The state of the City of Berkeley this year has been reflected in Mayor Tom Bates’ multiple State of the City addresses. The general public must pay for what they used to expect as free public services, or else wait around and pick up the leavings at a later time. -more-

In one of its last acts as manager of the recently-sold Claremont Hotel and Resort, former Claremont owner KSL Resorts has fired two workers whose charges of unfair labor practices against the resort were upheld by the National Labor Relations Board. -more-

Despite the city’s bohemian reputation, artists don’t have an easy time in Berkeley—especially when it comes to finding spaces to create, perform and display their works—and many fear the city may be losing its one sure creative haven. -more-

After 12 years of playing the theatrical equivalent of musical chairs, Managing Director Patrick Dooley and his acclaimed Shotgun Players solved their performance space needs the old-fashioned way—the purchase of the Transparent Theater by a generous patron, who turned around and leased it to the theater company. -more-

FRIDAY, APRIL 16 -more-

It’s often hard, when it comes time to write editorials, to decide what readers are most interested in thinking about. Editorial departments in many newspapers seem to believe that their job is to tell readers what to think. In Berkeley, and particularly at the Berkeley Daily Planet, that’s definitely not our job. Our readers can make up their own minds, thank you. What we hope to do is to point out what’s going on, in case someone’s missing something, so that readers know when it’s their duty to form opinions on important topics of the day. -more-