News

Reddy Saga Ends With Last Defendant Spared Jail Sentence

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday June 08, 2004

The four-year criminal prosecution of Berkeley’s most scandalous family ended in federal court Monday when Judge Claudia Wilken sentenced Prasad Lakireddy, 45, to five years probation, one year under house arrest and a $20,000 fine for his role in his family’s plot to smuggle girls into the country for sex and cheap labor. -more-


Latino Students Rally To Save Job of BHS Librarian

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday June 08, 2004

Dozens of Latino students at Berkeley High are working extra hard this finals week to once again save the job of the librarian they lovingly call “La Doña,” the head mistress. -more-


Bleak Outlook for Youth Summer Jobs as Adults Step In

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Tuesday June 08, 2004

Berkeley teenagers looking for work this summer face two monumental hurdles: a lagging economy and a job market in which desperate adults are taking the jobs once the preserve of the young. -more-


UC Hate Debate as Complex as Mideast Conflict

By JAKOB SCHILLER
Tuesday June 08, 2004

Is anti-Semitism on the rise on the UC Berkeley campus? -more-


Council May Delay Report On University Funds Until LRDP is Complete

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday June 08, 2004

Release of the long-awaited report tallying millions in UC Berkeley’s unreimbursed costs to the city will likely be delayed one week, Assistant City Manager Arrietta Chakos said Monday. -more-


Tribes Push for Higher Profile in Water Wars

By Julie Johnson Pacific News Service
Tuesday June 08, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO—As a number of water contracts in California’s agriculturally rich Central Valley come up for renewal, two California tribes say the pro-agribusiness Bush administration is reneging on government promises made to restore rivers the tribes depend on. -more-


Tenet or Not, CIA Must Learn Mideast’s ‘Secret Language’

By Behrouz Saba Pacific News Service
Tuesday June 08, 2004

The resignation of George Tenet as CIA director, following a string of disastrous failures at the agency, underscores the greater failure of the U.S. intelligence community to understand a Middle East where allegiances constantly shift, duplicity is considered an honorable political necessity and America is regarded with mixed and extreme emotions of love and loathing. -more-


Fire Department Log

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Tuesday June 08, 2004

Persistent Chef Keeps Cookin’ as Stove Burns -more-


Police Blotter

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Tuesday June 08, 2004

Berkeley Man Slain in Richmond Drive-by -more-


From Susan Parker: A Harrowing Adventure On the Way to the Head Royce School Prom

Tuesday June 08, 2004

Last year Ralph and I were invited to a pre-prom party at the Berkeley home of our friends, Laurie, Milton and Sarah. It was a small soiree. We were the only guests. -more-


‘Money Talks, the Rich Walk,’ Says Reddy Critic

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday June 08, 2004

Like just about all of Berkeley, Marcia Poole never knew Chanti Prattipati. -more-


Charting a Different Course

By MICHAEL MARCHANT
Tuesday June 08, 2004

The City of Berkeley’s plan to reduce its $10 million budget deficit relies most heavily on cuts to city services while relying very little on fee and/or tax increases to generate new revenue. Balancing the budget in this way will exacerbate, at the local level, the tremendous economic inequality that exists in California and throughout this country as a result of unbridled military spending, unjust federal and state tax policies, and the erosion of the public sector. -more-


Taking Off the Blinders

By CAROLINE GAY ATTRI
Tuesday June 08, 2004

Criticizing the president, the war, or the conduct of the war does not put our troops in danger, rightly claims General Anthony Zinni, former commander-in- chief of the United States Central Command and Bush administration special envoy to the Middle East. He said, “Look, there is one statement that bothers me more than anything else. And that’s the idea that when the troops are in combat, everybody has to shut up. Imagine if we put troops in combat with a faulty rifle, and that rifle was malfunctioning, and troops were dying as a result. -more-


On Touchscreen Voting

Henry Mahon
Tuesday June 08, 2004

Editors, Daily Planet: -more-


Letters to the Editor

Tuesday June 08, 2004

REAGAN’S LEGACY -more-


Music Legend Takes Youngsters Under Her Wing

By JAKOB SCHILLER
Tuesday June 08, 2004

As Faye Carol swings from side to side, clapping and grooving, her energy is immediately picked up by the line of young girls standing directly in front of her. Accompanied by a solo piano, each girl—with Carol’s encouragement—belts out their individual part of the tune they are rehearsing. -more-


Early Music on the Fringe And in the Future

By Janos Gereben Special to the Planet
Tuesday June 08, 2004

“Chicks and ducks and geese better scurry... When I take you out in the Fringe without a surrey” if you’re looking for early music in Berkeley this month. -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday June 08, 2004

