Richard Brenneman: Construction continues at Willard Middle School despite complaints by neighbors and others that Berkeley Unified School District employees have overspent on elaborate fencing pillars and erred by installing a spinkler system just before beginning major construction on the same site. Reports of leaking and broken sprinkler heads have poured into the Daily Planet..
Richard Brenneman: Construction continues at Willard Middle School despite complaints by neighbors and others that Berkeley Unified School District employees have overspent on elaborate fencing pillars and erred by installing a spinkler system just before beginning major construction on the same site. Reports of leaking and broken sprinkler heads have poured into the Daily Planet..

Page One

City of AlbanyClears HomelessEncampments From the Bulb By JOHN GELUARDISpecial to the Planet

Tuesday July 12, 2005

The City of Albany is removing homeless encampments on the Albany Landfill as part of a process that will bring the 31-acre site closer to becoming part of the Eastshore State Park. -more-



Limits Placed on Size of St. Mary’s High School By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday July 12, 2005

A decision last week by the Albany City Council to hold St. Mary’s College High School to a 10-year-old conditional use permit square-footage limit has left school representatives and at least one city councilmember trading charges of reneging on an agreement, as well as another councilmember’s charges that city staff encouraged St. Mary’s to break their deal with the city. -more-



City Council Set to Take on Landmarks Fight By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday July 12, 2005

Tuesday’s City Council meeting looks to be the latest battleground for pro- and anti-development forces as the council holds a public hearing on changes to a law that governs the future of Berkeley’s historic buildings. -more-



SF Weekly-Warfield Deal Leaves Bay Guardian Singing a Sour Note By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday July 12, 2005

A marriage between two national media chains has apparently deprived the San Francisco Bay Guardian of one of its top advertisers. -more-



Newly Renovated Elmwood Theater To Open Soon By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday July 12, 2005

On July 28 the curtain is scheduled to rise once again at the Elmwood Theater, operator Greg King said Monday. -more-



Features

Library Move Helps Magnes Museum By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday July 12, 2005

UC Berkeley has temporarily gnawed off yet another hunk of city turf, moving the Bancroft Library collection to a downtown building while the campus library is retrofitted. -more-


Commission to Hear UC-City Downtown Plan By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday July 12, 2005

The Berkeley Planning Commission will take up three major projects when it meets Wednesday night, leading off with the joint UC-city Downtown Area Plan (DAP) process. -more-


Zoning Adjustments Board Faces Full Agenda By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday July 12, 2005

Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board is confronting yet another dispute over construction plans on La Vereda Trail. -more-


Berkeley’s School Lunch Programs Honored in D.C. By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday July 12, 2005

A joint school lunch and school-garden-to-school-table project of the Berkeley Unified School District and Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse Foundation has received the attention of national legislators and the country’s national museum. -more-


New Public Works Director Hired By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday July 12, 2005

Berkeley has hired Claudette Ford as acting director of public works to replace Rene Cardinaux, who is retiring Aug. 5 after eight years with the city. -more-


Bombings Show ‘Cold War’ Within Islamic Forces By JALAL GHAZI Pacific News Service

Tuesday July 12, 2005

The London attacks are the symptoms of an internal war among two Islamic trends, and may be a sign of growing desperation by one group. -more-


Editorial Cartoon By JUSTIN DEFREITAS

Tuesday July 12, 2005

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


Letters to the Editor

Tuesday July 12, 2005

A NEW PERSPECTIVE -more-


Column: The Public Eye: Hillary Clinton Presidential Campaign Already Underway By BOB BURNETT

Tuesday July 12, 2005

It will be three years until the next Democratic convention, but Washington insiders not only expect Hillary Clinton to run for president, they believe that she will easily garner the nomination. According to veteran prognosticator Charlie Cook, Hillary is far ahead of the other contenders, both in terms of money raised and support among the party faithful. First, she has to win re-election to her New York Senate seat; if she wins that race handily in 2006, then her historic presidential nomination seems assured. Anticipating Hillary, conservatives have already launched a no-holds-barred assault on the former first lady. -more-


