Jakob Schiller:
              BACK TO THE BOOKS...
              George Derk, a UC Berkeley sophomore who has yet to declare a major, carries a load of his books up to the register at the UC Berkeley bookstore on Wednesday afternoon. UC has been hit hard by state budget cuts this year, driving up student fees. See story, Page Nine.
Jakob Schiller: BACK TO THE BOOKS... George Derk, a UC Berkeley sophomore who has yet to declare a major, carries a load of his books up to the register at the UC Berkeley bookstore on Wednesday afternoon. UC has been hit hard by state budget cuts this year, driving up student fees. See story, Page Nine.

Page One

New Hurdles Ahead For East Bay Casino Deals: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday August 27, 2004

Two major stumbling blocks landed in the paths of would-be East Bay casino developers this week, the first in the form of legislative resistance to an exclusive Bay Area franchise the governor wants to award a San Pablo casino and the second in the form of a legal motion to block a major casino at Point Molate. -more-



Albany Chamber Fears Impact of Mall At Golden Gate Fields: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday August 27, 2004

Though only a handful of Richmond Chamber of Commerce members turned out for a meeting last week on a Canadian developer’s plans for a massive shopping mall at Golden Gate Fields, those who spoke were decidedly cool on the plan. -more-



Sherry Kelly to Retire as City Clerk: By MATHEW ARTZ

Friday August 27, 2004

Berkeley’s top dispenser of public information released some news this week that seemingly no one wanted to hear: She’s calling it a career. -more-



School District’s New Teachers Learn the Ropes: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday August 27, 2004

Sharon Zinke has spent her last 38 years teaching kids, but on Tuesday she looked like a cat just delivered from the shelter as she tiptoed through empty hallways searching for her first new classroom in over a decade. -more-



Protesters Stream into Manhattan for GOP Convention: By CHRISTOPHER KROHN

Special to the Planet
Friday August 27, 2004

They keep coming, but will they have a place to protest? -more-



Features

Voter Packet Goes to Press After Judge Rejects Challenge: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Staff
Friday August 27, 2004

Berkeley’s voter information packet is ready for printing after Superior Court Judge James Richman dismissed complaints Thursday challenging the wording of two controversial ballot initiatives. -more-


LeConte Neighbors Fume Over Stolen Endorsements: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday August 27, 2004

Several officers of the LeConte Neighborhood Association have accused one of their own members of misrepresenting the group’s positions on ballot arguments set to be delivered to Berkeley voters. -more-


Shirek Seeks Union Support For Possible Write-In Bid: By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Friday August 27, 2004

Veteran Berkeley District 3 City Councilmember Maudelle Shirek is keeping her options open for a possible re-election campaign, despite the fact that she was disqualified earlier this month from the November ballot for failure to provide the proper number of qualified nomination signatures. -more-


Bay Area Coalition Finds Hope, Fear in Haiti: By JUDITH SCHERR

Special to the Planet
Friday August 27, 2004

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Courage, integrity, rage; hunger, disillusionment, fear—a group of mostly Bay Area human rights workers and journalists found it all, here on this embattled island, where once-enslaved people rose up 200 years ago to found the pro ud independent black nation of Haiti. -more-


City Staff Urges Approval Of 9-Floor Seagate Project: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday August 27, 2004

Plans for the 115-foot tall, 186,151-square-foot nine-story Seagate Building will go to the Zoning Adjustments Board for a second public hearing on Sept. 9, following an earlier session held Thursday night. -more-


Police Blotter: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday August 27, 2004

Carjack Victim Sodomized -more-


New Home for North Berkeley Farmers Market: By LIZ FOX

Friday August 27, 2004

Shoppers gather around Chris Boswell, a chef at Chez Panisse Cafe, to sample fresh bruschetta at the grand opening of the North Berkeley Farmers Market at Shattuck Avenue and Rose Street. The Thursday afternoon market is a program managed by the Berkeley Ecology Center. -more-


Sunday Memorial Honors Reginald Zelnik,UC Historian and Key FSM Supporter: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday August 27, 2004

a Friends and family of renowned UC Berkeley historian and Free Speech Movement supporter Reginald Zelnik will gather for a memorial service Sunday at 11 a.m. in the Faculty Glade outside the Men’s Faculty Club. -more-


Deep Budget Cuts Scar New UC Academic Year: By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Friday August 27, 2004

A spokesperson for the University of California at Berkeley said that the university has “hit bottom” with this year’s budget and will begin to turn itself around with the aid of the Higher Education Compact signed earlier this year by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the heads of the UC and California State University systems. -more-


