After a 46-12 vote early Thursday evening, Berkeley-Albany YMCA Head Start teachers officially have their first union. -more-
Alleged construction defects at a second of Patrick Kennedy’s stucco-clad downtown apartment buildings have triggered another lawsuit pitting the developer against his architect and Berkeley contractor Kimes Morris. -more-
Councilmember Betty Olds will face a familiar challenger this November. Norine Smith, a waterfront commissioner who in 2000 barely managed to garner one third of Olds’ vote in a three-person race, is taking another run at the District Six council seat Ol ds has owned since 1992. -more-
Developers of the proposed massive Campus Bay waterfront residential development in Richmond have put their plans on hold pending completion of a key environmental review by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB). -more-
The University of California has placed 19 employees at the Los Alamos National Laboratory on paid investigatory leave pending a federal probe into missing classified material at the lab, George “Pete” Nanos, the lab director, announced at a Thursday pre ss conference. -more-
The City Council Tuesday placed three controversial measures on the November ballot, but not before tweaking their wording and going on record opposing their passage—all in a manner one councilmember thought might violate state law. -more-
The assessed value of privately owned property in Berkeley jumped 7.5 percent during the past fiscal year, from $9,048,160,060 to $9,724, 464,361, reports Alameda County Chief Deputy Assessor Russ Hall. -more-
A Berkeley Housing Commissioner and her supporters Tuesday took their concerns over a planned affordable senior housing complex before the California Court of Appeals. -more-
Honoring their promise to not drop the issue, a group of concerned citizens along with the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE) have—at least temporarily—halted the expansion of Pixar animation studios in Emeryville. -more-
In a rare and exclusive interview, Mark Chain, a leading analyst for the Penultimate Pundits Poll, spoke with our correspondent about what to look for in the coming election season. -more-
Won’t you please come to [Boston], -more-
Critics of the Bush administration have taken to accusing Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge of whipping up periodic terrorism alerts to keep us all off balance until the election. -more-
OAKLAND—If you listen to President George Bush, the only way Mexicans can avoid the illegal and sometimes deadly trip across the U.S. border is to come as guest workers—temporary contract laborers for U.S. industry and agriculture. The 14 million immigrants already living in the United States without visas, Bush says, must become guest workers too, if they want to get legal documents. -more-
A historic, five-question referendum on Bolivia’s energy resources, approved by Bolivians on July 18, reveals the risky middle path many Latin American leaders now tread as they try to translate popular discontent into real political change. -more-
Berkeley Man Fatally Shot in Oakland -more-
Jealous, perhaps, of this summer’s box office success of political documentaries, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has recently provided us with a bit of political theater on his own. You could see where the script was leading. You just couldn’t figure—in advance—how the main character would react, and therein lies the entertainment factor. -more-
The Berkeley City Council and the Planning Department allowed local developer Patrick Kennedy to put extra stories in several of his building projects in exchange for ambiguously defined “cultural amenities” which never materialized, went bankrupt, or didn’t “pencil out.” -more-
The Berkeley City Council also serves as the Berkeley Redevelopment Agency (BRA). It is scheduled to meet quarterly on the second Tuesday of the month, at 6:30 p.m. But meetings are subject to change, and there have been lots of changes since Tom Bates became mayor. -more-
Mikel Clifford, long a well-known figure in the Bay Area theatrical scene, has been brought in by Berkeley’s Actors Ensemble to direct Edward Albee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning A Delicate Balance. -more-
Traveling close to home this weekend, try the Catalan Festival at Gloria Ferrer Champagne Caves just south of Sonoma. -more-
Water leaks and subsequent mold contamination have cost the owners of Berkeley’s controversial Gaia building more than $10 million to repair, according to lawsuits filed in Alameda County Superior Court. -more-
A 25-year-old father of three became Berkeley’s first homicide victim of the year Sunday afternoon when he was felled by a hail of gunfire on the street outside his grandmother’s South Berkeley apartment, police report. Meanwhile, a Wednesday night shooting death is being attributed to the City of Albany. -more-
Relaxation isn’t just for the rich. That was the call from boycott-supporting protestors outside the Claremont Hotel Friday as the well-known health guru Deepak Chopra held a weekend seminar at the luxury resort and hotel. -more-
As Berkeley charts a course to meet its goal of recycling 75 percent of its waste by 2010, it is doubtful the 32-year-old recycling drop-off center at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Dwight Avenue will be part of the plan. -more-