TUESDAY, JUNE 8 -more-


Norm Hirose Reports on Life in Internment Camp

Matthew Artz
Tuesday June 08, 2004

Matthew Artz -more-


Magnolias Look Past Old South to Dawn of Flowers

By RON SULLIVAN Special to the Planet
Tuesday June 08, 2004

The young Southern magnolias (or “bull bays”) strung along Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, from mid-Berkeley through its long run into Oakland, were planted along with flowering locusts to fill empty spots and dress up the street when its name was changed from Grove Street. The idea was good, but some of the trees are clearly struggling. The life of a street tree is a hard one, and they, like most of the world’s creatures, are most vulnerable when they’re small and spindly. A lot of the damage I see is clearly just human boorishness, supplemented by our sometimes sloppy use of motor vehicles. -more-


Berkeley This Week Calendar

Tuesday June 08, 2004

TUESDAY, JUNE 8 -more-


Vista Dean Claims He Was Ousted By A Black Conspiracy

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday June 04, 2004

The outgoing president of Berkeley’s Vista College is claiming that a black-orchestrated, racial discrimination conspiracy has cost him his job and is threatening a lawsuit against the Peralta Community College District if his contract is not reopened and renewed before the end of the month. -more-


UC Plan Blasted at City Council Meeting

By Richard Brenneman
Friday June 04, 2004

Any illusions UC officials may have harbored about how the rest of Berkeley views their Long Range Development Plan should have vanished after Tuesday night’s City Council session. -more-


BUSD Looks to Break Cycle Of Meager Budget Planning

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday June 04, 2004

Larry Picus stood center stage before about 75 parents Tuesday at the Longfellow Middle School Theater Tuesday as he auditioned for the leading role in Berkeley Unified’s great school funding adventure. -more-


Berkeley This Week Calendar

Friday June 04, 2004

FRIDAY, JUNE 4 -more-


Day by Day, Laborers Seek Work on West Side

By BILL CARDER Special to the Planet
Friday June 04, 2004

The day laborers gather on Berkeley’s Hearst corridor early in the morning, hours before most of the high-priced shops and trendy cafes in the nearby Fourth Street commercial district open for business. The first to arrive is Hector Castillo, a 51-year old Honduran who sleeps in his car on a nearby side street. -more-


Transfers Draw Lawsuit From Rosa Parks Teachers

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday June 04, 2004

The four teachers involuntarily transferred last week from Rosa Parks Elementary School will file a grievance seeking monetary compensation, the Berkeley Federation of Teachers announced Tuesday. -more-


After School Programs Get Funding Reprieve

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday June 04, 2004

The lights will not go out on Berkeley after school programs this fall, though they might flicker a bit. -more-


Teachers, School District Deadlock Over New Contract

Friday June 04, 2004

Nearly one year after their contract expired, the Berkeley Federation of Teachers (BFT) announced Tuesday they have unilaterally declared that negotiations with the Berkeley Unified School District are at an impasse. -more-


Fast Food Giants Face Lawsuit Over Cancerous Fries

By Starre Vartan AlterNet
Friday June 04, 2004

Carbs have been taking a beating lately, and the news isn’t getting any better. A pending lawsuit filed against fast food mega-corps McDonald’s and Burger King may leave one of America’s most beloved junk foods with a cigarette-like warning label: “May cause cancer.” -more-


Police Blotter

By JAKOB SCHILLER
Friday June 04, 2004

Cop Hit (Again) -more-


UnderCurrents: A Deja View of a Summer Beginning to Simmer

J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR
Friday June 04, 2004

2004 is nothing like 1966. -more-


Letters to the Editor

Friday June 04, 2004

SCHOOL FUNDING -more-


Nexus Artist Blasts Animal Shelter Decision

By BOB BROKL
Friday June 04, 2004

I’m writing as one of the “anxious artists” from Nexus who attended the recent Berkeley City Council Subcommittee on the New Animal Shelter. These meetings have been going on for about two years—this is the first we have attended since finding out about them one month ago. -more-


UC Should Forsake Its Nukes

By David Krieger MinutemanMedia.org
Friday June 04, 2004

We’ve all heard about the inspections that took place in Iraq to find weapons of mass destruction and programs to make them. As we know, none were found in Iraq. -more-


Bubble Lady Captures Berkeley’s Beat

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday June 04, 2004

“I’ve spent the last 30 years being a public nuisance,” says Julia Vinograd, adding—with a smile—“in a positive way.” -more-


Civic Center Park Hosts Weekend Poetry Festival

By Richard Brenneman
Friday June 04, 2004

Simple syllables -more-


Moreno Excels in Berkeley Rep’s ‘Master Class’

By Betsy Hunton Special to the Planet
Friday June 04, 2004

“No applause, please” the diva commands as she walks on stage at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. -more-


Arts Calendar

Friday June 04, 2004

FRIDAY, JUNE 4 -more-


A Bar-Hopping Guide to Berkeley’s Gourmet Pubs

By Barbara Quick Special to the Planet
Friday June 04, 2004

For the longest time, I felt sure that a romantic dinner out meant sitting across from your companion at a candlelit table in a great restaurant. It is only recently that I’ve been won over to the charms of bellying up to the bar in those very same restaurants and eating side by side. -more-