The Week

Jakob Schiller:
          
          Casino San Pablo would become the largest casino west of the Mississippi under terms unveiled by Gov. Schwarzenegger Thursday.?
Jakob Schiller: Casino San Pablo would become the largest casino west of the Mississippi under terms unveiled by Gov. Schwarzenegger Thursday.?
 

News

Governor’s San Pablo Casino Deal Fulfills Hopes of GOP Operatives By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday August 20, 2004

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s award of exclusive Bay Area casino gaming rights to Casino San Pablo gives a multi-million-dollar plum to a project launched by a three-time GOP contender for the Philadelphia mayoralty and backed by the GOP operative who stage-managed the “Brooks Brothers Riot” during the 2000 Florida presidential recount. -more-


Special Edition

Friday August 20, 2004

Low Algebra Marks Add Up To Low State Test Scores By MATTHEW ARTZ

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday August 20, 2004

For too many Berkeley public school children X+Y=? -more-


Minority Students Sue BUSD Over Expulsions By MATTHEW ARTZ

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday August 20, 2004

Three Berkeley High students have joined a class action lawsuit alleging that school district officials violated their civil rights when they expelled them without a state-mandated hearing. -more-


Federal Cuts Threaten Key Fresh Food Programs By ANGELA ROWEN

By ANGELA ROWEN
Friday August 20, 2004

The United States Department of Agriculture is proposing to cut funding for school gardens, farmers’ markets, and other programs that seek to expand low-income communities’ access to fresh fruits and vegetables and promote holistic nutrition as a way to prevent chronic disease. -more-


Alta Bates Puddles PoseThreat of West Nile Virus By MATTHEW ARTZ

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday August 20, 2004

Since the West Nile virus arrived in town, Berkeley residents haven’t stepped lightly over freestanding puddles, favored breeding grounds for the mosquitoes that carry the disease. So it’s odd that some of the most persistent puddles in town are being pr oduced by the Alta Bates Medical Center. -more-


Berkeley’s Impact Fund Sues Big Box Retailer By JAKOB SCHILLER

Staff
Friday August 20, 2004

Brad Seligman and the Berkeley-based Impact Fund are at it again. Only two months after winning a decision that created the largest class action lawsuit of all time in a case against Wal-Mart, Seligman helped file a lawsuit in a Federal District court Tuesday against the warehouse giant Costco Wholesale Corp., alleging sexual discrimination against female employees. -more-


Police Blotter Richard Brenneman

Police Blotter
Friday August 20, 2004

Looked for Strange, Found Badges -more-


City Makes Requested West Berkeley Traffic Changes

Friday August 20, 2004

Responding to appeals by local merchants and the West Berkeley Association of Industrial Companies, as reported in the Daily Planet in early July, the city’s Public Works Department and its Office of Transportation have implemented changes in striping, signage and signalization at Ninth Street and Ashby Avenue and at Seventh and Murray streets. City staff have reinstated the “Keep Clear” sign that was formerly painted on Seventh just west of Murray. At Ashby and Ninth they’ve restriped the westbound lanes and removed the left turn prohibition sign. According to traffic engineer Hamid Mostowfi, the signal at Ashby and Ninth will be turned on by Sept. 3. This will all come as a surprise to the San Francisco Chronicle, which reported on Thursday that the work had not yet begun. -more-


Finances, Jobs, Safety Top Issues in Richmond Race By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR
Friday August 20, 2004

A large majority of the candidates running in a crowded field for the Richmond City Council agree that fiscal accountability and responsible financial management will be important issues in the upcoming Nov. 2 election. That was the result of a survey of candidate websites and campaign statements, as well as unofficial polling done this week by the Berkeley Daily Planet. -more-


Berkeley Hears Venezuela Story Big Media By JAKOB SCHILLER Ignore

By JAKOB SCHILLER
Friday August 20, 2004

In a page three article in the New York Times last Saturday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is said to have “rankled Washington with his leftist agenda and authoritarian impulse,” and “provoked controversy through his coziness with dictators like Mr. Castro, Saddam Hussein, and Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe.” -more-


