Local News and Opinion from The Berkeley Daily Planet

News Updates

Flash: Man Shot to Death on Durant Avenue

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Wednesday May 14, 2008

Police are searching for a suspect connected with the murder of Maceo Smith, 33, found shot to death in broad daylight at the Douglas Parking Lot at 2542 Durant Ave. Tuesday, a block from UC Berkeley. -more-

State of the City Goes Private

By Judith Scherr

Wednesday May 14, 2008

Breaking with tradition, Mayor Tom Bates made his “state-of-the-city” address Tuesday night, not at a public gathering in City Council Chambers, but at a semi-private event held in a privately owned West Berkeley auditorium. -more-

Suspects Arrested after Armed Robbery of Berkeley Bank

By Bay City News

Wednesday May 14, 2008

Four suspects stole $6,000 from the Cooperative Center Federal Credit Union at 2001 Ashby Ave. in Berkeley shortly before noon Tuesday, but they were later arrested in Oakland, according to Berkeley police spokeswoman Sgt. Mary Kusmiss. -more-

Council to Regents: Proposed Labs Endanger Wildlife, Humans

By Judith Scherr

Tuesday May 13, 2008

More than two dozen people spoke to the City Council with one voice at a special meeting Monday night: placing two buildings proposed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories in the environmentally sensitive, landslide, wildfire and earthquake-prone area of Strawberry and Blackberry canyons is the wrong thing to do, they said. -more-

City Gets Hauled Back to Court

By Judith Scherr

Tuesday May 13, 2008

Although the Berkeley City Council declared the U-Haul location at 2100 San Pablo Ave. to be a nuisance and voted unanimously in October to shut it down, the business is suing the city a second time to keep its doors open. -more-

Mayor Gives (Surprise) State of the City Speech Tonight

By Judith Scherr

Tuesday May 13, 2008

Tonight (Tuesday) Mayor Tom Bates will give his sixth state of the city address, according to a press release sent to some members of the media on Monday. The event will be held at 7 p.m. in the auditorium at Meyer Sound, 2837 10th St. (at Heinz). -more-

BRT Alternative Tops Planning Panel Agenda

By Richard Brenneman

Monday May 12, 2008

A group of Berkeley residents who oppose AC Transit’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) proposal will present city planning commissioners with their own counterproposal on Wednesday night. -more-

UC Berkeley Captures $20 Million State Stem Cell Laboratory Grant

By Richard Brenneman

Monday May 12, 2008

UC Berkeley and 11 other California institutions will share $271 million in state bond funds slated for construction of stem cell research labs, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine announced last week. -more-

Even With Huge Salaries City Budget Is Balanced—For Now

By Judith Scherr

Sunday May 11, 2008

While the city’s $315 million 2008-09 budget looks balanced today, Berkeley could get bad news this week when the governor updates state budget woes and, perhaps, asks cities and counties to loan or give up to the state millions of dollars from their already-stretched budgets. The state is projecting a $20 billion deficit. -more-

Panhandler Threatens Student with Knife in Downtown Fracas

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Saturday May 10, 2008

Berkeley police arrested an Oakland resident Thursday, charging that he punched a Berkeley High sophomore in the chest, pulled out a knife and chased a group of students through downtown Berkeley to the gates of the school. -more-

Attorney Says Hoeft-Edenfield May Be Innocent

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Friday May 09, 2008

Andrew Hoeft-Edenfield—the Berkeley City College student charged with murdering UC Berkeley engineering student Chris Wootton—did not enter a plea when he appeared at the Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland Thursday. -more-

Airsoft Gun from Berkeley High Robbery Found in Old Gym

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Friday May 09, 2008

Berkeley police have recovered the airsoft gun allegedly belonging to the 17-year-old Berkeley High School junior who was arrested for robbing a sophomore Wednesday. -more-

