Local News and Opinion from The Berkeley Daily Planet

News Updates

Running on Honeydew: Diet Secrets of the Argentine Ant

By Joe Eaton

Friday January 25, 2008

Posted Sun., Jan. 27—Not that I miss them, but I haven’t found any Argentine ants in the house this winter. I hesitate to consider this a permanent victory, though. They’re out there somewhere, biding their time. -more-

St. Mark's Offers Shelter in Bad Weather

By Lydia Gans

Friday January 25, 2008

Posted Sat., Jan. 26—When heavy winter rains and cold weather are predicted even that hardiest of homeless people find themselves desperate for shelter. -more-

News

Lawrence Prepares to Hand District Over

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Friday January 25, 2008

The perpetual ring of the telephone shatters the otherwise calm interiors of Michele Lawrence’s spacious office in the headquarters of the Berkeley Unified School District at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. -more-

Albany Opposes Tree Removal, Aerial Spray

By Judith Scherr

Friday January 25, 2008

The little town of Albany stood up Tuesday night, first to the University of California, and then to the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and its partner, the U.S. Depart-ment of Agriculture. -more-

Initiative Drive Begun to Restrict Military Recruiting

By Judith Scherr

Friday January 25, 2008

Berkeley peace activists are gearing up to circulate a petition to place a measure on the November ballot restricting where public and private military recruiters can locate within the city. -more-

Proposed Budget Cuts Theaten School Programs

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Friday January 25, 2008

Two weeks after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed slashing K-12 funding as part of his proposed state budget cuts, Berkeley public school officials announced Wednesday that it was time to get on the bus and head for Sacramento. -more-

AC Transit Directors Table Fare Increase for More Study

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor

Friday January 25, 2008

The AC Transit Board of Directors tabled a proposed 25 cent bus fare in-crease Wednesday night to study its implications on ridership, with the issue likely to come back before them before the winter is out. -more-

BRT Runs into Delay in Central Oakland

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor

Friday January 25, 2008

Sawtooth Parking Solution May Be Near

By Richard Brenneman

Friday January 25, 2008

Remembering Milt Wolff, Anti-Fascist Fighter, 1915–2008

By Richard Bermack

Friday January 25, 2008

Police Blotter

By Richard Brenneman

Friday January 25, 2008

Forum Seeks to Place Civil Rights Back on Berkeley Agenda

By Judith Scherr

Friday January 25, 2008

Judge Affirms Order for Stadium Evidence

By Richard Brenneman

Friday January 25, 2008

Downtown Plan Height Controversy Flares Anew

By Richard Brenneman

Friday January 25, 2008

West Berkeley Zone Changes Linked to UC, LBNL

By Richard Brenneman

Friday January 25, 2008

School Board Appoints New Merit Commissioner

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Friday January 25, 2008

Superintendent Michele Lawrence presides over her last school board meeting Wednesday. Photograph by Mark Coplan.

Editorials

Editorial: Where Have All the Critics Gone?

By Becky O’Malley

Friday January 25, 2008

Building support for live local performances is a Gordian knot which has no easy solution. At a recent gathering of supporters of a well-regarded classical music organization, someone asked in all innocence why the staff had not been able to arrange for more reviews of the group’s one-night-only performances in what still passes for the major metropolitan daily. Well, arts reviewers are dropping like flies all over the country as newpapers perceive themselves, rightly or wrongly, as being in trouble. -more-