Will Lee, a native San Franciscan of Chinese descent, looked forward to the torch relay on Wednesday at the Ferry Plaza. “We did not have that many role models growing up,” he said. “I’m here to show my pride. I've wanted for 30 or 40 years for China to stand up.”
Chris Krohn
Will Lee, a native San Franciscan of Chinese descent, looked forward to the torch relay on Wednesday at the Ferry Plaza. “We did not have that many role models growing up,” he said. “I’m here to show my pride. I've wanted for 30 or 40 years for China to stand up.”

Extra

First Tests Negative, but Aquatic Park Section Remains Closed after Sewage Spill

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday April 11, 2008

Posted Sun., April 13—Preliminary results from testing water collected from the Berkeley Aquatic Park last week after a sewage spill showed no contamination, city officials told the Planet on Friday, but a section of the lagoon remained closed to the public throughout the weekend. -more-


Law School Dean Defends Yoo Against Calls for Dismissal; Yoo to Speak Monday

Friday April 11, 2008

The UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Christopher Edley Jr. came to the defense this week of law professor John Yoo, author of one of the "torture memos” for the Bush administration, and said the controversial professor could not be fired. -more-


UC Berkeley Opens Campus for Saturday's Cal Day

By Steven Finacom Special to the Planet
Friday April 11, 2008

Posted Fri., April 11—Tomorrow (Saturday) will be a day unlike the usual Saturday in Berkeley. Throngs will be headed for the UC Berkeley campus, but not for classes or football games. -more-


Researcher Presents the Facts about the Hayward Fault

By Steven Finacom Special to the Plant
Friday April 11, 2008

Posted Fri., April 11—Is the Hayward Fault, which runs diagonally through Berkeley, a “tectonic time bomb in our back yard”? -more-



Page One

East Bay Tibetans, Chinese Clash Over S.F. Olympic Torch Relay

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday April 11, 2008

As pro-Tibet groups and supporters of the Beijing Games engaged in a war of words during the Olympic Torch Relay in San Francisco Wednesday, Tibetans in Berkeley kept their businesses closed to join in a movement very close to their heart. -more-



Residents Say No To Bus-Only Lanes

By Richard Brenneman
Friday April 11, 2008

Judging by comments at a Wednesday night hearing, Ber-keley residents like faster bus service but hate the notion of losing car lanes to bus expressways. -more-



Aquatic Park Section Off Limits After Sewage Spill

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday April 11, 2008

A sewage spill discovered at Bayer Healthcare’s Berkeley campus on Monday prompted the city’s Division of Environmental Health to prohibit human contact with water in a section of Ber-keley’s Aquatic Park. -more-



Southside Plan Resurfaces After Years in Urban Limbo

By Richard Brenneman
Friday April 11, 2008

After five years on the back burner, the Southside Plan is finally coming to a boil—with the Planning Commission set to discuss the document later this month. -more-



Planning Commission Endorses Tighter Density-Bonus Controls

By Richard Brenneman
Friday April 11, 2008

By a 5-4 vote, Berkeley planning commissioners voted Tuesday night to endorse the recommendations of the Joint Density Bonus Subcommittee over a more developer-friendly staff report. -more-



Features

Firefighter Processional Honors Fallen Colleague

By Richard Brenneman
Friday April 11, 2008

Solemn firefighters from Berkeley, Livermore and Pleasanton will march through the streets of Berkeley Saturday morning, honoring one of their own, Jay Walter Randall. -more-


Oakland School Board Chooses Analyst for Interim Superintendent

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday April 11, 2008

The newly empowered school board of the Oakland Unified School District moved swiftly to exercise authority granted by California State Superintendent of Education Jack O’Connell, voting on Wednesday to hire an interim district superintendent on a one-year basis while the board looks for a permanent superintendent. -more-


Oakland Homeowner Files Lawsuit against Measure Y

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday April 11, 2008

An Oakland education and labor attorney has filed a California Superior Court lawsuit against the City of Oakland and its recent decision to spend $7.7 million of Measure Y money on police recruitment, asking that the court immediately halt the collection of Measure Y taxes until the original community policing mandates of the bond measure are met. -more-


