Jakob Schiller: Johnnie Poindexter, who learned how to quilt when she was 12, works on a Seagull quilt in her senior citizen’s apartment in Berkeley on Thursday evening. “I just love quilts because they are so beautiful to me,” she said. (See article on Improvisational Quilts).i
Jakob Schiller: Johnnie Poindexter, who learned how to quilt when she was 12, works on a Seagull quilt in her senior citizen’s apartment in Berkeley on Thursday evening. “I just love quilts because they are so beautiful to me,” she said. (See article on Improvisational Quilts).i

Page One

BUSD Fiscal Crisis Improving, But Not Over By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday September 06, 2005

In its final six-month progress report on the Berkeley Unified School District, the Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) praises the district for making what it called “good progress” in its operational areas, but says that the district “still faces significant fiscal challenges” and cautions that BUSD “will need to remain vigilant to avoid fiscal insolvency.” -more-



UC Halts Field Station Talks; Radioactivity Fears Raised By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday September 06, 2005

UC Berkeley has called a halt to talks with a Marin County developer whom they had selected as a potential developer of a corporate/industrial research park at their Richmond Field Station. -more-



Exhibit Explores African-American Improvisational Quilts By BECKY O’MALLEY

Tuesday September 06, 2005

Different cultures and historic eras have had various approaches to imitation, originality and improvisation in art forms. -more-



Berkeley School Board to Consider Facilities Plan, Test Results, Recruiters By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday September 06, 2005

The Berkeley School Board will review the final Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team report and the district’s facilities plan update when the board meets this Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., at Old City Hall at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. -more-



Doing Well by Doing Good With Campaign Software By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday September 06, 2005

Henri Poole and his colleagues have formed a smoothly functioning creative community even though none of the collaborators has ever met all the others. -more-



Features

ZAB Hearing Thursday on David Brower Center By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday September 06, 2005

The David Brower Center complex is the biggest thing on the agenda when the Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thursday. -more-


News Analysis: How 9/11 Destroyed New Orleans By KRISTIN BALDWIN SEEMAN Special to the Planet

Tuesday September 06, 2005

I happened to be present in Khao-I-Dang Camp, on the Thai/Cambodia border, the day it opened to refugees from Pol Pot’s terror: Thanksgiving Day, 1979. It was an empty field on that day, with tired figures who had been trudging through mine fields arriving with all their belongings in bundles on their heads, to line up to receive inoculations and malaria prophylaxis. -more-


Editorial Cartoon By JUSTIN DEFREITAS

Tuesday September 06, 2005

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


Letters to the Editor

Tuesday September 06, 2005

GUESTS? -more-


Column: A Response to My Critics By SUSAN PARKER

Tuesday September 06, 2005

It’s 6:45 a.m. and Clyiesha’s grandmother has just gotten off work and dropped by to pick her up and prepare her for first grade at Santa Fe Elementary School. She leaves half asleep, clad in her Snoopy Dog pajamas, clutching a Safeway bag filled with dirty clothes in one hand, and a Cowboy Bob doll in the other. Upstairs, LaKisha and baby Kemora are still sleeping. -more-


Column: Can You Hustle and Flow with the Aristocrats? By P.M. Price

Tuesday September 06, 2005

When I went to see Hustle and Flow recently, I knew I was going to see a movie about a pimp approaching middle age who has lingering dreams of making it big, of doing something really important with his life before it’s too late. I also knew that this slice of struggling black life was written by a white guy named Craig Brewer and that the making of this film was the culmination of a hard-fought-for dream of his own. I didn’t know whether or not a pimp could be likable or at least, empathetic and I’m still not certain he can be. -more-


Commentary: Diebold Delivers Untrustworthy Results By RICHARD STEINFELD

Tuesday September 06, 2005

I’m following up on Peter Teichner’s insightful Aug. 16 piece, “How Many Diebolds to Screw Up an Election.” -more-


Commentary: A Corrupt Track Record By KARLA BEAN

Tuesday September 06, 2005

Regardless of the performance of Diebold’s electronic voting machines, we are putting our whole election system in jeopardy by placing it into the hands of private corporations who refuse to allow anyone to analyze the programming code unless they sign a non-disclosure agreement. -more-


