Five UC Berkeley Police officers stood watch at Sunday’s one-year anniversary celebration, two of them recording the day’s events with video cameras. Photograp[h by Richard Brenneman.
Five UC Berkeley Police officers stood watch at Sunday’s one-year anniversary celebration, two of them recording the day’s events with video cameras. Photograp[h by Richard Brenneman.

Extra

Flash: Berkeley Sea Scout Skipper Charged with Child Abuse

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday December 04, 2007

Eugene Evans, the scoutmaster who sued the city after it refused a free berth to the Sea Scout ship Farallon because of the organization's anti-gay policies, was arrested Tuesday on six counts of child sexual abuse. -more-



Page One

Tree-Sitters Celebrate One-Year Anniversary

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday December 04, 2007

Berkeley protesters and their supporters gathered Sunday to celebrate the end of the first year of what they hailed as “America’s longest-running urban tree-sit.” -more-



Oak Grove Burial Ground Debate Still Alive

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday December 04, 2007

Are Native Americans buried beneath the oak grove along the western wall of Memorial Stadium? -more-



Dredging Toxics Report Still Not In

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday December 04, 2007

The City Council continued the discussion on the Aquatic Park dredging to Dec. 18 because of time constraints at last week’s council meeting. -more-



Committee Adopts Downtown Plan

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday December 04, 2007

Downtown Area Planning Advisory Committee (DAPAC) members voted 17-4 to adopt their draft of a new downtown plan, but one of the nays came from the head of the Berkeley Planning Commission. -more-



School District Seeks Merit Commissioner

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday December 04, 2007

A member of the Berkeley Unified School District’s Merit Commission said the Berkeley school board may not have reappointed him because he took an independent position on budget allocations, one out of step with the board’s wishes. -more-



Features

Chamber PAC Fights Filing with City

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday December 04, 2007

Claiming its intent is to support future state and county candidates—though it has scarcely done so in the past—Business for Better Government, the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee, has hired a San Francisco law firm to go to bat for the Chamber PAC’s right to continue filing campaign finance statements with Alameda County rather than the city of Berkeley. -more-


Alta Bates Nurses Announce Walkout

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday December 04, 2007

Registered nurses at Alta Bates Summit facilities in Berkeley and Oakland will join colleagues at other Sutter Health facilities for a two-day walkout next week, their union announced. -more-


Lab Sets EIR Hearings on EBI, Computer Labs

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday December 04, 2007

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will hold hearings on draft environmental impact reports (EIR) on two major buildings in coming weeks. -more-


LPC Votes on Shattuck Hotel Face Lift

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday December 04, 2007

The Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission will vote on whether to approve a permit to rehabilitate and make alterations to the exterior of the city-landmarked Shattuck Hotel Thursday. -more-


Amtrak Train Kills Woman In Northwest Berkeley

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday December 04, 2007

Melinda Jane Morales, 59, of Richmond was struck and killed at 7:25 p.m. Saturday by an Amtrak Capital Corridor train heading south toward San Jose at or near the Gilman Street crossing. -more-


University Begins Gill Tract Radiation Decommissioning

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday December 04, 2007

UC Berkeley needs to clean up any remaining radioactivity at a laboratory in the Gill Tract where biologists combined cancer cells with lymphocytes to produce antibodies a decade ago. -more-


California Tries to Reach Out To Punjabi Farmworkers

By Ketaki Gokhale, India West
Tuesday December 04, 2007

As a result of an investigative report by India-West on alleged safety and labor code violations at several Indian American-owned orchards in the Sacramento River valley, the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board plans to launch an outreach and education effort in the Indian American agricultural labor force. -more-


Caplan Named Economic Development Manager; Cowan Named Acting City Attorney

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday December 04, 2007

Michael Caplan, acting manager of the Office of Economic Development, was named as manager, and Zach Cowan, assistant city attorney, was named acting city attorney, said Phil Kamlarz in a memo Monday to the mayor and City Council. -more-


O’Connell Gives Authority for OUSD To Hire Local Superintendent

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday December 04, 2007

State School Superintendent Jack O’Connell came to Oakland on Friday to formally announce that he is turning over two more areas of operation to the Oakland Unified School District. -more-


News Analysis: The Battle in Bolivia

By Roger Burbach, New America Media
Tuesday December 04, 2007

While international attention is focusing on President Hugo Chavez and the Sunday referendum on the Venezuelan constitution, a conflict that is just as profound is shaking Bolivia. Evo Morales, the first Indian president of the country, is forcing a showdown with the oligarchy and the right wing political parties that have stymied efforts to draft a new constitution to transform the nation. He declares, “Dead or alive I will have a new constitution for the country by December 14,” the mandated date for the specially elected Constituent Assembly to present a constitution for the country to vote on by popular referendum. -more-