Warm Pool Users Lobby Board of Education

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday April 11, 2008

Warm-water pool users lobbied the Berkeley Board of Education to save the Berkeley High School Old Gym and warm pool right before the board discussed a report recommending the site’s adaptive reuse at the school board meeting Wednesday. -more-


BUSD Rally Against State Budget Cuts

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday April 11, 2008

It wasn’t all fun and games at the Berkeley Federation of Teachers’ community rally against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed $4.8 billion state education budget cuts Wednesday, although there was some clowning around. -more-


Berkeley High Beat: Student Intent to Register Due May 1

By Rio Bauce
Friday April 11, 2008

SIRs are due May 1. What are SIRs, you might ask? The answer: a Student’s Intent to Register at a college. In the next several weeks, Berkeley High School (BHS) college-bound seniors will be deciding where to spend the next four years of their life. -more-


Clarification

Friday April 11, 2008

Tuesday's story on the light brown apple moth should have differentiated the roles of the United States Department of Agriculture and the California Department of Food and Agriculture. The USDA is responsible for the New Zealand testing of a new product to eradicate the moth, USDA named the Technical Working Group on the moth and the April 1 telephone press conference included experts from both the CDFA and the USDA. -more-


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Friday April 11, 2008

NEWS BLACKOUT IN GAZA -more-


Commentary: Bus Rapid Transit Needs More Study

By Vincent Casalaina
Friday April 11, 2008

The one thing that was clear at last night’s joint Planning and Transit Commission workshop was that not much is really known about AC Transit’s Bus Rapid Transit proposal. That may surprise many people after the multitude of public hearings and thousands of pages of material written by AC Transit, BRT supporters and those who support better public transit but are opposed to dedicating public roadways to busses that will come once every 10 minutes. -more-


Commentary: BRT Poor Choices: The Fault of the City of Berkeley

By Bruce Wicinas
Friday April 11, 2008

Opposed to BRT” does not fairly describe my position. We citizens have been offered a bad choice: accept BRT in roughly its present form or oppose BRT. Given these lousy choices, I choose to oppose. -more-


Commentary: Oakland, Call Off the Blight Police

By James Sayre
Friday April 11, 2008

Using its absurd draconian police powers embedded in its Blight Ordinances, the City of Oakland has fined a woman resident of Oakland the amount of $951.00 as a penalty for leaving her garbage can on the street curb for a couple of days. -more-


Commentary: The Noble American Tradition of Tax Resistance

By Gar Smith
Friday April 11, 2008

Ask the average American to name a famous war-tax resister and most folks would probably cite Henry David Thoreau. But how about Joan Baez, Noam Chomsky, Gloria Steinem and Julia Butterfly Hill? -more-


Commentary: Biofuelishness Tanks; Where Do We Go Now?

By James Singmaster III
Friday April 11, 2008

With the Time Magazine, April 7 issue, the BP program at Berkeley now becomes so useless that one can not find words to describe it. On March 29, the chief scientist at the United Kingdom’s Department of Environment, Farms and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Dr Bob Watson, was cited for his calling on the European Union to drop its whole bioethanol program as being a causer of increased emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) not a reducer of such emissions. And a paper in ‘Nature’ has now stirred up charges that the IPCC report with various supposed control steps for global warming are basically unattainable pipedreams. -more-


Commentary: Flunk the Budget

Friday April 11, 2008

The Governor’s proposed budget would have a devastating impact on California’s public education system, already noted for being 47th in the nation for per pupil spending. This budget does not consider the educational needs of our children or the protection that voters put in place with Proposition 98, which the Governor will have to set aside in order to slash education funding. He needs the support of two-thirds of the legislature to set aside Proposition 98. -more-


Editorial

Editorial: Time for the Law School to Clean House

By Becky O'Malley
Friday April 11, 2008

Larry Bensky was kind enough to forward to us an article by Dan Eggen, from Sunday’s Washington Post. The headline is “Permissible Assaults Cited in Graphic Detail.” -more-


