A $2 million major alarm fire gutted the Berkeley Repertory Theater’s 1230 Fifth St. workshop Thursday night despite the best efforts of Berkeley and Albany firefighters. -more-

After Board President Nancy Riddle recused herself because of a potential financial conflict, the Berkeley Unified School District unanimously approved a scaled-down version of the West Campus development plan at the board’s Wednesday night meeting. -more-

BART’s two biggest unions responded angrily Thursday to management’s latest offer, which union officials said BART gave to the press before they submitted it to union negotiators. -more-

In a rare display of unanimity, Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) Monday rejected both its own and the Planning Commission’s revisions to the city’s landmarks ordinance, calling instead for an outside expert to aid in drafting a new proposal. -more-

With Sen. Diane Feinstein’s bill to rescind the special legal status granted on Casino San Pablo and the abandonment of a second casino project in Oakland, the East Bay casino gamble is looking riskier by the day. -more-

Now into its fourth month, the tenant-landlord standoff at an illegal West Berkeley warehouse appears to be heading for court. -more-

Red light runners beware. Drivers now face a minimum $331 citation when caught on camera running a red light at the three intersections where Berkeley recently installed cameras. -more-

Sunday, July 3 -more-

With Trustee Nicky Gonzalez Yuen providing the lone but spirited dissent, Peralta Trustees agreed Tuesday night to a modified Hewlett-Packard study and assessment of the community college district’s information technology operations. -more-

The City Council proclaimed Tuesday Tracy Vesely Day in Berkeley in honor of the city’s budget director. -more-

“If I can’t dance, it’s not my revolution,” Emma Goldman famously said. Norine Smith danced her way through many of the revolutions of the last 50 years and had a fine time of it. She came from a quintessential San Francisco Irish background, born in 1938 as number four of six kids of Cornelius (Connie) and Nora Smith, both immigrants from Ireland, and raised in the outer Sunset District. She went to all-girl Mercy High School in the late ‘50s, then on to UC Berkeley where she majored in mathematics, which few women did in those days. She always said she chose math because she noticed that she was the only woman in her math classes, and she wanted to do things that women weren’t allowed to do. A tall, striking redhead, she worked a bit as a model while she was in school. After graduation in 1960 she entered the new field of computer programming, where she worked throughout her professional life. Norine was very proud of having run her own business as a computer contractor for major corporations in a period when few women ran their own businesses, even fewer of them in the high tech world. -more-

http://www.jfdefreitas.com/index.php?path=/00_Latest%20WorksΠ-more-

PARTNER? -more-

Mary Berg, programmer and member of the KPFA Local Station Board, has informed the Daily Planet that she believes KPFA’s program council is a decision-making body. She told the Planet that she is strongly opposed to the idea that it should be advisory only. She said she agrees with the People’s Radio Group on that point. “Programming decisions should be made by the Program Council working with a program director, if there is one. They should not be left to the station manager,” Berg said, adding that she disagreed with a Program Council decision to move “Democracy Now!” to 7 a.m. “because in my opinion it was poorly thought out and poorly planned, not because the Program Council didn’t have the right to make it. That’s why people who were friends have ostracized me.” -more-

This past June 18, I participated in “Healing in the Heart of Richmond,” a day-long event held at the New Faith Cathedral, sponsored in part by Contra Costa Health Services, Survivors of Murder Victims, Inc. and Stand! Against Domestic Violence. We gathered in downtown Richmond to provide a forum for families who had lost members to violence and for individuals who had been violently abused. We listened as they shared their stories, ate healthy food together and then broke up into various healing workshops including poetry, drumming, massage, art and lamentations. At the end of the day, we all came together in the church sanctuary to light candles and say a prayer for peace in the city. The following day, two more young men were shot down and killed. Two more have died of gunshot wounds since then. As of this writing, 19 people have been murdered in Richmond this year. -more-

We began last week’s column discussing Berkeley resident Michael Larrick’s opposition to the petition to change the name of Berkeley’s Jefferson Elementary School, outlined in Mr. Larrick’s April 19 Berkeley Daily Planet commentary in which he wrote that “Black Americans and their leaders would be far better served if they would address the real problems in black education instead of the superficial and misleading issue of the name of a school.” (Advocates of the Jefferson name change—who were black, white, Native American, and other variations, by the way—said they didn’t want the school named after Thomas Jefferson because of Jefferson’s lifelong status as a man who personally kept Africans in slavery.) -more-

Sore Losers, Deadly Attack -more-

Wouldn’t it be great if the government could close the budget deficit while reducing crime rates? What could be the solution to making America safer? Believe it or not, the decriminalization of illegal drugs could do this and more. When drugs became outlawed, an illegal drug market was set up. There are many very dangerous drugs that are legal, such as alcohol and tobacco, while other drugs are not. As a result of making drugs illegal, much money is spent annually on drug law enforcement. Drug-related crime is a pressing issue that needs to be looked at seriously and decriminalization of drugs should be considered a possible solution. -more-

On Monday night, June 27, at least for a brief and shining hour, Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Commission became an anarchist organization. -more-

“Monsieurs, pardon me; if I may have a word with an officer in charge? There’s been a mistake.” -more-

FRIDAY, JULY 1 -more-

From the Elkhorn Slough Overlook I watch the sunlight reflecting off the estuary waters, the glistening mudflats and the steep, corrugated roof of the open barn. To the north is the North Marsh rookery, home to nesting egrets and herons. Surrounding me are tall, multicolored native grasses amid the colors of wildflowers. Most distinct are the sounds—a soft cacophony of birdcalls and songs, almost joyful. A vision of nature. -more-

FRIDAY, JULY 1 -more-