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Tuesday December 04, 2007

AC TRANSIT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT -more-


Commentary: Options Recovery and the Public Commons

By Dan McMullan
Tuesday December 04, 2007

I like Judith Scherr. She puts in long hours trying to get the story right and it’s not too easy in a town that has become as shady as our Berkeley has become of late. So I will forgive her if she has failed to see what the true purpose behind what is known to us as Options Recovery Services. When I went public a few months ago with my opposition to the mayor and City Council giving Options $200,000 at a time when food and housing to the poor was being cut by precisely the same amount, Judith asked me a good question. “How successful does a program have to be before you would support it?” It was busy and loud in the council chambers that night and I didn’t get to answer her. -more-


Commentary: Brain Drain: The Quiet Killer

By Lucy Anderson
Tuesday December 04, 2007

It is devastatingly ironic that the world’s poorest countries are, to some degree, subsidizing the healthcare of the wealthiest nations. For years, rich nations encouraged African countries to invest in infrastructure (education, hospitals, medicine); much aid was given to strengthen these very systems. Although it was unintentional, the donations proved to be quite self-serving. As wealthy countries give aid to struggling nations to improve healthcare outcomes with one hand, they siphon off graduates of medical schools with the other. The developed world benefits from the skills and knowledge of newly arrived doctors and nurses while the countries that produced these professionals suffer from staffing shortages. -more-


Commentary: UC Berkeley vs. the Local Community

By Redwood Mary
Tuesday December 04, 2007

EDITOR’S NOTE: This commentary was submitted to the San Francisco Chronicle but was not published. -more-


Editorial

Editorial: Whose Commons Is It, Anyway?

By Becky O’Malley
Tuesday December 04, 2007

Out and about in Berkeley over the weekend, we had a chance to observe numerous examples of the truism that it’s not what you do, it’s who you are that counts. We walked up Ashby to Peet’s on Domingo, one of the oldest locations for Berkeley’s pride and joy, the original leading edge of the gourmet coffee revolution. In the many years we’ve been walking to Peet’s, the shops in the small commercial enclave on that corner have had a lot of turnover. Since we’ve been in the business of selling newspaper advertising, we’ve learned that there are many more people in Berkeley who’d like to run small businesses than there are people who know how to do it. -more-


Columns

Wild Neighbors: Junco Testosterone and Water Snake Bites

By Joe Eaton
Tuesday December 04, 2007

A couple of odds and ends: Robert Sapolsky, the Stanford neurobiologist, published a collection of his provocative essays a few years back as The Trouble with Testosterone. Where do you begin? Sapolsky was mostly interested in the hormone’s effect on the behavior of East African savannah baboons (see his A Primate’s Memoirs for tales of fieldwork) and on humans. But it’s not just a primate thing, or even a mammalian one. Birds have testosterone too, as do reptiles, amphibians, even fish: a common vertebrate heritage. -more-


Arts Listings

Arts Calendar

Tuesday December 04, 2007

The Theater: Altarena Stages ‘Man Who Saved Christmas’

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday December 04, 2007

Around the East Bay

Tuesday December 04, 2007

Events Listings

Berkeley This Week

Tuesday December 04, 2007

Correction

Tuesday December 04, 2007

You Write the Planet

Tuesday December 04, 2007

Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: Whose Commons Is It, Anyway? 12-04-2007

Editorial: Pie in the Sky for the Holiday Table 11-30-2007

Public Comment

Letters to the Editor 12-04-2007

Commentary: Options Recovery and the Public Commons By Dan McMullan 12-04-2007

Commentary: Brain Drain: The Quiet Killer By Lucy Anderson 12-04-2007

Commentary: UC Berkeley vs. the Local Community By Redwood Mary 12-04-2007

Letters to the Editor 11-30-2007

Commentary: Whom Do We Blame? By Alan Miller 11-30-2007

Commentary: Schools Are Better Now By Al Durrette 11-30-2007

Commentary: Talking Points for the Superintendent Selection Process By Michael Miller 11-30-2007

Commentary: Real Solutions Needed for Greenhouse Gases By James Singmaster 11-30-2007

News

Flash: Berkeley Sea Scout Skipper Charged with Child Abuse By Richard Brenneman 12-04-2007

