Posted Mon., April 7—Former 16th District Assemblymember Wilma Chan has filed a complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) against 14th District Assemblymember Loni Hancock—Chan’s opponent in the race to succeed termed-out 9th District State Senator Don Perata—charging that Hancock has illegally used her assemblymember officeholder account to pay a campaign staff member. -more-

Posted Sun., April 6—The City of Oakland will honor the legacy of Paul Robeson—one of the giant figures in American History—with an April 9 City Hall reception on the 110th anniversary of his birth. -more-

Posted Sat., April 5—A small but dedicated crowd turned up to mark the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination by reading aloud his Letter from a Birmingham Jail at the downtown Berkeley Public Library on Friday. The event coincided with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Youth Council's National Day of Nonviolence, started nine years ago by the organization's former director Jamal Bryant to encourage youth to fight against community violence. -more-

Demolition of the strip mall at the corner of University Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way will begin June 1, said developer Chris Hudson. -more-

Commuting Peet-o-philes will no longer have to trudge the block or so from the downtown BART for their morning cup o’ joe. -more-

A state legislator and county officials took sharp issue with the environmental documents prepared in support of a Lake County tribe’s bid to build a casino on industrial land in North Richmond. -more-

After almost a year-long hiatus, the North Shattuck Plaza is back—this time as part of the recently launched public review draft of the Berkeley Pedestrian Master Plan prepared by the city’s Public Works Department Transportation Division. -more-

Whether it’s searching for a new animal shelter site, preserving Berkeley’s architectural heritage, scrutinizing police conduct or making sure schools have emergency caches, commissions do much of the city’s hard work, city staff, commissioners and several councilmembers told the Planet Thursday. -more-

The ten-day strike of registered nurses (RNs) at Sutter Health’s Bay Area hospitals ended Monday with the start of the 7 a.m. shift. -more-