News

The city will pursue its lawsuit against the University of California. -more-

A closed-door Berkeley City Council session set for 5 p.m. today (Tuesday) could freeze the public out of the process and result in a deficient compromise settlement of the December 2006 City of Berkeley v. University of California lawsuit, Councilmembers Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington say. -more-

It was a decidedly mixed message for Oakland and Berkeley schools in the heavily anticipated Academic Performance Index scores released by the California Department of Education at mid-day Friday, with BUSD schools dropping 5 points overall (752 to 747) from 2006 to 2007, and OUSD schools gaining 7 points (651 to 658). -more-

Six new out-of-district students will be able to transfer to the Berkeley public schools this school year since the Alameda County Board of Education overturned the Berkeley Unified School District’s (BUSD) decision to deny them the transfers. -more-

Berkeley Rent Board Member Chris Kavanagh should “step down immediately” if he is not a legal resident of Berkeley, said a statement issued Friday by the Berkeley Green Party. -more-

For nearly six years after he got out of prison in 2000, 40-year-old Ernie Johnson kept coming up empty whenever he applied for a job. Even as he checked the “yes” box on job application forms that asked whether he had ever been convicted of a felony, he knew his chance of landing a job was slim to none. -more-

Volunteer extraordinaire John Stansfield passed away on Aug. 18 at the age of 79 from complications of pneumonia. He was the man to whom visitors and reporters alike would turn for answers at the Berkeley History Center. His enthusiasm about Berkeley’s history was absolutely contagious. -more-

Molly Fraker will join the Berkeley Public Education Foundation today (Tuesday) as its new executive director. -more-

The Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) will meet Thursday at a new time and with a new secretary. -more-

With support from two key East Bay representatives, State Senate President Don Perata’s SB67 sideshow 30-day car confiscation legislation easily passed the state assembly on a 74-0 vote last week. -more-

It began with a flimsy yellow ribbon and ended with a riot, two arrests and a courtroom hearing. -more-

Judge Barbara Miller ruled late Thursday that the chain-link fence at the UC stadium oak grove does not violate the preliminary injunction against any alteration at the site. -more-

The first day of the new school year went off without a hitch for Berkeley public schools Wednes-day. -more-

Oakland Unified School District board members were informed on Wednesday night that a $1.4 million district deficit in the adopted 2007-08 budget—which district officials had said had been whittled down from a projected $4.3 million deficit last June—was now up to $4.7 million in updated figures recently compiled by the district’s interim chief financial officer. -more-

The battle lines over just how much and how high new development should rise in downtown Berkeley are growing, with UC Berkeley weighing in on the side of greater density. -more-

The joint subcommitee of the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) and the Downtown Area Planning Advisory Commission (DAPAC) met Monday to develop a final version of the Historic Preservation and Urban Design chapter which DAPAC is scheduled to consider this fall. -more-

Oakland Assemblymember Sandré Swanson’s AB45 Oakland school bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on a 10-7 vote on Thursday afternoon, bringing the Oakland Unified School District a step closer to possible return to full local control. -more-

Each August, fans of many top-ranked college football teams sit down to scrutinize an all-important statistic. -more-