News

Posted Sat., April 19—Pacific Steel Casting’s appeal of a small claims court decision which went against the company in November began this week, and is expected to go on for the next two months, a spokesperson for the steel foundry told the Planet Friday. -more-

Drivers who park at Berkeley’s pay-and-display parking meters could soon be shelling out money until 10 p.m. if Mayor Tom Bates and two city councilmembers have their way. -more-

A county judge has rejected the contentions of a legal challenge by Berkeley homeowners to the approval of the so-called “Trader Joe’s” building in downtown Berkeley, paving the way for construction. -more-

The race to succeed Don Perata as the Senator from California’s 9th State Senate District—already one of the feistiest of the campaign season—got a little testier last week as former 16th District Assemblymem-ber Wilma Chan traded direct mail and e-mail charges with her opponent, current 14th District Assembly-member Loni Hancock. -more-

Despite requests from citizens to postpone the public hearing on the Berkeley city attorney’s draft sunshine ordinance—designed to provide citizens with greater access to local government—the City Council Agenda Committee refrained from rescheduling it. -more-

California Student Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) members joined UC Berkeley faculty and the Associated Students of the University of California on the steps of the Martin Luther King Student Union Tuesday to demand open textbooks in colleges across United States. -more-

The Berkeley Unified School District rescinded 35 of the 55 potential layoff notices it sent out to teachers and counselors last month in response to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to cut $4.8 billion from the state education -more-

A Berkeley woman who admitted murdering her 9-year-old son will spend at least nine years in prison, under terms of a plea bargain announced Wednesday. -more-

Rejected by the mayor and the Berkeley City Council’s agenda committee Monday, competing proposals for a new city density bonus ordinance are back on the schedule for Tuesday night’s meeting. -more-

On Wednesday afternoon the State Assembly’s Agriculture Committee heard four bills and one resolution concerning the State’s plan to eradicate the light brown apple moth (LBAM) by aerial-spraying the Bay Area and Central Coast counties with a pesticide called CheckMate. -more-

Berkeley’s landmark Wells Fargo Building has been sold to a company owned by the heirs to the Hills Brothers Coffee fortune. -more-

Posted Wed., April 16—A Berkeley woman who admitted murdering her 9-year-old son will spend at least eight years in prison under terms of a plea bargain announced Wednesday. -more-

Posted Wed., April 16—The Berkeley Unified School District rescinded 38 of the 60 potential layoff notices it sent out to teachers and counselors last month in response to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to cut $4.8 billion from the state education budget. -more-

While laughter at a funeral might seem incongruous, then so was Jay Walter. Speaker after speaker described a man both outrageously public and exceedingly private. -more-

Results from testing water collected from the Berkeley Aquatic Park last week after a sewage spill showed no contamination, city officials told the Planet Monday. -more-

A week after the newly empowered Oakland School Board announced that they had made their choice for an interim superintendent, controversy over the move continued to simmer. -more-

A week after the newly empowered Oakland School Board announced that they had made their choice for an interim superintendent, controversy over the move continued to simmer. -more-

In the 400 years since the first slavery ships docked on the Virginia coast, the African-American Freedom Movement has raised up a continuing series of larger-than-life leaders—Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, A. Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X. But arguably the most talented of that group, but perhaps the least appreciated, remembered, or studied, is the man whose 110th birthday anniversary is being celebrated this month—Paul Robeson. -more-

Jupiter Beerhouse and Restaurant’s proposed expansion into adjacent Café Panini would replace the cafe, zoning officials told the Planet Monday. -more-

Berkeley’s City Council Monday spurned a Planning Commission proposal to have a city density bonus law in place in the event Proposition 98 passes in the statewide June 3 election. -more-

Construction begins Wednesday on the new guest house at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. -more-

Berkeley Technology Academy’s (B-Tech) hour-long discussion on youth violence with Barrios Unidos co-founder Daniel “Nane” Alejandrez Friday was the first of many events the school hopes to host for its Latino students, who make up 45 percent of the school’s population. -more-

A prosecutor told jurors today that they should convict Christopher Hollis of murder for firing shots that killed his close friend Meleia Willis-Starbuck, a popular Berkeley High School graduate and Dartmouth College student. -more-

A red Pontiac Firebird collided head on with a Berkeley public school bus carrying five students from John Muir Elementary School at 3:50 p.m. Friday. -more-

Campus evacuation -more-

Robbery -more-