A Citizen’s Guide to Absentee Ballots: By JUDY BERTELSEN

Special to the Planet
Friday August 27, 2004

The Nov. 2 presidential election is about two months away. What can we do to make sure our votes are counted? -more-


Getting Involved Before November 2: By BOB BURNETT

Special to the Planet
Friday August 27, 2004

In 2000, in the critical 10 weeks before the presidential election, there was nothing like the surge of political energy that has rippled through Berkeley in recent days. -more-


Touchscreen Voting Allowed by Shelley

Friday August 27, 2004

Most California counties that use touchscreen voting will be able to use the electronic voting machines in the November elections, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley announced Tuesday. -more-


Berkeleyan Moves to New Mexico to Work for Kerry: By ZELDA BRONSTEIN

Special to the Planet
Friday August 27, 2004

From now until Election Day, Berkeley resident Lynn Davidson will be going door to door in New Mexico with the League of Conservation Voters’ Environmental Victory Project in an effort to win that state for John Kerry’s presidential bid. -more-


Election Section

Documents Spell Out Plans |For Two East Bay Casinos: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday August 27, 2004

With the release of two key casino proposals over the past week, East Bay residents can form a clearer picture of the scope, costs and potential impacts of the major Native American gambling resorts that tribes and well-connected developers want to bring to the area. -more-


Cell Phone Police Column Gets ‘Interesting’ Reactions: J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

UnderCurrents
Friday August 27, 2004

A recent column on cell phone policing in an Oakland neighborhood got some interesting reactions. Let us sort through them, in the hopes of finding some clarity on the subject. -more-


Letters to the Editor

Friday August 27, 2004

CORRECTIONS -more-


Parents and Friends Decry Willard Garden Changes

Commentary
Friday August 27, 2004

A GOOD START -more-


Many Treats Await Live Theater Lovers: By BETSY M. HUNTON

Special to the Planet
Friday August 27, 2004

So, this being the Daily Planet’s annual celebration of the opening of the new year at the university, it’s more than appropriate to remind anybody who has forgotten—or to tell anybody who doesn’t know—about the really good deals the Berkeley theaters put on for what we blithely call the “young adult community.” (Although whoever decided that the 18-to-35-year-old demographic fits neatly into one huge lump of togetherness obviously had to be under the influence of something not awfully legal). -more-


Lakeshore Shakespeare Festival Presents Superb ‘Twelfth Night’ Free in Oakland: By BECKY O’MALLEY

Friday August 27, 2004

There’s still time to catch one of the very best cheap theater events in the East Bay this weekend. The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival has two remaining performances of Twelfth Night as its Free Shakespeare in the Park production in Oakland’s Lakeside Park, on the shores of Lake Merritt. It’s a rollicking comic tale of mistaken identity and misplaced love. -more-


Great Performers Reanimate Regional Jazz Scene: By IRA STEINGROOT

Special to the Planet
Friday August 27, 2004

The Bay Area jazz scene, often lethargic if not moribund, picked up in the summer months with some great performances that also stretched the envelope. At Yoshi’s, David Murray played his usual spectacular saxophone, but in the context of a jazz plus Guadeloupean gwo-ka drums unit. Also at Yoshi’s, saxophonist James Carter was exceptional playing the music of Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt. Jazz seniors, the Heath Brothers, performed at a benefit for Berkeley’s Jazzschool and erased all questions of age with the diamond-like brilliance of their playing. Bassist Percy Heath, Tuskegee Airman and last surviving member of the Modern Jazz Quartet, played a pizzicato cello version of Charlie Parker’s Yardbird Suite that was as accomplished as Rostropovich and as rollicking as Elmer Snowden. -more-


Arts Calendar

Friday August 27, 2004

FRIDAY, AUGUST 27 -more-


Campus Architecture Embodies Living History: By SUSAN D. CERNY

Special to the Planet
Friday August 27, 2004

The University of California’s Berkeley campus was the first for the now 10-campus institution. The state university was created after the College of Agriculture, Mining, and Mechanical Arts, established by the California Legislature in 1866, merged with a private liberal arts college, the College of California, in 1868. -more-


Berkeley’s Cafe Culture Thrives in Many Venues: By ALTA GERREY

Special to the Planet
Friday August 27, 2004

Round tables and moveable chairs. Those are the key ingredients for a great conversational cafe. Small square tables and benches lend a studious air, and those cafes work as study halls. The greatest cafes have both aspects, and thankfully, Berkeley is blessed with some of the finest cafes ever. -more-


