News

Posted Thurs., April 3—The Berkeley-Albany-Emeryville NAACP Youth Council will mark the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King by reading his Letter from a Birmingham Jail at the Berkeley Public Library on Kittredge Street. -more-

Posted Thurs., April 3—Under “friendly” but pointed pressure from community activists to fulfill a campaign pledge, Oakland Mayor Dellums has set a May 31 deadline to begin removing barriers to the hiring of formerly incarcerated people for City of Oakland jobs. -more-

Posted Wed., April 2—Code Pink had the last laugh on April Fool’s Day, but the antiwar group preferred to call their little prank a “hope” instead of a hoax. -more-

Posted Wed., April 2—The ten-day strike that hit Sutter Health's Bay Area hospitals ended Monday with the start of the 7 a.m. shift. -more-

The transformation of Berkeley’s Elmwood commercial district into a trendy amalgam of restaurant row and upscale shopping district may be moving another step forward. -more-

Student power highlighted Cesar Chavez Day celebrations at Malcolm X Elementary School Friday. -more-

Once again the anti-war Code Pink ladies are squaring off with pro-war Eagles Up. This time it’s not dueling demos at the Marine Recruiting Center. -more-

When 90-plus-year-old Fran Rachel came to the Berkeley City Council in February to plead for the body’s approval of an item supporting peace, the speaker caused Councilmember Betty Olds to recall how she and friends had kept their children out of the Vietnam War through subterfuge. -more-

A Superior Court judge ruled Friday that Oakland school boardmember Greg Hodge must be placed on the June 3 ballot for the City Council race in District 3, setting up what is expected to be a fierce election challenge to incumbent Councilmember Nancy Nadel. -more-

More than 100 PTA members from the Berkeley public schools discussed ways to counter Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed $4.6 billion state education budget cuts at a Berkeley High School Parent Teacher and Student Association (PTSA) meeting last week. -more-

The Berkeley Board of Education voted unanimously on Wednesday to declare the district’s Sixth Street property to be surplus. -more-

The Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) will look at remodeling the facade of the Roy O. Long Co. building at 2122 Shattuck Ave. -more-

For Wolfgang Homburger, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) provides the wrong solution to East Bay traffic and environmental concerns. -more-

The Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) on Thursday approved the expansion of the Chevron gas station at the intersection of Shattuck and Ashby avenues, which includes turning the 24-hour retail kiosk into a 24-hour mini-mart. -more-

The East Bay Daily News, a free tabloid launched by the Knight Ridder chain in its final days before its takeover by the ANG chain, died a quiet death Saturday, two months before its third anniversary. -more-

Rumors started circulating around 7 p.m. Monday that the Marine Recruiting Center at 64 Shattuck Square had reached an agreement with their landlord Sasha Shamszad and that they would be backing out of Berkeley. These rumors, complete with what purported to be quotes from Shamszad and Michael Applegate, director of the Marine Manpower Plans and Policy Division, were posted on web sites maintained by Code Pink and the nonpartisan coalition group AfterDowningStreet.org, among others. -more-

The North Branch of the Berkeley Public Library is always jumping. Day or evening, most of the chairs in the reading rooms are full and all the computers are in use. Patrons sometimes are two deep at the counter where several of the branch’s 16 staff members check out books or answer questions. -more-

The North Branch occupies a prominent corner on a triangular site bordered by The Alameda, Hopkins and Josephine streets. The Mediterranean-style building, flanked by four gnarled old olive trees, was designed by James W. Placek, the architect responsible for the Central Library. -more-

Come May, the walls of the North Branch Library will be adorned with 50 to 60 quilts—the art pieces of local quilters who are participating in the 27th annual quilt show. “Sign-up will be starting soon,” according to librarian Debbie Carton, who is coordinating the show. “Look for notices at the North Branch; former exhibitors will receive their notices in the mail,” -more-

My friend Peter has mice. Not pet mice, but uninvited ones, who, he tells me on the phone, have snuck into his cupboards and are ravaging his dry goods quick as they can. Until he figures out the best way to get rid of them, do I want some of the food that the critters haven’t discovered yet? I tell him sure, and drive to his house where he loads up big bags of kasha and hot cocoa mix and rice vermicelli and penne pasta and more. I figure the kids will enjoy eating (and drinking) some things I don’t ordinarily buy, and I’ll save money on the grocery bill this month. -more-

Posted Fri., March 28—A Superior Court judge ruled today that Oakland school boardmember Greg Hodge must be placed on the June 3 ballot for the City Council race for District 3, setting up what is expected to be a fierce election challenge to incumbent Councilmember Nancy Nadel. -more-

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The ongoing battle over the future of West Berkeley won’t be a quick campaign, city planning staffers promised Wednesday. -more-

Planning commissioners Wed-nesday voted to conduct a transportation study on the impact of narrowing Shattuck Avenue from four lanes to two to make way for a proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lane. -more-

The marathon Berkeley City Council meeting on Tuesday night began on a high note, with staff playing a Pete Seeger CD lauding Berkeley’s efforts to reduce its waste stream. Lyrics were written by Zero Waste Commission members and Seeger wrote the tune. -more-

The Berkeley city attorney’s office’s draft Sunshine Ordinance—supposed to provide citizens with greater access to local government—has been scheduled for a public hearing at the Berkeley City Council on April 22 . -more-

The question of how best to police protesters surfaced over the last few months as anti-war and pro-war groups stepped up demonstrations at the downtown Marine Recruiting Center and other Berkeley venues. -more-

The Community Energy Services Corporation board voted Wednesday to hire Kim Malcolm, an administrative law judge with 25 years’ working experience at the Public Utilities Commission, as its new executive director. -more-

Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente has pulled in more than $81,000 in his bid for re-election to his fifth-district central East Oakland City Council seat, far overshadowing any other campaign fundraising in contested races in five City Council districts and three Oakland Unified School Board districts. -more-

The Berkeley Board of Education had its first look Wednesday at Berkeley Unified’s proposed budget reductions in the face of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed $4.6 billion in cuts from the state education budget over the next two years. -more-

The University of California Board of Regents voted unanimously Thursday to appoint Mark Yudof, currently head of the University of Texas system, to lead the 10-campus UC system. -more-

The School of Social Justice and Ecology (SSJE) at Berkeley High School will round up its first Green Career Week with a career fair today (Friday) in the Jacket Gym. -more-

A few weeks ago, Youth Spirit Art Works hosted a novel event, described by director Sally Hindman as an “artists reception and art making event” at Sweet Adeline Bake Shop, a cafe on 63rd and Adeline streets. -more-

My husband and I chose a Montessori School for our children because of small classes, low teacher-student ratios and a belief that our children’s imagination and curiosity should inform if not guide their education. We somehow managed to make every conceivable parenting mistake. -more-

Five students from Berkeley Technology Academy (B-Tech) will fly to New Orleans Sunday as part of a week-long spring break arts and culture trip to help Hurricane Ka-trina victims and to mingle with local artists. -more-