Freedom is what pre-schoolers at Berkeley’s oldest nursery will inherit on their first day of class—freedom to learn and grow through play, by getting their hands wet and their feet muddy and by letting their imaginations soar. -more-

While Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) officials were pitching their role in the half-billion-dollar grant from British oil giant BP, they were also bidding for a second, similar but federally funded program. -more-

Members of the Associated Students of UC Berkeley’s Senate voted Wednesday night to urge administrators to hold off on signing a $500 million contract with BP (British Petroleum) until their concerns have been addressed. -more-

The tradition of reappointing library trustees for their second and final four-year terms without considering new applicants is being challenged by a trustee. -more-

Assemblymember Sandré Swanson’s AB 45 Oakland school local control bill overcame its first legislative hurdle this week, passing the Assembly Education Committee on a 7-2 party line vote (Democrats voting aye, Republicans voting no), but in a vastly modified form that drastically changes the terms under which local control would be restored. -more-

Start the day with a good breakfast. “That’s what our moms always told us,” said Bert Johnson Wednesday morning over hot cereal, a cup of java, a couple of slices of day-old bread and the company of friends. -more-

SaveBerkeleyIceland.org—the community based organization that came forward in January to preserve the 67 year-old historic ice-rink at 2727 Milvia St.—has so far raised $90,000 from six weeks of fundraising. -more-

Opposition to chicks in cages, support for draft resistors and getting rid of plastic shopping bags were among the items approved by the Berkeley City Council Tuesday. -more-

The recent Virginia Tech University mass shooting tragedy has led to widespread discussion and debate across the nation about school safety. -more-

The Berkeley Board of Education approved $20,000 Wednesday to hire WLC Consultants to officially study the Curvy Derby Plan and further develop it. -more-

A sparsely attended public hearing to consider how to conduct closed-door complaint hearings was held Wednesday evening by the Police Review Commission. -more-

The “Crisis of the California Commons” is the subject of a conference being held this weekend at Berkeley City College. -more-

Gun robbery -more-

CELL ANTENNA EQUITY -more-

Two thirds into the winter of 1957-58, Gerald Holtom was feeling 66.6 percent-ish as he agonized over the design. That February 21, as the artist was to explain the genesis of his idea in greater, more personal depth later to Peace News editor Hugh Brock, he was “in despair. Deep despair. I drew myself the representation of an individual in despair with arms outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of Goya’s peasant before the firing squad. I formalized the drawing with a line and put a circle around it.” -more-

In the spirit of cities rolling out the welcome mat for private stadiums, a la Pac Bell Park and McAfee Coliseum, sometimes at the expense of funding such secondary needs as schools, let’s have a contest for renaming the UC Berkeley. British Petroleum has made a strong bid for renaming the school the University of British Petroleum. But that’s a little over the top—maybe we should just put department names up for sale, and at least keep the UCB acronym for the present. -more-

A warm water pool in Berkeley is a truly desirable and important amenity to Berkeley residents, and a boon to the greater East Bay. The article in the Daily Planet on Tuesday, April 10, “Voices of the Berkeley Warm Pool,” is a remarkable tribute and reminder about the benefits of a warm water therapeutic pool for everyone in our community. However, the reality is that the existing pool is very old, deteriorating at a rapid clip, and may soon be unusable. And then where will we all be? -more-

Becky O’Malley begins her latest foray into the Middle East with noble sentiments. She endorses Pelosi’s and Lantos’ recent peace mission to Syria, and condemns the Bush administration for obstructing it. Then, as usual, our local editor severely strays. She starts by calling Israeli Prime Minister “clueless” for denying that Pelosi was bringing a peace message from him to Syrian President Assad, when everyone knows that Olmert is quite anxious to make peace with Syria, has said so often, and yes, of course Pelosi was bearing a message of peace to the Syrians from Olmert. No one has ever seriously called Olmert “clueless.” What a clueless insult. O’Malley, herself, concedes that, in order to send a peace message to Syria through Pelosi, Olmert had to disregard an explicit order from Bush not to do so. Olmert was in a tough position, since defying a bully like Bush cannot be a good thing for little Israel. Then O’Malley incoherently tries to tie AIPAC into this, as though somehow AIPAC is standing in the way of peace with Syria, citing Soros’ recent criticism of that organization. O’Malley quotes Soros as saying that he is “not sufficiently engaged in Jewish affairs,” and yet O’Malley nevertheless touts Soros as “a strong supporter of Israel.” Soros is right and O’Malley wrong. Soros has never been identified with Jewish causes or with Israel. He does not have much of a history of either support or detraction. His main focus of activity has been Eastern Europe. As for AIPAC, it did not in this case, and never would lift a finger to obstruct an Israeli peace initiative, but, more typically, in a case like this its role would be to help smooth over any bad feelings created between Olmert and Bush on his matter. O’Malley offers not a shred of evidence that AIPAC played or plays any obstructive role in the peace process, or in any way works against the interests of either the United States or Israel. Because AIPAC serves America’s interests as well as Israel’s, it is so highly regarded by politicians across the political spectrum, from Tom Bates to Tom Delay, and almost every politician in between, including Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Lee and Tom Lantos. -more-

In 1609 a terrible thing happened. Not terrible in the manner that great wars are terrible, but in the way that opening Pandora’s Box was terrible: King James I of England discovered that dividing people on the basis of religion worked like a charm, thus sentencing the Irish to almost four centuries of blood and pain. -more-

Generals, so the theory goes, tend to fight the last war, and so my good friends in the local media—many of whom seemed to have missed the fact that the administration of Mayor Jerry Brown was one of the most secretive in our lifetime—have taken out, yard dog fashion, after his successor, Ron Dellums, on the same charge. -more-

After driving past for months and months, I noticed an opportune parking space and misbehaved badly enough to get it, and so I finally got inside the Sahara Import shop on Ashby just east of Shattuck. -more-

I guess I have to remember to stay off of my horse else be in danger of falling off and damaging my backside. The industry (if you can call it that) that I’m employed in is fairly new and often mistaken for other adjacent trades (e.g. a friend referred to me as an appraiser the other day) including, not surprisingly, the structural pest control industry (often referred to as termite inspectors). -more-

Can You Stem the Water Tide? -more-