Columns

Column: Dispatches FromThe Edge: The Story Behind the Battle for Basra

By Conn Hallinan
Friday April 11, 2008

When the Battle of Basra opened on March 25, President Bush described it as a “defining mo-ment” for the U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Within days, however, the White House was scrambling to distance itself from the shellacking the Iraqi Army took at the hands of Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army. -more-


Column: Culture Wars in Oakland

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday April 11, 2008

Since the division of the Oakland Police Department into three geographical districts late last year—a move that is key to Mayor Ron Dellums’ goal of moving OPD into a community policing model—the mayor has begun quietly going around to meetings of the city’s various Neighborhood Crime Prevention Councils, trying to get a community assessment of how the new police realignment is working. -more-


Garden Variety: Too Mulch of a Good Thing

By Ron Sullivan
Friday April 11, 2008

I’ve been the Mulch Queen, or at least her Majesty’s faithful herald, for years. The sight of our locally predominant clay soil lying naked to the elements upsets me. I know what happens when it gets walked on and rained on—yes, rain does compress soil over time if that soil doesn’t have nearly perfect drainage or spongelike absorption—and dried to dust by the sun. -more-


Arts & Events

Arts & Entertainment: Sekimachi and Stocksdale at the Berkeley Art Center

By Zelda Bronstein
Friday April 11, 2008

                    A wooden bowl by Bob Stocksdale in the Berkeley Art Center exhibit.

The Berkeley Art Center’s current show, “Loom & Lathe: The Art of Kay Sekimachi and Bob Stocksdale,” is full of revelations. -more-


Arts Listings

Arts Calendar

Friday April 11, 2008

‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ for Youngsters

By Ken Bullock
Friday April 11, 2008

‘Firebird’ at The Crucible

By Ken Bullock
Friday April 11, 2008

Events Listings

Berkeley This Week

Friday April 11, 2008

A Green Village School Developed by Indians and Americans

By Krishna P. Bhattacharjee
Friday April 11, 2008

Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: Time for the Law School to Clean House 04-11-2008

Editorial: Learning From the King Legacy 04-08-2008

Public Comment

Letters to the Editor 04-11-2008

Commentary: Bus Rapid Transit Needs More Study By Vincent Casalaina 04-11-2008

Commentary: BRT Poor Choices: The Fault of the City of Berkeley By Bruce Wicinas 04-11-2008

Commentary: Oakland, Call Off the Blight Police By James Sayre 04-11-2008

Commentary: The Noble American Tradition of Tax Resistance By Gar Smith 04-11-2008

Commentary: Biofuelishness Tanks; Where Do We Go Now? By James Singmaster III 04-11-2008

Commentary: Flunk the Budget 04-11-2008

Letters to the Editor 04-08-2008

Commentary:‘Bus Rapid Transit or Nothing’ Is a False Choice By Joyce Roy 04-08-2008

Commentary: A Greener, Friendlier, Economical Alternative to Bus Rapid Transit By Merrilie Mitchell 04-08-2008

Commentary: It’s Only Halftime for BRT Decision By Alan Tobey 04-08-2008

Commentary: Invasion of the Condo Boxes By Toni Mester 04-08-2008

Commentary: Why the Governor’s Budget Matters — And What You Can Do About It By Cathy Campbell 04-08-2008

News

First Tests Negative, but Aquatic Park Section Remains Closed after Sewage Spill By Riya Bhattacharjee 04-11-2008

Law School Dean Defends Yoo Against Calls for Dismissal; Yoo to Speak Monday 04-11-2008

UC Berkeley Opens Campus for Saturday's Cal Day By Steven Finacom Special to the Planet 04-11-2008

Researcher Presents the Facts about the Hayward Fault By Steven Finacom Special to the Plant 04-11-2008

East Bay Tibetans, Chinese Clash Over S.F. Olympic Torch Relay By Riya Bhattacharjee 04-11-2008