The hunt for a replacement for Berkeley Fire Chief Reginald Garcia—who leaves Sept. 17—begins in earnest early next month, said City Manager Phil Kamlarz last week. -more-
For more than three decades, Charlie Frizzell was a cherished Homo sapiens Berkeley landmark. Whether it was shmoozing with Charlie at a party, joining him on an anti-war march, chatting with him at the Cheese Board, or just bumping into him around town, it was always a treat. His calm and gentle demeanor was contagious and even a brief encounter with Charlie would lower your blood pressure and brighten your mood. -more-
High up in the North Berkeley Hills where crime is low, university encroachment distant, and a new out-of-scale high-rise apartment building inconceivable, one neighborhood is tackling a concern most Berkeley residents take for granted—power poles and their adjoining wires. -more-
UC Berkeley announced Monday the start of a new transit pass program designed to lure its 8,000 employees out of their cars and on to AC Transit buses. -more-
Stucco construction lawsuits have become a major growth industry in recent years, with water damage and mold being the two chief complaints. -more-
Firefighters were summoned to 1195 Grizzly Peak Road 17 minutes after midnight Monday, arriving four minutes later to find a neighbor with a hose battling the flames that had swept up the wall of wood-shingled garage. -more-
Rose held her iridescent purple knitting needles close to her eyes and peered between knit/purls at the Scrabble board. Something long, multi-colored, weird, and seemingly out-of-control hung from the needles and mysteriously disappeared underneath the table. -more-
To the Berkeley City Counci, the Planning Commission and the Zoning Adjustments Board: -more-
Medical cannabis patients like myself are simply not feeling too secure these days. The medical cannabis voter initiative—the Patients’ Access to Medical Cannabis Act (PAMCA)—seems to have provoked a great deal of critical response judging from articles in the last two issues of the Daily Planet. I’d like to remind the city manager, the BCC, and citizens of Berkeley that PAMCA is what I consider a responsible attempt by informed medical cannabis advocates to ensure legal, sanctioned, and efficient access for patients to their medicine. -more-
Roll out the sofas and living room rugs, but leave the red carpet behind. That was the theme at Bay Area houses as neighbors packed into living rooms to watch the nation-wide premier of Outfoxed—Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism, the newest in the deluge of groundbreaking and hard-hitting left wing political documentaries hitting the American scene this year. -more-
Of the many things you can do with (and to) opera, there is “updating,” spoofing, and producing a work really well. Then, there is David Scott Marley. -more-
Tuliptrees, or tulip poplars, line the western half of University Avenue in Berkeley. They’re not universally popular poplars, mostly because they’re prone to aphid infestations and the aphids’ sticky excretions drip onto everything below, attract soot, and nourish sooty black molds. Too bad, because it’s a noble tree with roots in American history. -more-
Now begin the City of Berkeley’s dog days. The expression derives from the rising of Sirius, the Dog Star, which takes place between early July and early September. But since it coincides with hot and humid in a large part of the northern hemisphere, the image of lazy dogs lying around in the shade comes to mind. -more-
Sometimes, one picture is worth a thousand words. But pictures are subject to multiple interpretations, and so it seems that on certain topics when we run a picture we need to add explanatory words as well. Last week we ran a cartoon by our editorial car toonist which depicted the wall which Israel is currently erecting in Palestinian territory. It was identified as such by having the flag of Israel superimposed on it: a six-pointed star with bars above and below. A sign was tacked to the wall: “Condemned by the International Court of Justice.” It was a simple graphic representation of an actual current event which has been reported in many papers. But for a few readers (not many, thank goodness) there was something about the cartoon which seemed to imply hostility to Jewish people in general (what is commonly called anti-Semitism) rather than criticism of the policies of the current government of Israel. One caller left a message identifying himself as a Marin County lawyer, and said that he had been planning to run a weekly ad in the Daily Planet, but that he had decided not to because of the paper’s “anti-Semitism.” (Excuse me, but I don’t really believe he’d planned the ad, sorry.) A woman called after hours, hoping to leave a voice mail message, but I picked up the phone. She said that she thought the use of a religious symbol like the star was anti-Semitism, and later called again to say that she was reporting the paper to the Anti-Defamation League. The problem, which we’ve explained in this paper before, is that Israel chose to use a religious symbol on its national flag, but that doesn’t make the flag off-limits as a political symbol. The Union Jack, the British flag, incorporates a cross, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be used in political cartoons. -more-