Tree-Sitters Celebrate One-Year Anniversary By Richard Brenneman 12-04-2007

Oak Grove Burial Ground Debate Still Alive By Richard Brenneman 12-04-2007

Dredging Toxics Report Still Not In By Riya Bhattacharjee 12-04-2007

Committee Adopts Downtown Plan By Richard Brenneman 12-04-2007

School District Seeks Merit Commissioner By Riya Bhattacharjee 12-04-2007

Chamber PAC Fights Filing with City By Judith Scherr 12-04-2007

Alta Bates Nurses Announce Walkout By Richard Brenneman 12-04-2007

Lab Sets EIR Hearings on EBI, Computer Labs By Richard Brenneman 12-04-2007

LPC Votes on Shattuck Hotel Face Lift By Riya Bhattacharjee 12-04-2007

Amtrak Train Kills Woman In Northwest Berkeley By Judith Scherr 12-04-2007

University Begins Gill Tract Radiation Decommissioning By Richard Brenneman 12-04-2007

California Tries to Reach Out To Punjabi Farmworkers By Ketaki Gokhale, India West 12-04-2007

Caplan Named Economic Development Manager; Cowan Named Acting City Attorney By Judith Scherr 12-04-2007

O’Connell Gives Authority for OUSD To Hire Local Superintendent By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 12-04-2007

News Analysis: The Battle in Bolivia By Roger Burbach, New America Media 12-04-2007

Buying with a Conscience at the International Holiday Crafts Fair By Judith Scherr 11-30-2007

Council Cleans Up Commons for Shoppers By Judith Scherr 11-30-2007

Next Steps for the Public Commons By Judith Scherr 11-30-2007

BioFuel Project Clashes with Kandy’s Car Wash at Corner By Riya Bhattacharjee 11-30-2007

Council Approves Funds For Ed Roberts Campus Fund By Judith Scherr 11-30-2007

Stadium Grove Tree-Sitters Set for First Anniversary By Richard Brenneman 11-30-2007

BUSD Selects BHS Superintendent Finalists By Riya Bhattacharjee 11-30-2007

Oakland School Officials Await Decision on Local Control By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 11-30-2007

FCMAT Oakland Schools Report Summary 11-30-2007

Planners Tackle West Berkeley Density, Housing Rules By Richard Brenneman 11-30-2007

Dellums to Break Up Police Department By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 11-30-2007

Berkeley High Beat: Help Needed for BHS Holiday Meal By Rio Bauce 11-30-2007

You Write the Planet 11-30-2007

Police Blotter By Rio Bauce 11-30-2007

Fire Log By Richard Brenneman 11-30-2007

Columns

Wild Neighbors: Junco Testosterone and Water Snake Bites By Joe Eaton 12-04-2007

Column: Undercurrents: A Ride, Or a Walk, In Uptown-Downtown Oakland By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 11-30-2007

East Bay: Then and Now: North Gables: Early Exemplar of Equal Opportunity Housing By Daniella Thompson 11-30-2007

Garden Variety: Shopping for the Gardener On Your List, Part 1 By Ron Sullivan 11-30-2007

About the House: A Resident’s Guide to Our Mushy Landscape By Matt Cantor 11-30-2007

Arts & Events

Arts Calendar 12-04-2007

The Theater: Altarena Stages ‘Man Who Saved Christmas’ By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet 12-04-2007

Around the East Bay 12-04-2007

Wild Neighbors: Junco Testosterone and Water Snake Bites By Joe Eaton 12-04-2007

Berkeley This Week 12-04-2007

Correction 12-04-2007

You Write the Planet 12-04-2007

Arts Calendar 11-30-2007

James Rosen’s ‘Homage’ at GTU Library By Peter Selz, Special to the Planet 11-30-2007

Goines Posters on Display at Hillside Club By Karen Jacobs, Special to the Planet 11-30-2007

Jazz Drummer Roy Haines at Yoshis By Ira Steingroot 11-30-2007

Moving Pictures: Early Cinema’s Grandest Spectacle By Justin DeFreitas 12-30-2008

Moving Pictures: 'True Heart Susie' Shows Griffith's Softer Side By Justin DeFreitas 11-30-2007

Moving Pictures: The Movie Heard ‘Round the World By Justin DeFreitas 11-30-2007

Moving Pictures: The Talkies Learn to Move: Pabst's 'Threepenny Opera' By Justin DeFreitas 11-30-2007

Lorna K. to Record First CD Live At San Francisco’s Plush Room By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet 11-30-2007

East Bay: Then and Now: North Gables: Early Exemplar of Equal Opportunity Housing By Daniella Thompson 11-30-2007

Garden Variety: Shopping for the Gardener On Your List, Part 1 By Ron Sullivan 11-30-2007

About the House: A Resident’s Guide to Our Mushy Landscape By Matt Cantor 11-30-2007

Berkeley This Week 11-30-2007