Column: An East Bay Scavenger Hunt for Plumbing Supplies By SUSAN PARKER

Tuesday July 12, 2005

For years there has been a small leak in the ceiling between the upstairs bathroom and the downstairs dining room at our house. As leaks tend to do, it has grown progressively worse with time. The first major seepage was discovered after a charming young Russian guest decided to hand wash clothes in the bathroom sink. She forgot to turn off the hot water spigot before leaving the house. A crack in the downstairs ceiling plaster developed and water dripped onto the dining room table. Fortunately, no one was sitting there at the time, and after some investigation and discussion it was decided that as long as no one left the water running, or as long as there were no Russians in the house, we didn’t really have a major plumbing problem, we just had a big hole in the ceiling. -more-


Fire Department Log By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday July 12, 2005

Quickly Extinguished -more-


Police Blotter By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday July 12, 2005

Tall, Thin, Deadly -more-


Commentary: Berkeley Strays From Democratic Path By ELLIOT COHEN

Tuesday July 12, 2005

Your story “Board Vetoes Jefferson School Name Change” (July 8) was misleading. I was never “torn” about the name change. I objected to labeling opponents of the name change as racist, and opposed arguments that the nasty nature of the campaign somehow justified ignoring the result of the vote. I said what the School Board taught about the value of democracy was more important than any school name. I reminded the School Board how disgusted we were when the Supreme Court interfered with the 2000 election. I implored boardmembers to prove that in Berkeley one’s vote still counted, and concluded that admiration for Jefferson required respecting the democratic process he so loved by honoring the vote to re-name the school. -more-


Election Section

Commentary: Opposed to a Department of Peace By Jonathan Wornick

Tuesday July 12, 2005

While some of our better lawmakers are working hard to improve our schools, keep fire stations open, fix our roads, and bring jobs to our beloved city of Berkeley, a chosen few are once again wasting their time, and our dollars, writing resolutions on na tional and international issues. -more-


Commentary: Berkeley is Once Again a Progressive Leader By TOM BATES

Tuesday July 12, 2005

The new fiscal year is a good time to look back on the last two and a half years and reflect on where we are in Berkeley and on what we have accomplished together. -more-


Commentary: Albany Bulb Cleanup is Damaging Environment By OSHA NEUMANN

Tuesday July 12, 2005

Last week the City of Albany installed three enormous green dumpsters on the upper road leading to the Albany Bulb and began an operation the purpose of which we’re being told is to clean out campsites of the homeless, some of which have been reoccupied in recent months. -more-


Festival Opera Has a Ball in Walnut Creek By KEN BULLOCK Special to the Planet

Tuesday July 12, 2005

From its origins about 400 years ago, opera has been conceived as a synaesthetic experience. The voices, the lyrics, the orchestration, stylized acting, costumes, sets and lighting are meant to add up to a total effect on all the senses of the audience. This is what has given credence to the frequent claims that opera is the greatest of arts—because it combines them all in an aesthetic apotheosis. -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday July 12, 2005

TUESDAY, JULY 12 -more-


Ground Sloths May Have Roamed Prehistoric Berkeley By JOE EATON Special to the Planet

Tuesday July 12, 2005

You think of fossil-hunting as something that takes place in faraway barren places: the Flaming Cliffs of the Gobi Desert, the windy wastes of Patagonia, the Dakota badlands. But not downtown Berkeley. That was the source of Specimen 78858 in the UC Museum of Palaeontology’s collection, though, a fossil I finally got to meet at last year’s Cal Day. It’s a massive thighbone, the femur of an extinct ground sloth that inhabited these parts in the Pleistocene Era, tens of thousands of years ago, and it turned up when the Berkeley BART station was being excavated. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday July 12, 2005

TUESDAY, JULY 12 -more-


Editorial

Editorial: Daily Planet Wins State Awards By BECKY O'MALLEY

Tuesday July 12, 2005

First, the breaking news: The Berkeley Daily Planet has captured a flock of prizes in the statewide Better Newspapers Contest sponsored by the California Newspaper Publishers Association. At the awards luncheon on Saturday we learned that we’d won two first prizes, for editorial pages overall and for an editorial cartoon by Justin DeFreitas, second prize for a spot news photo by Jakob Schiller, and honorable mentions (top 10 percent of entries in Northern California, statewide finalists) for local spot news (Matthew Artz), writing (Richard Brenneman) and for another DeFreitas cartoon. Please excuse us if we’re mighty proud of this record, especially since we’ve only been around for two years. -more-


Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: Daily Planet Wins State Awards By BECKY O'MALLEY 07-12-2005

Editorial: Playing it Cool on a Hot Topic By BECKY O'MALLEY 07-08-2005

News

City of AlbanyClears HomelessEncampments From the Bulb By JOHN GELUARDISpecial to the Planet 07-12-2005

Limits Placed on Size of St. Mary’s High School By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 07-12-2005

City Council Set to Take on Landmarks Fight By MATTHEW ARTZ 07-12-2005

SF Weekly-Warfield Deal Leaves Bay Guardian Singing a Sour Note By MATTHEW ARTZ 07-12-2005

Newly Renovated Elmwood Theater To Open Soon By MATTHEW ARTZ 07-12-2005

Library Move Helps Magnes Museum By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 07-12-2005

Commission to Hear UC-City Downtown Plan By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 07-12-2005

Zoning Adjustments Board Faces Full Agenda By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 07-12-2005

Berkeley’s School Lunch Programs Honored in D.C. By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 07-12-2005

New Public Works Director Hired By MATTHEW ARTZ 07-12-2005

Bombings Show ‘Cold War’ Within Islamic Forces By JALAL GHAZI Pacific News Service 07-12-2005

Editorial Cartoon By JUSTIN DEFREITAS 07-12-2005

Letters to the Editor 07-12-2005

Column: The Public Eye: Hillary Clinton Presidential Campaign Already Underway By BOB BURNETT 07-12-2005

Column: An East Bay Scavenger Hunt for Plumbing Supplies By SUSAN PARKER 07-12-2005

Fire Department Log By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 07-12-2005

Police Blotter By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 07-12-2005

Commentary: Berkeley Strays From Democratic Path By ELLIOT COHEN 07-12-2005

Commentary: Opposed to a Department of Peace By Jonathan Wornick 07-12-2005

Commentary: Berkeley is Once Again a Progressive Leader By TOM BATES 07-12-2005

Commentary: Albany Bulb Cleanup is Damaging Environment By OSHA NEUMANN 07-12-2005

Festival Opera Has a Ball in Walnut Creek By KEN BULLOCK Special to the Planet 07-12-2005

Arts Calendar 07-12-2005

Ground Sloths May Have Roamed Prehistoric Berkeley By JOE EATON Special to the Planet 07-12-2005

Berkeley This Week 07-12-2005

New Shattuck Hotel Owner Seeks Past Splendor By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 07-08-2005

Hazing Incident Earns One-Year Ban For UCB Fraternity By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 07-08-2005

Medical Center Looks to Texas for Next CEO By MATTHEW ARTZ 07-08-2005

Shattuck Deli Could Go Dry By MATTHEW ARTZ 07-08-2005

Pastor Brings New Life to Church By MATTHEW ARTZ 07-08-2005

Ozzie’s Closes, Search Begins for New Operator By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 07-08-2005

Massive Blaze Guts West Berkeley Firm By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 07-08-2005

Hills Neighborhood Steaming Over Fire Station Closures By MATTHEW ARTZ 07-08-2005

Berkeley Man Arrested In 1997 Rape Case By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 07-08-2005

Herta Bregoff: From Baden to Berkeley By MIRIAM DUNBAR Special to the Planet 07-08-2005

Editorial Cartoon By JUSTIN DEFREITAS 07-08-2005

Letters to the Editor 07-08-2005

Column: Undercurrents: ‘Run Ron Run’: A New Oakland Rallying Cry By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 07-08-2005

Police Blotter By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 07-08-2005

Commentary: The LPO and CEQA: The Hidden Agenda By SHARON HUDSON 07-08-2005

Commentary: Pull the Brake to Slow the Train By JILL KORTE 07-08-2005

Why Memín Pinguín is Accepted in Mexico By TED VINCENT Special to the Planet 07-08-2005

Kala Art Institute Celebrates 30 Years By PETER SELZSpecial to the Planet 07-08-2005

Play Explores Post-9/11 Tensions in Family Portrait By KEN BULLOCK Special to the Planet 07-08-2005

Arts Calendar 07-08-2005

Berkeley This Week 07-08-2005

East Bay Trails Challenge at Points Isabel and Pinole By MARTA YAMAMOTO Special to the Planet 07-08-2005