UnderCurrents: Let Kerry be Vague Until the Election is Over J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR
Friday August 20, 2004

As the presidential campaign settles down into that crucial back-stretch period, progressive commentators continue to argue that Sen. John Kerry needs to explicitly articulate an Iraq exit strategy. -more-


Commentary: A Modest Proposal For a Berkeley Roadside Attraction By ALBERT SUKOFF

By ALBERT SUKOFF
Friday August 20, 2004

After decades of living in Berkeley, I have come to the conclusion that the dominant political forces in this town are sufficiently entrenched that significant change in the short term is unlikely. Their view of the world, somewhere between left-of-center and way-left-of-center, does not consume everyone in Berkeley, but it is sufficiently widespread that the current flavor of local governance will probably endure for the foreseeable future. As the rest of the country has gone decidedly, if fitfully, to the right, Berkeley has stayed with its basic 1960s mentality. Almost certainly Berkeley has attracted those who find it conducive to their own political proclivities and repelled those who feel otherwise, thereby reinforcing itself as a the nation’s citadel of collectivist wisdom. -more-


Commentary: Coming Upon August 26 By HELEN RIPPIER WHEELER

By HELEN RIPPIER WHEELER
Friday August 20, 2004

Coming up on Aug. 26, I am reminded of 30 years ago. In 1974 the Wisconsin Commission on the Status of Women inaugurated a series of regional conferences to examine the status of the homemaker, and Oakland resident Tish Sommers coined the term “displaced homemaker” to describe the “middle-aged woman forcibly exiled” from her role as wife and mother, struggling to find a place in the job market. The Mexican American Women’s Association was founded. A study by Cherokee/Choctaw physician Constance Uri exposed widespread use of sterilization of Native American women and led to the 1977 revision of DHEW’s guidelines on sterilization. Congresswoman Bella Abzug’s bill to designate Aug. 26 Women’s Equality Day in honor of the adoption of the Suffrage Amendment became law. The Civil Rights Act was amended to prohibit sex discrimination in housing financing, sale or rental or in provision of brokerage services. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act became law after Abzug, Margaret Heckler and Lenor Sullivan fought for it in the House; later, “Battling Bella” led a delegation of women members of Congress to protest unsatisfactory implementation regulations, and they were revised. The first woman state governor to be elected in her own right—Ella Grasso—was elected governor of Connecticut. I remember well all of these events and more that year, as well as defeats and losses of women’s lives and careers. -more-


Letters to the Editor

Friday August 20, 2004

TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT -more-


Watch the Top Hits on the Berkeley Birder’s List By JOE EATON Special to the Planet

By JOE EATON Special to the Planet
Friday August 20, 2004

If you’re not from around here, you may be encountering an unusual number of Unidentified Flying Objects: birds that look different from the ones you’re accustomed to seeing at home, and behave differently. Here are a few you’re likely to notice on campus or around town. -more-


A Few Options for Out-of-Town Jaunts By JOE EATON Special to the Planet

By JOE EATON Special to the Planet
Friday August 20, 2004

When urban life begins to get to you, the Bay Area offers a wealth of refuges. Thanks to enlightened planning, our cities are surrounded by a greenbelt of regional, state, and national parkland: wonderful places for photography, hiking, birding, botanizing, whale-watching, and general communing with nature. -more-


Ringers Animals

Friday August 20, 2004

Ten ubiquitous animals you may have thought were native Northern Californians: -more-


Glorious Gardens Close to Home Provide Respite By SHIRLEY BARKER Special to the Planet

By SHIRLEY BARKER Special to the Planet
Friday August 20, 2004

Let’s face it, going to a four-year university is stressful. Most of the time the adrenaline rush seems to keep one on one’s toes, enabling one to nail a good grade and giving one a sense of making a start at something important. Perhaps working for a degree will lead to a cure for cancer or a Nobel prize. At the very least, it’s an opportunity to make life-long friendships. -more-


