News

Posted Thurs., April 24—The Berkeley City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to postpone the public hearing on the Berkeley city attorney’s draft sunshine ordinance—which promises greater access to local government—to October and granted the citizens’ group working on an alternate draft a 90-day extension to complete their work. -more-

Posted Tue., April 22—Oakland Police are investigating a Tuesday morning shooting in which neighbors say a North Oakland man shot an intruder breaking into his 59th Street home. -more-

Dona Spring dreams of visiting Point Reyes, something the 55-year-old Berkeley councilmember has never done before. After rheumatoid arthritis left Spring wheelchair bound in 1972, weekend getaways have been few and far between. -more-

In a crowded field in which candidates are trying to distinguish themselves from one other—such as in the current four member June 3 Democratic primary to succeed Loni Hancock as California Assemblymember from the 14th Assembly District—individual and group endorsements can be a key factor in victory or defeat. -more-

The Berkeley City Council will meet today (Tuesday) with a busy agenda, including putting tax measures on the ballot, the city’s proposed sunshine ordinance, competing density bonus provisions, its position on spraying to thwart the Light Brown Apple Moth and a proposal to charge for evening street parking downtown. -more-

Foreclosures nationwide soared 57 percent in March, and rates may be running even higher in Oakland as East Bay cities are caught in the turmoil of the subprime mortgage disaster. -more-

A Berkeley peace activist, thwarted in one suicide attempt, apparently succeeded in another, more dramatic bid to end his life Friday. -more-

Berkeley planning commissioners will holding hearings Wednesday on the Southside Plan’s draft environmental impact report (EIR) and proposed amendments to the city’s wireless ordinance. -more-

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

We were standing on the corner in front of Rice’s Barbershop. There were about six of us between the ages of 18 and 21, African American males who had grown up together in the same West Philadelphia neighborhood. A black Chevy slowly approached and someone from inside the car rolled down the window leaned out the passenger side and shouted, “The Republicans are paying $75, go to the Overbrook High gym; the Republicans are paying $75!” -more-

“One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds,” Aldo Leopold wrote long before the first Earth Day. He was thinking about land abuse in the Southwest, but his words have a much broader resonance. -more-

For anyone who has been ignoring the news as of late food is an enormous issue this year. Prices are up 83 percent since 2005, sparking riots in countries around the globe including Egypt, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, and Indonesia. In Haiti the unrest has even led to deaths and the fall of the government. -more-

As a graduating Berkeley student majoring in the biological sciences, a left leaning member of the San Francisco Bay Area and a voter wishing to make informed decisions, not a day goes by that I don't hear something on campus or in the news about biofuels. Biofuels are the controversial topic of conversation today, and with politicians voicing their support and violent food riots occurring in Haiti, perhaps it is time to seriously question the merits of biofuels and take some time for self reflection. -more-

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-