News

As a local movement to censure U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein for supporting Michael Mukasey’s nomination for U.S. Attorney General began, more than 200 students gathered in front of UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza Wednes-day to witness a waterboarding demonstration. -more-

The $500 million pact between UC Berkeley and one of the world’s largest oil companies went into effect Wednesday, though research covered by the contract started months ago. -more-

The only sound along the deserted shoreline at the Berk-eley Marina Wednesday was the clattering of pebbles inside Carole Rathfon’s double-layered plastic bag. -more-

Richmond residents expressed concern this week at the failure of state and federal officials to rescue oiled birds from the Rich-mond shoreline. -more-

The question of who will implement the East Bay Smart Solar Program, funded by the Depart-ment of Energy with matching city money, brings to the fore the question of how government engages nonprofits and other organizations—for better or worse—to do work it cannot or will not do. -more-

DAPAC approved a limited-height mandate for the downtown Berkeley plan, dividing their Monday night vote between a majority who felt they’d compromised enough and a minority who wouldn’t approve anything without an economist’s imprimatur. -more-

The Memorial Stadium confrontation between tree-sitters and campus officialdom heated up Thursday, marked by three arrests and a fence breach. -more-

Berkeley officials said they plan to submit a work plan for dredging Aquatic Park lagoon to the State Water Resources Control Board for approval, according to city and state officials. -more-

A three-year-old business assessment district that had become controversial with some of its members was voted off the Avenue at last week’s Solano Avenue Association (SAA) board meeting. -more-

Berkeley planning commissioners voted to clamp down on liquor stores that started selling spirits before the city instituted its current zoning policies. -more-

Arguing that the California Department of Transportation did not adequately assess impacts on the environment in its plans to add a fourth bore to the Caldecott Tunnel, attorneys Stuart Flashman and Antonio Rossmann have filed a petition in Alameda County Superior Court in an attempt to get Caltrans to modify its plans. -more-

California Attorney General Jerry Brown told a gathering of California county leaders in Oakland this week that global warming was the single most important issue of our time, that the California Environmental Quality Act was a “key environmental milestone” in fighting the greenhouse gas emissions that are much of the cause of global warming, and that counties which do not address such emissions in their CEQA environmental impact reports face a likelihood of being sued by his office. -more-

The California Senate Education Committee has scheduled a public hearing in Oakland next month on the State Department of Education and procedures for return to local control of school districts in state receivership. -more-

The $500 million pact between UC Berkeley and one of the world’s largest oil companies went into effect Wednesday, though actual work had begun in June. -more-

Seventy-nine volunteers from across the East Bay underwent four hours of training on cleaning hazardous oil spills from the shoreline by the City of Berkeley and the East Bay Regional Park District at the Berkeley Marina Monday. -more-

Berkeley is home to the movement for the independence of disabled people and winner of the National Organization on Disability’s 2006 Accessible America competition, yet the disabled community expressed outrage at what people said was the mayor’s insensitivity at the Nov. 6 council meeting. -more-

“We have something to celebrate and something to mourn,” Joe Robinson told fellow members of the citizen panel advising the state on toxic cleanups in southern Richmond. -more-

A new report takes aim at the East Bay Regional Park District for not doing enough to ensure that low-income minority communities have access to open space. -more-

Today I conducted an act of civil disobedience (my first in quite some time). Using a common kitty litter scoop, I peeled globs of oil from a beach, and placed them in a bucket. I defied not only the Coast Guard, but our own city manager, Phil Kamlarz, who has declared the shore off-limits. -more-

Second Lt. Joseph Perkins described it as a small carnival—with its Humvee, Apache Helicopter simulator and climbing wall. A graduate of UC Berkeley, Perkins was one of the army recruiters on campus Thursday, Friday and Saturday. -more-

The State Historical Resources Commission unanimously approved the nomination for the Berkeley High School campus to be listed on the National Register as a historic district Friday. -more-

Members of the Oak-to-Ninth Referendum Committee have decided to drop their lawsuit over Oakland City Attorney John Russo’s decision last year to throw out petitions calling for a citizen vote on the controversial development project. But opponents and proponents of the lawsuit were as divided over the reason for voluntary dismissal as they were over the lawsuit itself. -more-

California State School Superintendent Jack O’Connell said in an e-mail to an Oakland education activist this week that despite his belief that state school takeovers should be a “last option,” local control of the Oakland Unified School District will continue to be withheld until “the time is right.” -more-

The Memorial Stadium tree-sit sustained its second major casualty Sunday night when one of the protesters fell, breaking an arm and a leg. -more-

Berkeley Planning Commissioners will tackle Demon Rum Wednesday night—or, more precisely, a proposal to tighten the rules on its purveyors. -more-

The Berkeley Board of Education will vote Wednesday on whether to hire Emeryville-based Baker Vilar Architects to design Berkeley High School’s new bleachers and prepare plans for demolishing its old gym. -more-