As a teacher for a GED program in San Francisco, Victor Diaz floated a novel notion: He would prepare students to earn high school diplomas. -more-

The Nexus Institute, a prominent West Berkeley artists’ collective, faces eviction from its home of 20 years when their lease expires Thursday. -more-

“All these years I’ve been speaking about the Landmarks Demolitions Ordinance, and here it is,” said Carrie Olson. -more-

Development of a portion of a defunct Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) campus will move forward without city review, whether city officials and community members like it or not. -more-

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Billed as a wake-up call to management, some 80 DoubleTree Hotel workers and their supporters held a 6:30 a.m. rally Friday, circling the hotel at the Marina with chants and drums, in an attempt to advance what their union, Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees 2850, says are “stalled” contract negotiations. -more-

Workers at the downtown Shattuck Cinemas, owned by Landmark Theaters, who earn just above minimum wage with no health benefits, will have their say about whether they form a union. -more-

The state-appointed administrator of the Oakland Unified School District has postponed a meeting with OUSD Advisory Trustees, leaving trustees in the dark as to the future of nearly 10 acres of valuable midtown district properties, including the district administration headquarters. -more-

The Police Review Commission on Wednesday established a subcommittee to review police policies related to the case of convicted felon Sgt. Cary Kent, who stole drugs from the police evidence vault of which he was in charge. -more-

The last two times Alameda County voters have gone to the polls, they were inundated with ballot measures (eight state propositions along with local measures in Albany and Emeryville in the off-year election in November 2005; 16 state propositions along with 13 Berkeley, one Albany, two Emeryville, and two Oakland measures, as well as special measures for BART, AC Transit, and the East Bay Regional Park District in the general election of November 2004). -more-

The race for the Democratic nomination for California attorney general has become something of a referendum on Oakland, with candidates Rocky Delgadillo and Jerry Brown debating over how good a job Brown has done in his two terms as Oakland mayor. -more-

The Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday centered on two main issues. -more-

Calling the looming closure of Cody’s Books on Telegraph Avenue a “wake-up call,” Councilmember Kriss Worthington has announced a community rally to save the celebrated bookstore and support Telegraph Avenue area businesses. -more-

May 13 -more-

CALTRANS GRANT -more-

One afternoon this past March, after several consecutive days of rain, the clouds cleared and I walked the length of upper Cerritos Creek in north Berkeley. This humble creek—and likely many others—fails to conform to the impassioned rhetoric and vision of the creek ordinance hawks. Such creeks should not be governed by any of the “one-size-fits-all” creek ordinance amendments proposed. Allow me to introduce to you upper Cerritos Creek as it appeared that March afternoon so you can understand why. -more-

There’s a popular saying in the Bay Area: “A better world is possible.” According to Aimee Allison, a young, dynamic candidate for the Oakland City Council, “A better world begins in Oakland.” For her it begins in District 2, where she’s waging a grass-roots campaign against the Brown–De La Fuente machine. Pat Kernighan, her opponent, is one of the Oakland insiders. She votes consistently with De La Fuente. In her first election, Kernighan raised $86,000, a lot of money for a small district. Some say she just bought the election. In contrast, Allison accepts no corporate donations. -more-

The 2006 California Democratic Party convention was a far cry from that in 2005. Whereas progressives were trying to get organized and recognized (as the Progressive Caucus) in 2005, in 2006 we showed that we are a real force in the CDP. The 2006 convention was a “platform convention” in which the CDP adopts its platform for the next two years and endorses candidates for the Democratic nomination for partisan offices. -more-

Do I have a reasonable point? -more-

Readers of the May 5-9 issue of the Daily Planet risk having some serious misperceptions of the Berkeley Unified School District’s Maintenance Department. I know that bad news is generally more exciting than good or okay news, but when a news article presents a misleading picture, those who know the true picture need to speak up. Since I was one of the persons quoted and since, after working here for almost four years, I know the department pretty well, I’d like to set the record straight. -more-

The bad news is that Berkeley’s downtown retail district is sick, and Telegraph Avenue is catching the disease. -more-

She’s Got the Paddle and We’re Up the Creek,” screamed last week’s headlines in a local weekly. -more-

Hollywood juniper—Juniperus chinensis “torulosa” or J. chinensis “Kai-zuka”—is one of those trees you know even if you’ve never heard of it. It’s all over the place, one of those Sunset magazine California place markers, the twisty green thing waving its arms outside half the apartment buildings on the West Coast. It’s a city feature like pigeons, and like pigeons you hardly ever see a dead one. -more-