News

A Contra Costa County Superior Court judge dealt a setback to the Richmond City Council’s plans to sign a lucrative deal for a casino resort at Point Molate, handing ChevronTexaco a temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking the sale prior to another hearing on Sept. 20. -more-

Workers staged a spirited one-day walkout from the four facilities of the troubled Alameda County Medical Center (ACMC) on Monday, in protest against recently-proposed staff cutbacks. -more-

Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments board took its first look at three controversial projects Thursday night, and gave tentative blessings to one in a grueling seven-hour marathon session. -more-

The clock had ticked into the early morning minutes Friday when what may become one of the most controversial buildings in downtown Berkeley made it into the limelight at the Zoning Adjustments Board. -more-

Anyone who has seen Berkeley’s Board of Education in action has to feel a little bit sorry for this year’s student representative Lily Dorman-Colby. -more-

Three veterans of widely-different areas of public life are competing in the Nov. 2 election to represent a BART district that stretches from Kensington in the north to San Lorenzo in the south and encompasses the eastern portions of both Berkeley and Oakland. -more-

After racking up nearly $30,000 in lost attendance revenue the first week of school last year, Berkeley Unified is hoping students will be in class when school starts on Wednesday and not hiking in the Sierra, visiting family back east or touring Europe. -more-

Everett Bobbitt says his San Diego law office is adorned with 11 medals, 10 he won in Vietnam and the eleventh—the one he cherishes the most—bestowed upon him by the Berkeley Police Association (BPA). -more-

WASHINGTON D.C.—Iranians in the U.S. are seeing a surge in firings and FBI interrogations and security clearance denials as anti-terrorist efforts mount and Washington’s criticism of the Iranian government sharpens. -more-

Marcos Escobar, an organizer with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE) local 2850 marches outside the Claremont late Friday night as part of a 27-hour picket to celebrate the three-year anniversary of the union and worker’s boycott of the hotel. According to Claire Darby, another HERE organizer, around 150 workers participated in the picket and over 300 people marched in total. At the end of the picket, Oakland mayor Jerry Brown showed up to speak at a pro-union rally, which was the first time Brown had come out to publicly support the workers at the picket.. -more-

My friend Taffy was getting married for the third time and planning a three-day wedding extravaganza. It was taking place in a tiny village located in the middle of New York state’s Catskills Mountains. Besides being near a popular ski resort, Fleischmanns is the summer destination of choice for many of New York City’s Hassidic Jews. Walking around Fleischmanns is a lot like walking around Jerusalem, only it’s greener and safer. Bearded, black-shrouded, forelocked Hassidics share the narrow country roads with skinny lycra-clad outdoor enthusiasts. -more-

Gunman Opens Fire on Car -more-

The Federal Emergency Management Agency gave Berkeley a $413,000 grant last week—to be supplemented by $177,000 in matching city funds—for a four-pronged program to reduce fire danger in the hills. -more-

WILLARD GARDEN -more-

The month of August has seen an escalation in the battle over the character of the presidential nominees. First, Bush and Kerry sparred over the October 2002 vote giving the president power to go to war in Iraq, each questioning the other’s judgment. Next, Republicans unleashed the scurrilous Swift Boat ads that questioned Kerry’s integrity. While these two skirmishes will soon be forgotten, the issue of character will remain paramount until Nov. 2. -more-

The presidential election is to be decided by those voters who have yet to make up their minds. Who are they, and how do you get them to vote for George Bush? -more-

(Translator’s comment: Grand Ayatollah Sistani has brokered a peace in the embattled Iraqi city of Najaf where the followers of Muqtada al-Sadr have been fighting American and Iraqi forces. This column written by a close advisor to the Ayatollah appeared in the influential London-based Arab daily Asharq-al-Awsat and was probably approved by Ayatollah Sistani himself to go out no later than August 22. The reason was that in Iraq the main contending parties had already reached the accord that was announced after August 22. -more-

NEW YORK—They came from across New York and across the country with a protest focus and ferocity that left little to the political imagination. “Bush must go!” was the chant of choice, and water the beverage of all on this hot August day. -more-

NEW YORK—We couldn’t have a rally in the Great Meadow of Central Park because 250,000 people would ruin the grass, and because we didn’t come to court early enough to say “pretty please can we have our rights”—that’s what the judge ruled when United for Peace and Justice, the organizer of today’s mammoth demonstration, asked him to rule that the city must give us a permit. -more-

NEW YORK—Two self-described Republican women “from the South” had wandered over to Central Park’s Great Lawn on Sunday. On the lawn already were several thousand people sharing stories from an exuberant day after a huge sweat-soaked march. Refusing to offer their names to a reporter, the two southerners pronounced the Great Lawn event “another Woodstock.” -more-

The Internet cafe on 96th and Broadway—around the corner from our flea-bag hotel in New York—closes in just six minutes so here is my very-improvised report on the Republican National Convention:. -more-

TUESDAY, AUGUST 31 -more-

It’s an unfortunate fact of life in 21st century America: Anyone can buy a chainsaw over the counter, without a prescription, without a license, without a background check or a waiting period or any input at all from the Department of Homeland Security. Most unfortunately, also without any proof of competence. Apparently, fools are buying and using them. -more-

TUESDAY, AUGUST 31 -more-

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-

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-

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-

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-

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

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-

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-

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-

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-

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-

Carjack Victim Sodomized -more-

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-

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-

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-

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

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-

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-

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-

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-

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-

CORRECTIONS -more-

A GOOD START -more-

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-

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-

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-

FRIDAY, AUGUST 27 -more-

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-

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-