News

At 99, Ruby Harmon still insists on a slice of crispy bacon, grits, and coffee for breakfast everyday. Her face breaks into a smile—a million tiny creases—when I ask her why. -more-

After serving as a curator at the Berkeley Art Museum since September 2005, Chris Gilbert abruptly resigned because of rising conflicts with museum administrators over his controversial project “Now Time: Media Along the Path of the Bolivarian Process,” part two of which is currently showing at the UC Berkeley museum. -more-

With a lease set to expire on a seismically unsound building, Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) officials are pushing to relocate district headquarters. -more-

A federal civil jury in Oakland has rejected claims that the Peralta Community College District practiced reverse discrimination, gender discrimination, and retaliation when it failed to renew the contract of John Garmon, the former president of Vista Community College in Berkeley. -more-

Andrew Martinez, who as a 19-year-old UC Berkeley undergraduate created national news in November 1992 for getting suspended from the university for attending class in little more than a pair of sandals and a backback, was found unconscious in his Santa Clara County jail cell at 11:19 p.m. on Wednesday and declared dead early Thursday. -more-

Some 60 self-identified political progressives got together on Saturday at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall to try to turn an 18-page draft document into a progressive platform. It was a tightly run meeting, but only half of the draft was covered, so the convention will reconvene June 3. -more-

A bill now pending in the state Legislature would end the bonuses that enable larger apartment buildings and condominium complexes to get even larger—but developers say it would end infill development in cities like Berkeley. -more-

Converting rented apartments to condominiums is on the agenda again today (Tuesday). Last week the council reinstated a lapsed condominium conversion ordinance, which caps allowable conversion at 100 units each year and sets a conversion fee at 12.5 percent of the selling price. -more-

A Catholic church and a moving and storage warehouse could be the latest recipients of wireless telecommunications facilities in Berkeley. -more-

Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) members will meet Thursday to discuss a revised ordinance proposed by Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmember Laurie Capitelli. -more-

An abandoned three-mile stretch of railroad right-of-way in Richmond will begin its conversion into a community walking and biking trail Thursday. -more-

Councilmember Linda Maio dropped her ’94 Honda EX station wagon off at Berkeley Honda for a routine checkup Friday, signaling the end of the council’s longstanding boycott against the dealership. -more-

Student robbed -more-

Expensive butt -more-

For political cognoscenti, a day just isn’t complete without a Daily Kos fix. -more-

City councilmbers Tuesday approved transferring the Oxford Plaza parking lot to developers Tuesday night, but their vote—the first of two—left as many questions as answers. -more-

Depending on whom you talk to and how you read between the lines, this Saturday’s Berkeley Progressive Coalition Convention will pull together a coalition of old and new progressive organizations in the city—including members of the longtime Berkeley Citizens Alliance and the year-old Berkeley Progressive Alliance—strengthening all of them. Or else it is a movement by the BPA to supplant the BCA that could potentially lead to a split in Berkeley’s progressive movement and establish competing progressive candidate endorsements for the fall elections. -more-

South Berkeley neighbors sparred verbally at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, most supporting Black and White Liquor store owner Sucha Banger in his quest to overturn the Zoning Adjustments Board vote to designate his store a “public nuisance” and impose restrictions, such as hours of operation, on the establishment. -more-

A nascent plan to develop open space in the El Cerrito Hills is eliciting protests from neighbors who say the city’s natural land must be preserved. -more-

An Oakland-based environmental nonprofit is threatening to sue Pacific Steel Casting in federal court. -more-

The latest Democrats to cancel speaking events at a UC Berkeley event are Al Gore and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. -more-

Foes of the proposed upscale mall planned for Albany’s Golden Gate Fields turned in nearly three times the signatures needed to qualify a November ballot initiative measure that would stop the proposal. -more-

Peter Sussman, noted journalist and editor, often described as a 35-year Berkeley resident, was shocked when he looked at his sample ballot and discovered he was slated to vote across the border in Oakland. -more-

When classes commence this fall, students at 2701 Martin Luther King Jr. Way will be the first to navigate the multiple pathways of Berkeley Technology Academy. -more-

The question of condominium conversion, one of some 50 items on the City Council agenda Tuesday night, was significant, not so much for the council vote, but for what modifications the ordinance might face in the future. -more-

Supported by councilmembers Betty Olds, Laurie Capitelli and Gordon Wozniak, George Beier, 42, has jumped into the proverbial ring, challenging incumbent, nine-year Councilmember Kriss Worthington, 51, for the second time. -more-

Wayne S. Dismuke was born Oct. 17, 1941, in El Dorado, Ark., through the union of Horace K. and Doris J. Dismuke. Wayne was the first child of Horace and Doris. He graduated from Berkeley High School in 1959. -more-

A California Highway Patrol officer was injured Thursday afternoon when his motorcycle was struck by a car on westbound Interstate 80 near Ashby Avenue. -more-

Neighbors of Alta Bates-Summit Medical Center who gathered for the Bateman Mall Restoration meeting at Alta Bates on Wednesday night welcomed the city’s announcement that the grassy area that has lately been the site of the temporary road during construction at the hospital would be restored. -more-

There is no Police Blotter again because the city’s new Community Crime View software has caught a bug. -more-