Ringers Plants

Friday August 20, 2004

Ten plants you may have thought were native Northern Californians: -more-


Delicacies All in the Family at Country Cheese By LYDIA GANS Special to the Planet

By LYDIA GANS Special to the Planet
Friday August 20, 2004

This is a story about cheeses and a 35-year-old store that sells them. It’s about a burgeoning alternative gourmet ghetto in a less than affluent part of west Berkeley. And it’s about an immigrant family that has established a niche for itself and become, if not totally Americanized, decidedly Berkeleyized. -more-


Playing the Role By RON SULLIVAN Special to the Planet of Sunday Tour Guide

By RON SULLIVAN Special to the Planet
Friday August 20, 2004

One of the chief pleasures of living here is playing tour guide. Over the years I’ve lined up a few: The Food Tour (North Berkeley, the Farmer’s Markets when possible, Market Hall in Rockridge, whatever sort of restaurant they don’t have at home) and the Book Tour (Cody’s, Moe’s, Shakespeare, University Press, Pegasus, Black Oak, whatever specialty stores tickle their fancy) and the Architecture Tour (assorted Maybecks, Eugene Tsui’s “Fish House” (more aptly, “Tardigrade House,” officially “Ojo del Sol”) on Matthews Street). There’s even the Sex Tour: take them to Good Vibrations and then send them to North Beach or Castro, depending on their tastes. Sometimes I’ll stoop to the Tourist Tour, including Fisherman’s Wharf and the Alcatraz boat. -more-


Sampling the Berkeley Bran Muffin Diet By MARTY SCHIFFENBAUER Special to the Planet

By MARTY SCHIFFENBAUER Special to the Planet
Friday August 20, 2004

So I was sitting at the café engaged in my daily matudinal session of pseudointellectual combat when, as it often will, the question arose: “Is there a God”? -more-


Cheese Board Bran Muffins

Friday August 20, 2004

Reprinted with permission from The Cheese Board Collective Works: Bread, Pastry, Cheese, Pizza by the Cheese Board Collective. Copyright 2003, Ten Speed Press, Berkeley. -more-


Shopping for Special Stuff in Greater Berkeley By JOE EATON Special to the Planet

By JOE EATON Special to the Planet
Friday August 20, 2004

This town is full of establishments that sell things you never knew you needed. Here’s a personal selection. -more-


International Jazz Pioneer Revisits California By IRA STEINGROOT Special to the Planet

By IRA STEINGROOT Special to the Planet
Friday August 20, 2004

Saxophonist John Tchicai’s life might be viewed as an example of ontogeny recapitulating phylogeny. Jazz was born in the United States when the descendants of African natives were confronted by the instruments and harmonies of European music. By brushing that music against the grain they found the blue notes between the well-tempered notes, the rhythmic swing that hovered uncertainly, mysteriously, doubtfully around the strict metrical structures. The Middle Passage was both disruptive and quickening so that “nothing of him that doth fade, but doth suffer a sea-change into something rich and strange.” -more-


Picturing Berkeley in Photographs and Words By STEVEN FINACOM Special to the Planet

By STEVEN FINACOM Special to the Planet
Friday August 20, 2004

Unlike iconic destinations such as San Francisco, New York or London where the shelves of bookstores and gift shops sag under the weight of tourist fare, Berkeley has been the subject of relatively few pictorial books. -more-


Worshipping at City’s Literary Shrines By JOE EATON Special to the Planet

By JOE EATON Special to the Planet
Friday August 20, 2004

San Francisco has Mark Twain; Oakland has Jack London. Berkeley has had its share of literary lights as well. Some—George R. Stewart, who memorably destroyed the town in Earth Abides; Robert Hass, Maxine Hong Kingston, Josephine Miles, Ishmael Reed—had, or have, university connections. The town has also been hospitable to Beat poets, speculative-fiction writers, and other non-Establishment types. Heyday Books has an entire anthology (Berkeley! A Literary Tribute) of fiction, poetry and memoir set in Berkeley, with contributors running the gamut from John Kenneth Galbraith to Thomas Pynchon. -more-