Editorial

Berkeley’s Building Boomers Move In: By BECKY O'MALLEY

Editorial
Friday August 27, 2004

Readers of metro dailies this week are learning what Daily Planet readers have known for more than a year. Berkeley has dramatically overbuilt its supply of luxury student housing. Chirpily cheery stories report what is, of course, good news for luxury students: prices have dropped for units boasting T1 Internet connections and free satellite TV, for students who like the in-your-face togetherness and the slick synthetic surfaces of the new units downtown, which are a lot like dormitories, but much fancier. The UC housing office reports that two-bedroom apartments now can be found for about $1,500 a month, which undoubtedly seems like a bargain to students from L.A, though the luxury buildings are asking more like $2,000. -more-


Columns

Claremont Hotel Picket Planned for Weekend: By JAKOB SCHILLER

Friday August 27, 2004

After three years of union drives, and urging a boycott of the Claremont Hotel over stalled contract negotiations, workers, union representatives and community supporters want to send a message to the hotel this weekend that they are not going to give up. -more-


Pygmy Nuthatches Find Homes in Dead Snags: By JOE EATON

Special to the Planet
Friday August 27, 2004

The neighborhood keeps changing. One of my reliable sources tells me that pygmy nuthatches—relative newcomers to the East Bay—now nest in the Berkeley hills. A checklist of Berkeley hills birds compiled about 30 years ago doesn’t include this species even as an occasional visitor. But they’ve found a niche here, especially in places with the dead conifer snags they prefer for nest sites. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Friday August 27, 2004

FRIDAY, AUGUST 27 -more-


Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

Berkeley’s Building Boomers Move In: By BECKY O'MALLEY 08-27-2004

News

New Hurdles Ahead For East Bay Casino Deals: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 08-27-2004

Albany Chamber Fears Impact of Mall At Golden Gate Fields: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 08-27-2004

Sherry Kelly to Retire as City Clerk: By MATHEW ARTZ 08-27-2004

School District’s New Teachers Learn the Ropes: By MATTHEW ARTZ 08-27-2004

Protesters Stream into Manhattan for GOP Convention: By CHRISTOPHER KROHN Special to the Planet 08-27-2004

Voter Packet Goes to Press After Judge Rejects Challenge: By MATTHEW ARTZ Staff 08-27-2004

LeConte Neighbors Fume Over Stolen Endorsements: By MATTHEW ARTZ 08-27-2004

Shirek Seeks Union Support For Possible Write-In Bid: By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 08-27-2004

Bay Area Coalition Finds Hope, Fear in Haiti: By JUDITH SCHERR Special to the Planet 08-27-2004

City Staff Urges Approval Of 9-Floor Seagate Project: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 08-27-2004

Police Blotter: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 08-27-2004

New Home for North Berkeley Farmers Market: By LIZ FOX 08-27-2004

Sunday Memorial Honors Reginald Zelnik,UC Historian and Key FSM Supporter: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 08-27-2004

Deep Budget Cuts Scar New UC Academic Year: By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 08-27-2004

A Citizen’s Guide to Absentee Ballots: By JUDY BERTELSEN Special to the Planet 08-27-2004

Getting Involved Before November 2: By BOB BURNETT Special to the Planet 08-27-2004

Touchscreen Voting Allowed by Shelley 08-27-2004

Berkeleyan Moves to New Mexico to Work for Kerry: By ZELDA BRONSTEIN Special to the Planet 08-27-2004

Documents Spell Out Plans |For Two East Bay Casinos: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 08-27-2004

Cell Phone Police Column Gets ‘Interesting’ Reactions: J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR UnderCurrents 08-27-2004

Letters to the Editor 08-27-2004

Parents and Friends Decry Willard Garden Changes Commentary 08-27-2004

Many Treats Await Live Theater Lovers: By BETSY M. HUNTON Special to the Planet 08-27-2004

Lakeshore Shakespeare Festival Presents Superb ‘Twelfth Night’ Free in Oakland: By BECKY O’MALLEY 08-27-2004

Great Performers Reanimate Regional Jazz Scene: By IRA STEINGROOT Special to the Planet 08-27-2004

Arts Calendar 08-27-2004

Campus Architecture Embodies Living History: By SUSAN D. CERNY Special to the Planet 08-27-2004

Berkeley’s Cafe Culture Thrives in Many Venues: By ALTA GERREY Special to the Planet 08-27-2004

Columns

Claremont Hotel Picket Planned for Weekend: By JAKOB SCHILLER 08-27-2004

Pygmy Nuthatches Find Homes in Dead Snags: By JOE EATON Special to the Planet 08-27-2004

Berkeley This Week 08-27-2004