News

You can find a Sutter Hotel in many cities. Go where the last wave of redevelopment has passed through and see what’s left standing. -more-

Berkeley’s bid to become the biofuel research capital of academic and corporate America scored another major advance Tuesday, winning funds to start a second lab. -more-

An Alameda County Grand Jury report released June 26 on a controversial three-year-old automated check-out system has raised questions about the library’s ability to manage its contracts effectively. -more-

Berkeley City College President Judy Walters, who presided over the transition of the downtown community college from its longtime rental quarters to a newly-built Center Street building, has left her position to take up a similar post at Diablo Valley Community College in Pleasant Hill. -more-

Though Safeway’s plans for adding housing to its Albany grocery store on Solano Avenue proved a flop with neighbors, the Pleasanton-based grocery chain is still pursuing its plans for a makeover. -more-

At its meeting Tuesday the Berkeley City Council repealed the ordinance that prohibits the city from drug testing employees, approved a $369,000 budget, adding back some social services that had been cut and heard from both citizens and the developer’s representative on the question of a proposed commercial development at College and Ashby avenues. -more-

Ganna Dharmarajah, a former Berkeley resident whose mother still lives here, was arrested by Swedish authorities on Saturday while vacationing in Sweden. She is now being detained at a center for asylum seekers, even though she says she has never sought asylum and is not now doing so. -more-

In a letter addressed to City Manager Phil Kamlarz and emailed to Kamlarz and the press on June 20, five-plus-year transportation manager Peter Hillier tendered his resignation effective July 8. -more-

The Berkeley Board of Education met for the last time Wednesday before breaking for summer. Board members will be back Aug. 22 for the new school year. -more-

Minutes after the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 Thursday to limit the consideration of race in school integration plans, Berkeley Unified School District superintendent Michele Lawrence said that she hoped Berkeley public schools would stand the test and become a model for other schools. -more-

Residents of Berkeley’s Bateman neighborhood are spending a lot of time looking over their shoulders these days. -more-

As California launches into a dry summer with wildfires raging in both northern and southern California, David Orth wonders if we’re not seeing the start of something far more ominous. -more-

The Board of Trustees of the Alameda County Medical Center approved a $460 million budget on Tuesday, rejecting requests by union members for a no layoff pledge and to set aside $5 million from increased debt payments to Alameda County to fund staff development and training to help staff transition into new positions. -more-

SB67 Vehicle Speed Contests -more-

Berkeley’s bid to become the biofuel research capital of academic and corporate America scored another major advance Tuesday, winning funds to start a second lab major lab. -more-

From Maudelle Shirek’s roots in the soil of Jefferson, Ark., to the former vice mayor’s seat on the city hall dais, the legacy of the 96-year-old “conscience of the council” and radical civil rights and human rights activist will live in a mural commissioned by the city and created by local artists Daniel Galvez and Mildred Howard. -more-

The ongoing tensions among factions in the struggle over the Berkeley’s evolving landscape surfaced again last week in a joint meeting of two city panels, but the meeting ended in a lopsided 17-2 vote supporting a proposed chapter spelling out the role to be played by historic preservation in Berkeley’s future downtown for the new plan. It had been drafted by a joint subcommitee composed of members of Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) and of the Downtown Area Plan Commission (DAPAC). Members of the full DAPAC then met with the full LPC to discuss the proposal. -more-

Federal officials will announce today whether or not a coalition of UC Berkeley-affiliated labs will capture a $125 million grant to fund a new biofuel lab. -more-

To protect the community, Berkeley police officers carry guns, drive vehicles at high speeds, arrest suspects and take control of their property, including money and illicit drugs. -more-

The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce’s political action arm, Business for Better Government, files its campaign statements with the County of Alameda rather than the city. -more-

More than a year after local voters approved the Peralta Community College District’s Facilities Bond Measure A, authorizing the four-college district to issue some $390 million in bonds, a citizens’ oversight committee required by that measure has yet to organize itself, has yet to meet, and has not yet been fully formed. -more-

A new class of 15 students began the semester at the Bread Project at the Berkeley Adult School (BAS) Monday. In the first hour, this group of future bakers learned to differentiate between ounces and pounds, a few new vocabulary words for use in the kitchen, and, most importantly, they learned about Lucie Buchbinder. -more-

The Oakland Unified School District state administrator’s office is reporting this week that political intervention by State Senator Don Perata and State Superintendent Jack O’Connell with the state architect’s office has speeded up approval of construction plans for the partially burned Peralta Elementary School in North Oakland. -more-

A man’s decomposing body was retrieved from the bay near the pier at the Berkeley Marina at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, the Alameda County coroner’s office reported. -more-

Verizon Wireless and Nextel Communication staff will be back at the Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) meeting Thursday to request a use permit for 11 cell phone antennas atop the UC Storage building at 2721 Shattuck Ave. following a second remand from the Berkeley City Council. -more-

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), the hottest ticket on the Berkeley transportation horizon, is up for discussion again tonight (Tuesday). -more-

The Berkeley Board of Education will be meeting at the Old City Hall at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday to renew contracts and agreements before they break for summer this year. -more-