Local Youth’s Death Is City’s Third Murder in 4 Weeks: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday August 17, 2004

A youth was shot dead and witnesses said another was wounded in broad daylight Monday at the corner of Adeline and and Harmon streets, the third murder in South Berkeley in the past month. -more-


Casinos, Malls and Politics Mix at East Bay Meetings: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday August 17, 2004

In the realm of strange political bedfellows, pairing off a massive petroleum firm with a gaggle of environmental activists has to rank as one of the oddest couplings ever. -more-


Green Council Candidate Courts Left-Out Voters: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday August 17, 2004

Here’s how one city councilmember described her fellow Green Party member running in the District 5 council race. -more-


Green Presidential Candidate Makes Pitch for Local Votes: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday August 17, 2004

Making a weekend campaign stop in Berkeley, Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb asked party faithful not to judge him on his showing in November. -more-


Pro-Tenant Candidates Dominate Rent Board Field: By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday August 17, 2004

Last June, Berkeley Property Owners Association President Michael Wilson said emphatically that his group did not plan on running a pro-landlord slate for the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board in this November’s election. -more-


Poet, Teacher Czeslaw Milosz Dies in Poland: By PEGGY SIMPSON

Special to the Planet
Tuesday August 17, 2004

Czeslaw Milosz, in his 1953 groundbreaking book The Captive Mind, spelled out the many subtle and insidious mind-control methods he said Soviet communists used to attempt to dominate countries handed over to Josef Stalin after World War II. -more-


Friends, Family Remember The Dashing Dr. Lipscomb: By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday August 17, 2004

Some 200 friends and relatives gathered on Sunday afternoon in the auditorium of the International House to commemorate Dr. Wendell Lipscomb, the 84-year-old Berkeley native and African-American physician and former Tuskegee Airmen flight instructor who died last May in a downtown Berkeley automobile accident. -more-


How to Garner an Invitation With the Scrabblettes: From Susan Parker

Tuesday August 17, 2004

“How did you hook up with the Scrabblettes?” asked my friend Laura. She had just given each of the ‘Lettes a large bag of personal hygiene products. Laura’s husband, Rob, works for a consumer products company. Her Walnut Creek garage is filled with boxes of free samples. The Scrabblettes were so delighted with their bags of goodies that they threatened to rent a U-Haul, back it into Laura’s driveway, and fill it with more free stuff. Laura had instantly become their friend. -more-


Letters to the Editor

Tuesday August 17, 2004

SNEAKY LEGISLATION? -more-


Quiet Censorship: By Gray Brechin

Commentary
Tuesday August 17, 2004

Editors, Daily Planet: -more-


You Can’t Have it Both Ways: Community Policing is a Two-Way Street (By SAM HERBERT)

Commentary
Tuesday August 17, 2004

Mr. Allen-Taylor’s recent article regarding community citizens buying cell phones for their beat officers reveals more about his prejudices about law enforcement than about uneven access to the police. Cell phone use is just one more tool to help solve local problems, not a substitute for any level of traditional police service. Further, responsibility for communication between the police and the community they serve is a two-way street, and only effective when both sides are active participants. -more-


Not A Good Idea: By John Delmos

Commentary
Tuesday August 17, 2004

Death of a Redwood: By PETER SCHORER

Commentary
Tuesday August 17, 2004

Last week I arrived at 2812 Hillegass to see a beautiful redwood tree had been cut, ground into sawdust, and loaded onto a truck. I and two neighbors were the only persons there apart from the workmen. My guess is that the tree was at least 40 years old. How is it that we have an ordinance in this town that prohibits cutting of live oaks, but doesn’t prohibit the cutting of redwood trees? I know of several other cases of cutting of old redwoods. -more-