Berkeley City Council Scorecard

By Judith Scherr

Friday May 09, 2008

The City Council took the following actions on Tuesday, May 6: -more-

News

Schools React to Immigration Arrests

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday May 08, 2008

Berkeley High School students Marnee Causey and Ashley Turner protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests at a rally on the steps of the Berkeley Unified School District’s headquarters Wednesday.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents pick-ed up a Berkeley family around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, during what immigration authorities called routine targeted enforcement action, and took all four family members to the Office of Detention and Removal Opera-tions in San Francisco for questioning. -more-

UC Student Killed in Fraternity Row Fight

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday May 08, 2008

Sigma Pi President Joe Mazzella, roommate of UC Berkeley engineering student Chris Wootton, spoke at Wootton’s memorial service on the Sproul Hall steps. Mazzella shaved his head along with his other fraternity brothers on Sunday in honor of Wootton.

The scattered hair lying on the front porch of the Sigma Pi fraternity house Monday sum-med up the residents’ feelings for UC Berkeley engineering student Christopher Wootton, stabbed to death early Saturday morning less than a block away—love, admiration and respect. -more-

Mystery, Anger Cloud Story of Friday Night Shootings

By Richard Brenneman

Thursday May 08, 2008

A brazen Friday night shooting of two young brothers in a troubled south Berkeley neighborhood has renewed calls for a greater police presence there. (The Planet is witholding their names because of their age.) -more-

DA Charges Suspect with Murder of UC Student

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday May 08, 2008

The District Attorney’s office charged Berkeley City College student Andrew Hoeft-Edenfield, 20, with murder in the stabbing death of UC Berkeley engineering student Chris Wootton Tues-day afternoon. -more-

Commission Gets First Look at Plan for Landmarked UC Buildings

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday May 08, 2008

UC Berkeley officials briefed the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) last week on several campus project sites still in the planning phase at landmarked buildings and sites. -more-

Conyers Asks DEA for Answers on Medical Cannabis Raids

By Judith Scherr

Thursday May 08, 2008

Rep. John Conyers, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, didn’t mince words in a recent letter to the Drug Enforcement Agency asking for a response to allegations that the agency has stepped up raids on dispensaries of medical marijuana. -more-

Council Delays Recommendation on New Lab Buildings

By Judith Scherr

Thursday May 08, 2008

City Council Rescinds Gaia Building Resolution

By Judith Scherr

Thursday May 08, 2008

Assembly Candidates Face Off On the Issues

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor

Thursday May 08, 2008

On Casinos

Thursday May 08, 2008

Chan, Polakoff Statements Missing from Pamphlets

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor

Thursday May 08, 2008

Former Rent Board Member Gets Jail Time

By Bay City News

Thursday May 08, 2008

Berkeley High Student Arrested in Robbery, Campus Locked Down

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday May 08, 2008

10 Questions for Oakland Councilmember Desley Brooks

By Jonathan Wafer

Thursday May 08, 2008

By Riya Bhattacharjee

A police officer (at right) talks to people identified by police as friends and family of the shooting victim.

Editorials

Editorial: Fraternity Row Brawl Has Predictable Outcome

By Becky O'Malley

Thursday May 08, 2008

Long ago my mother-in-law had a handyman who called himself, in those pre-PC days, a hillbilly. He was a snaggle-toothed fellow who chewed tobacco and was not shy about telling you he’d done time “Inside.” We knew him only as Chester. -more-

The Editor's Back Fence

The Editor's Soapbox

By Becky O'Malley

Tuesday May 13, 2008

As our Internet experiment ("daily online, weekly in print") moves forward, we’ve encountered a certain amount of guilt-tripping from our friends and neighbors for “deserting” them on Tuesdays. Everyone seems to like getting their weekend paper earlier, on Thursdays, but they whine that they’ve been accustomed to having another little news fix earlier in the week, and they hate to give it up. Friends, there’s new stuff posted on this web site almost every single day: news, opinions both letters and commentary, columnists, you name it, something new every time you turn around. . . Today, check out the surprise announcement of the Mayor's State of the City Address, something we didn't know about when we put the print paper to bed last week. -more-