Leaders of the Draft Ron Dellums movement said they believe that the former Congressmember did not make a decision to run for mayor of Oakland in next year’s election until minutes before he mounted the stage at Laney College Friday to make his announcement. -more-

According to Luis Damerell, until last year living near the corner of Allston Way and Ninth Street seemed like a nightmare. -more-

Youth Radio, Berkeley’s award-winning media outlet for East Bay high school-aged students, is planning to move to Oakland. -more-

When Khawaja Ashraf of Berkeley learned Saturday that a major earthquake had devastated his native Pakistan, he immediately telephoned relatives still living in the country. -more-

A magnitude 2.7 earthquake—not strong enough to do damage but enough to awaken a Daily Planet reporter—rumbled through the Berkeley hills early Sunday morning. -more-

Photo by Jakob Schiller: Hayward resident Ronnie Yellowhair, a Navajo and a member of the Traditional Men’s Dance Group, performs an inter-tribal dance at the Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebration at Martin Luther King Jr. Park on Saturday.. -more-

Citizens concerned about the impacts of a proposed 173-unit condominium project planned for 700 University Ave. will have a chance to raise their questions Thursday afternoon. -more-

The closing credits scene in the hour-long documentary Soul of Justice: Thelton Henderson’s American Journey could take its title from the Lonne Elder play: Ceremonies in Dark Old Men. -more-

After Hurricane Katrina lashed the Gulf Coast, the nation’s ethnic media tracked the grassroots efforts of ethnic communities to find and shelter their own. Now, ethnic media editors and activists report, those community networks are strained to the breaking point. -more-

Berkeley officials opted Friday not to close Iceland and instead ordered the 65-year-old rink to hire an acoustical engineer to quiet its yet-to-be installed temporary refrigeration system. -more-

To view Justin DeFreitas’ latest editorial cartoon, please visit www.jfdefreitas.com To search for previous cartoons by date of publication, click on the Daily Planet Archive.

INTELLIGENCE -more-

“No more compromises,” vowed Mayor Bates during a break in the council’s Sept. 27 deliberations. The mayor had just joined councilmembers Capitelli, Maio, Moore, Olds and Wozniak in a 6-3 vote approving a “public participation program” for the Downtown Area Plan (DAP). -more-

I forgot my homework, but it wasn’t my fault. Getting ready to go to an MFA workshop at San Francisco State last week, I got distracted and left my assignment in the house. It wasn’t my fault because there was a lot going on at the very moment I needed to leave. I had to run in order to catch the #15 bus. I had to sprint up the MacArthur Station stairs to meet the Daly City-bound train. It was not until I’d caught my breath, somewhere between the 12th Street and West Oakland stations, that I realized my mistake. -more-

I never intended to be a soccer mom. I am no sports fan, so my husband Mike and I agreed that he would be the athletic director for the kids. When our first son joined a team at age 6, I attended a token game or two. The division of labor fell apart as soon as our younger boy, Chris, started playing. -more-

LOS ANGELES—Since the day my kids were born, my mantra has been, “Go to college.” But next week marks not only my daughter’s graduation from boot camp, but the Oct. 15 deadline for my son to opt out of the military recruitment directory at his school. -more-

Energized by Camp Casey and the creativity of Cindy Sheehan, a change is taking place in the peace movement. -more-

Gamelan, featuring the intricate orchestral ambiance of bronze gongs, drums and other instruments, performed with dance, song, and shadow and rod puppetry, will take center stage for “A Gathering of Gamelans” at Cowell Theater in San Francisco’s Fort Mas on Center this weekend. -more-

TUESDAY, OCT. 11 -more-

There are a couple of catalpa trees a few blocks from where I live, crowded into a narrow curb strip so tightly they’ve started bulging over the sidewalk. I’d wondered about them for years, and figured they were something planted by a homeowner years ago, for whatever reason. I got a partial explanation from a friend of ours who grew up on that block and still lives there–that rare bird, a Berkeley native of about my advanced age. He said that that part of Grant Street used to be lined with magnolias; the catalpas, another emblem of the Southeast, therefore fit right in. And yes, they were evidently planted by the person who owned the house they’re in front of. -more-

TUESDAY, OCT. 11 -more-