Moderne Masterpiece Evokes Art Deco Glamour: By STEVEN FINACOM

Special to the Planet
Tuesday August 17, 2004

Two generations ago many architects, designers, and their patrons were throwing out the traditional rulebooks and conventions and venturing into new territory. Sleek buildings and vehicles appeared, matched with equally avant-garde clothing, appliances, furniture, music and art. It was the height of the Deco or Moderne era. -more-


UC Swimmer Triumphs in Athens

Tuesday August 17, 2004

UC Berkeley Senior Natalie Coughlin won Olympic gold in the 100-meter backstroke Monday. The Concord native, who already owned the world record in the event, has a shot at two more gold medals when she competes in the 100 meter Freestyle and the 4X100 meter Freestyle relay. -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday August 17, 2004

TUESDAY, AUGUST 17 -more-


Honey Locusts Cast Golden Glow on City Streets: By RON SULLIVAN

Special to the Planet
Tuesday August 17, 2004

We’re getting a bit of fall color already, especially in the row of smallish honey locusts on Cedar Street between MLK and Sacramento. There are a few of their golden brethren around the corner, too, and more scattered around town and in people’s yards. This is a nice, easy tree if you want light shade and a little drought tolerance. It’s often one of the first trees to go deciduous here, but it seems everyone’s putting the fall colors on early this year. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday August 17, 2004

TUESDAY, AUGUST 17 -more-


Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: A Gentrified Left? In Berkeley? By Becky O'Malley

Becky O'Malley
Friday August 20, 2004

A letter writer this week took umbrage at a flippant remark which we quoted in a story on the failure of a councilmember’s aide to collect the signatures his boss needed to file for re-election. The speaker suggested that the incident might be a “gentrified left-wing conspiracy,” parodying Hillary Clinton’s often ridiculed suggestion that accusations against her Bill were part of a right-wing conspiracy. -more-


When the FBI Comes Calling: By BECKY O'MALLEY

Editorial
Tuesday August 17, 2004

The New York Times reported on Monday that “the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been questioning political demonstrators across the country, and in rare cases even subpoenaing them, in an aggressive effort to forestall what officials say could be violent and disruptive protests at the Republican National Convention in New York.” The report went on to say that “FBI officials are urging agents to canvass their communities for information about planned disruptions aimed at the convention and other coming political events, and they say they have developed a list of people who they think may have information about possible violence.” -more-


Columns

Five Easy Houseplants By RON SULLIVAN Special to the Planet

By RON SULLIVAN Special to the Planet
Friday August 20, 2004

Something living in that soulless dorm room, the weird-shaped nook the landlord calls a bedroom, or that gorgeous Craftsman that was such a find you can hardly believe it—that’s what makes it something better than a box to sleep in. Plants are easier than puppies. You have a brown thumb? No worries. The dirty little secret of having a green thumb is that most of us had to murder a lot of plants along the way. -more-


Tilden: Nature’s Jewel Outside Our Back Door By MARTA YAMAMOTO Special to the Planet

By MARTA YAMAMOTO Special to the Planet
Friday August 20, 2004

The dog days of summer leading into fall and the return to school don’t spell the end of outdoor activities. In Berkeley’s Mediterranean climate, you’ll find the warmth of the air, the stir of the breeze and the angle of the light calling you to come out and play. -more-


Getting There

Friday August 20, 2004

Tilden Regional Park, entrances off Wildcat Canyon Road and Grizzly Peak Boulevard. 562-PARK. -more-


Berkeley This Week Calendar

Friday August 20, 2004

FRIDAY, AUGUST 20 -more-


Arts Calendar

Friday August 20, 2004

FRIDAY, AUGUST 20 -more-


John Tchicai Performance

Friday August 20, 2004

Saxophonist John Tchicai, will perform with guitarist Mark Oi and drummer Matt Marucci, appears at 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 21 at Palms, 13 Main St., downtown Winters. Opening act: Nebula Quartet and the Ross Hammond Unit. $10. (530) 795-1825. -more-