Commentary: The Future of the Albany Track: Park? Casino? Housing? By TONY CAINE

Tuesday September 06, 2005

Albany has been hosting a huge urban gambling operation on its waterfront for 60 years, maintaining one of the lowest bay area crime rates while deriving up to 20 percent of its budget from the racetrack. In recent years the track’s usefulness has faltered as patronage and income dropped. Part of our community prefers a park in place of the track and another part is mainly interested in increased income from the site. Some of our politicians seem to think the track will die a quiet death if we just leave things alone. -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday September 06, 2005

TUESDAY, SEPT. 6 -more-


Celebrating the Sweet Songs of the Katydids By JOE EATON Special to the Planet

Tuesday September 06, 2005

Even after a quarter-century in California, I still miss lightning bugs—especially in late summer. By some quirk of biogeography, they never made it west of the Rockies. We have a few species of glowworms, with luminescent wingless females and larvae, but no fireflies as such. And I also miss the nocturnal chorus of the katydids: what Sue Hubbell called “the audible essence of a summer night.” -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday September 06, 2005

TUESDAY, SEPT. 6 -more-


Editorial

Sutter Health Union Sets Strike Deadline By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday September 06, 2005

Leaders of nine unions vowed Friday to walk out in sympathy if members of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers-West strike the three Alta Bates hospitals and 10 other facilities of Stutter Health on Sept. 13. -more-


Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

Sutter Health Union Sets Strike Deadline By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 09-06-2005

Editorial: The Bad News, Some Good News, and Poor Excuses By BECKY O'MALLEY 09-02-2005

News

BUSD Fiscal Crisis Improving, But Not Over By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 09-06-2005

UC Halts Field Station Talks; Radioactivity Fears Raised By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 09-06-2005

Exhibit Explores African-American Improvisational Quilts By BECKY O’MALLEY 09-06-2005

Berkeley School Board to Consider Facilities Plan, Test Results, Recruiters By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 09-06-2005

Doing Well by Doing Good With Campaign Software By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 09-06-2005

ZAB Hearing Thursday on David Brower Center By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 09-06-2005

News Analysis: How 9/11 Destroyed New Orleans By KRISTIN BALDWIN SEEMAN Special to the Planet 09-06-2005

Editorial Cartoon By JUSTIN DEFREITAS 09-06-2005

Letters to the Editor 09-06-2005

Column: A Response to My Critics By SUSAN PARKER 09-06-2005

Column: Can You Hustle and Flow with the Aristocrats? By P.M. Price 09-06-2005

Commentary: Diebold Delivers Untrustworthy Results By RICHARD STEINFELD 09-06-2005

Commentary: A Corrupt Track Record By KARLA BEAN 09-06-2005

Commentary: The Future of the Albany Track: Park? Casino? Housing? By TONY CAINE 09-06-2005

Arts Calendar 09-06-2005

Celebrating the Sweet Songs of the Katydids By JOE EATON Special to the Planet 09-06-2005

Berkeley This Week 09-06-2005

Off and Running at Berkeley High By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 09-02-2005

Citizens File Suit Seeking To Overturn UC-City Pact By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 09-02-2005

Noise Complaints Raise Tensions in South Campus Neighborhood By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 09-02-2005

Berkeley Emergency, Medical Workers Rush to Aid Hurricane Katrina Victims By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 09-02-2005

County Will Seek Instant Runoff Voting Machines By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 09-02-2005

Union to Announce Hospital Strike Deadline By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 09-02-2005

Turmoil In Oakland School for the Arts, Parents Say By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 09-02-2005

Editorial Cartoon By JUSTIN DEFREITAS 09-02-2005

Letters to the Editor 09-02-2005

Column: The Public Eye: The Difference Between Getting it Right and Getting it Done By BOB BURNETT 09-02-2005

Column: Undercurrents: Media Reports Muddle Questions on Oakland Shooting By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR 09-02-2005

Police Blotter By RICHARD BRENNEMAN 09-02-2005

Commentary: Looting New Orleans, and America’s Poverty Crisis By EARL OFARI HUTCHINSON Pacific News Service 09-02-2005

Commentary: Seeing Through the Fads of City Planning By JANE POWELL 09-02-2005

Commentary: An Urban Myth By GORDON WOZNIAK 09-02-2005

Commentary: Listeners Marched to Support KPFA, Not Staff By MARA RIVERA 09-02-2005

Arts: Patsy Krebs’ Show at GTU Explores the Boundaries By PETER SELZSpecial to the Planet 09-02-2005

Arts Calendar 09-02-2005

Pick a Spot — Any Spot — on the Spectacular Redwood Coast By MARTA YAMAMOTO Special to the Planet 09-02-2005

Berkeley This Week 09-02-2005