212,500 (one third of the overall allocation) that was already cut from this year’s budget for compliance with the federally mandated American Disabilities Act (ADA). No other community group is being targeted with cuts of this magnitude. -more-
Bayer Healthcare AG—Berkeley’s sixth largest employer and the city’s largest corporate job source—announced a 11 percent workforce reduction Thursday, a move that will leave 190 Berkeley employees without a job. -more-
Berkeley and its environs are known as a treasure trove of inimitable shops, each worth a visit. -more-
Berkeley High Principal Jim Slemp plans to keep the controversial Identity and Ethnic Studies (IES) course mandatory for ninth graders despite a petition reportedly signed by more than 1,000 students calling for its demise. -more-
Bill O’Donnell was no saint. In fact, I think he would object to any pious reference with his name. Why? Because he was one of the most honest human beings who ever walked the earth. -more-
Anyone struggling to get into a holiday mood can find delightful solace in the array of notable musical and theatrical performances taking place this weekend in the greater Berkeley area. -more-
Nine years after a fire burnt down their first home, Berkeley Montessori School is moving to the flatlands—hoping that at their new address they can breath life into a Berkeley landmark and surrounding neighborhood fighting to improve its image and maintain its character. -more-
Long-struggling advocates of democratic governance for the Pacifica Network and its member stations chalked up one more small victory last Friday with the expiration of the deadline for candidate applications for the upcoming board elections. -more-
Some 75 balloon-wielding demonstrators—including a state assemblymember, a mayor, a city councilmember, a county supervisor, and a seven-foot-tall costumed Grinch—staged a candlelight vigil at an entrance to Hilltop Mall in Richmond Wednesday evening, protesting plans by retail giant Wal-Mart to open a store there. -more-
A decidedly glum Berkeley City Council took the first tentative steps Tuesday night toward budgeting in the Schwarzenegger era, squirming through a complicated revenue-cutting presentation by Budget Manager Paul Navazio, then putting off any decision until next week’s council meeting. -more-
Woman Attacks Two In Bookshop, Ends Up Bloody in the Street -more-
We’ve heard a lot lately about how the recording industry is increasingly dominated by a few large conglomerates, producing fewer and fewer choices for listeners and less and less income for artists. -more-
Pivotally located smack between the downtown BART station and the edge of campus, the proposed UC Berkeley hotel/conference center/museums complex could bring important benefits or major headaches—perhaps both. It certainly poses a wide range of difficult, and interrelated, issues. -more-
I was sitting in my desk in my second grade classroom, I think, at Highland Elementary in Oakland—which takes this back a ways, I know—when an earthquake came and split a crack so wide in the school’s administration building that you could stick your fingers in it. That summer, they tore down the administration building and put up a new one. Eight years later, when I had just entered Castlemont, Oakland built a high school for the rich kids up in the hills. -more-
Christmas, 1849: not a joyous time for a party of gold seekers led by a Vermonter named William Lewis Manly. An alleged shortcut from Salt Lake City to California has left them stranded in Death Valley. They’ve slaughtered their draft oxen and dismantled their wagons for firewood. They’re hungry enough to try anything, however unpromising. -more-
Cash-strapped AC Transit is set to implement its second major service cut of the year Monday, slashing service on six Berkeley routes and laying off over 100 drivers and mechanics just four days before Christmas. -more-
I was in St. Joseph the Worker church most recently on Sunday evening, the night before Father Bill O’Donnell died. It was that most Berkeley of events, the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra’s holiday special: Handel’s Messiah, sung by an enormous assemblage of unauditioned but well-rehearsed community members who rattled the stained glass windows with glorious sound. The orchestra was splendid. The soloists were thrilling. The audience enthusiastically stood up to join in singing the Hallelujah Chorus. BCCO performances bring out all kinds of Berkeleyans, people who probably couldn’t sit down at the same dinner table for conversation (or even agree on the choice of a restaurant), but who manage to get together harmoniously a few times every year. -more-