Residents Say No To Bus-Only Lanes By Richard Brenneman 04-11-2008

Aquatic Park Section Off Limits After Sewage Spill By Riya Bhattacharjee 04-11-2008

Southside Plan Resurfaces After Years in Urban Limbo By Richard Brenneman 04-11-2008

Planning Commission Endorses Tighter Density-Bonus Controls By Richard Brenneman 04-11-2008

Firefighter Processional Honors Fallen Colleague By Richard Brenneman 04-11-2008

Oakland School Board Chooses Analyst for Interim Superintendent By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 04-11-2008

Oakland Homeowner Files Lawsuit against Measure Y By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 04-11-2008

Warm Pool Users Lobby Board of Education By Riya Bhattacharjee 04-11-2008

BUSD Rally Against State Budget Cuts By Riya Bhattacharjee 04-11-2008

Berkeley High Beat: Student Intent to Register Due May 1 By Rio Bauce 04-11-2008

Clarification 04-11-2008

East Bay Tibet Stores Close to Protest Torch Relay By Riya Bhattacharjee 04-08-2008

Healthcare Union Challenges Parent By Judith Scherr 04-08-2008

Sewage Spills into Aquatic Park By Riya Bhattacharjee 04-08-2008

Berkeley Skate Park Not All It’s Cracked Up to Be By Judith Scher 04-08-2008

Group Marks 40th Anniversary of King’s Death By Riya Bhattacharjee 04-08-2008

Portions of Oakland’s Strip-Search Policy Ruled Unconstitutional By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 04-08-2008

June 1 Demolition Will Pave Way For Trader Joe’s Building By Richard Brenneman 04-08-2008

School Board Discusses Re-Use of BHS Old Gym By Riya Bhattacharjee 04-08-2008

Disability Advocates Settle Lawsuit with State Education Dept. By Riya Bhattacharjee 04-08-2008

Chan Charges Hancock With Illegal Use of Officeholder Funds By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 04-08-2008

Fight Against Moth Spray Gains Boots on the Ground By Judith Scherr 04-08-2008

Months Still Remain Before Richmond Casino Decision By Richard Brenneman 04-08-2008

Density, BRT Dominate Planning Commission Meetings By Richard Brenneman 04-08-2008

Columns

Column: Dispatches FromThe Edge: The Story Behind the Battle for Basra By Conn Hallinan 04-11-2008

Column: Culture Wars in Oakland By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 04-11-2008

Garden Variety: Too Mulch of a Good Thing By Ron Sullivan 04-11-2008

First Person: Having a Disability Is More Than a Job By Jack Bragen 04-08-2008

Oakland Plans Reception Honoring Actor-Singer-Activist Paul Robeson by J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 04-08-2008

Zoning Board Considers Expansion Of Jupiter Restaurant By Riya Bhattacharjee 04-08-2008

Green Neighbors: Endangered in Its Home, Enthusiastic in Gardens: Malva Rosa By Ron Sullivan 04-08-2008

Arts & Events

Arts Calendar 04-11-2008

‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ for Youngsters By Ken Bullock 04-11-2008

‘Firebird’ at The Crucible By Ken Bullock 04-11-2008

Arts & Entertainment: Sekimachi and Stocksdale at the Berkeley Art Center By Zelda Bronstein 04-11-2008

Garden Variety: Too Mulch of a Good Thing By Ron Sullivan 04-11-2008

Berkeley This Week 04-11-2008

A Green Village School Developed by Indians and Americans By Krishna P. Bhattacharjee 04-11-2008

Arts Calendar 04-08-2008

TheatreFirst Stages Stephen Brown’s ‘Future Me’ By Ken Bullock, Special to The Planet 04-08-2008

Playwright Comes To Town for ‘Future Me’ Premiere By Ken Bullock, Special to The Planet 04-08-2008

MOVING PICTURES: Scorsese, Stones Team Up for ‘Shine a Light’ By Justin DeFreitas 04-08-2008

Green Neighbors: Endangered in Its Home, Enthusiastic in Gardens: Malva Rosa By Ron Sullivan 04-08-2008

Berkeley This Week 04-08-2008