News

The most notable event at the Tuesday night/Wednesday morning City Council meeting was what did not happen: The council scheduled the issue of the health and safety of the tree sitters as an emergency item, then refused to extend the meeting late enough to discuss and vote on the matter. -more-

Planning commissioners who last week struggled through sections of the Downtown Area Plan will take up the Southside Plan, amendments to the city’s wireless ordinance and Bus Rapid Transit on Wednesday night. -more-

Having shut its doors for only one day, Black Oak Books reopened today (Tuesday) under the new ownership of Gary Cornell, who hails from Connecticut. -more-

The curvy Derby plan will be back at the Berkeley Board of Education meeting Wednesday, and this time Berkeley Unified School District officials are pressing for its approval. -more-

Tensions escalated outside UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium Sunday, following a confrontation between Berkeley City Councilmember Dona Spring and campus Assistant Police Chief Mitch Celaya. -more-

The Berkeley fire fighters union has not publicly supported the disaster and emergency preparedness ballot measure proposed for the November ballot. -more-

A spokesperson for Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums today (Monday) confirmed that an ongoing investigation is being conducted into allegations that Oakland Administrator Deborah Edgerly interfered with a police operation, but refused to comment on published reports that the mayor has given Edgerly an ultimatum to resign or be fired. -more-

Judge Barbara Miller has given cause for celebration in both the university proponents of the stadium-with-athletic-center project, and the litigants and other community members opposed to the present proposal. Each side could rightfully claim on release of the opinion that they were victorious. But neither side can rightfully deny the other side’s success. -more-

Cody’s Books, founded on Euclid Avenue in Berkeley in 1956, moved to Telegraph Avenue, expanded to Fourth Street in 1998 and San Francisco in 2005, closed on Telegraph in 2006, closed in San Francisco the following year, moved to Shattuck Avenue in March, and then, on June 19, 2008, went out of business. -more-

After only 11 months in Berkeley, Down Home Music is moving out of its Fourth Street store. -more-

Safeway had few supporters among the 300 people who turned up at the Peralta Elementary School Thursday to listen to the supermarket giant's new plans to remodel its College Avenue store. -more-

No sooner had Judge Barbara J. Miller ruled on the California Memorial Stadium projects lawsuit than all sides were spinning her ruling faster than a pool hustler's cue ball. -more-

6 p.m. Thursday--UC police, using a cherry-picker, have removed one tree-sitter this evening, and have pushed back all supporters and the public from the area surrounding the Memorial Stadium oak grove. -more-

There will be no Bay Area aerial spraying for the light brown apple moth, A.J. Kawamura, California agriculture secretary, announced Thursday afternoon in a conference call to the media. -more-

Charles Faison, 39, described by neighbors as a private security guard and a father, was fatally gunned down in his home Thursday morning. -more-

While Mayor Tom Bates declared victory Thursday morning after a judge’s ruling on Berkeley’s lawsuit over UC Berkeley’s proposed construction of a sports facility adjacent to Memorial Stadium, City Councilmember Gordon Wozniak called the ruling a loss for the city. -more-

An Alameda County Superior Court judge’s ruling has forced a halt to the planned construction of a gymnasium complex next to UC Berkeley’s California Memorial Stadium. -more-

The day before a judge was to rule on the university’s right to build a sports training facility adjacent to Memorial Stadium, the City Council voted 8-1 to temporarily halt all new development in the Panoramic Hill neighborhood, just south of the stadium. -more-

Safeway representatives unveiled plans to upgrade their Solano Avenue store at the Northbrae Community Church Tuesday, and they got an earful from Berkeley and Albany neighbors, who voiced concerns about aesthetics, parking and the size of the proposed project. -more-

Forget flexibility: It’s now the “West Berkeley Project.” -more-

The ongoing battle over bus rapid transit (BRT) smoldered anew when Berkeley’s planning and transportation commissions took their second joint look at the concept last week. -more-

With the AC Transit district working on an ambitious proposal to run dedicated, bus rapid transit-only lanes from San Leandro and across the city of Oakland to the UC Berkeley campus, the president of the AC Transit board of directors says he is “surprised” that more Oakland residents and politicians have not weighed in on the idea. -more-

Trying to strike a balance between budgetary necessities and political realities, the AC Transit Board of Directors put off consideration of a proposed across-the-board fare increase until after the November general election, opting instead to begin the process of putting a parcel tax increase measure on the fall ballot. -more-

The February shooting death of Anita Gay, 51, by Officer Rashawn Cummings was justified, Berkeley police say. -more-

Monday evening, on the five-month anniversary of the death of South Berkeley resident Anita Gay, killed by Berkeley Police Officer Rashawn Cummings on Feb. 16, some 40 people demonstrated at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Ashby Avenue, calling for a thorough inquiry into Gay’s death. -more-

City Manager Phil Kamlarz has told a number of councilmembers, including Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmember Dona Spring, that he is planning a nationwide search for a permanent replacement for former City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque after the budget has been put to rest. -more-

Tucked inside every diploma of the Berkeley High School graduating class of 2008 is a voter registration card, something principal Jim Slemp didn’t forget to point out amidst all the exhortation, advice and pranks at the Greek Theater on Friday. -more-

The Berkeley Unified School District announced last week that was all teachers who received lay-off notices as a result of proposed education budget cuts will be able to keep their jobs. -more-

The Berkeley Board of Education, looking for ways to close the achievement gap in the city’s public schools, approved a resolution last week to affirm the 2020 Vision for Berkeley’s Children and Youth, which aims to remove barriers to educational equity for African Americans and Latinos by 2020. -more-

Pam Bennett of Code Pink was arrested Friday, June 13, when she bared her breasts in front of Berkeley’s downtown Marine Recruiting Station. -more-

Berkeley City College student Andrew Hoeft-Edenfield—charged with the murder of UC Berkeley nuclear engineering student Chris Wootton—did not enter a plea during an appearance June 12 at the Alameda County Superior Court. -more-

Berkeley police are looking for a man who sexually assaulted a woman near Dwight Way and College Avenue around 7:20 p.m. Sunday, authorities said. -more-

The Berkeley Police Department is helping Houston police investigate the disappearance of a 21-year-old student who has been missing since Dec. 15 from his off-campus Houston apartment, authorities said Friday. -more-

On a 4-0 bipartisan vote, the State Senate Agriculture Committee approved a resolution Tuesday calling for a moratorium on aerial spraying for the light brown apple moth until the state can prove that the spray is both safe for humans and the environment and effective against the moth. -more-

By a narrow margin, journalists at East Bay newspapers owned by the Bay Area News Group-East Bay (BANG-EB) voted to unionize Friday. -more-

Berkeley firefighters found themselves fighting flames on two fronts on June 12, one at the site of the disastrous 1991 hills fire, the other in West Berkeley. -more-

When UC Berkeley hired a new investment-banker-turned-vice-chancellor to help the school negotiate the intricacies of the financial world, they didn’t mention one of his most powerful connections. -more-

This week, after beating former 16th District Assemblymember Wilma Chan 56.8 percent to 43.2 percent in the June 3 District 9 Democratic primary, current 14th District Assemblymember sent out an e-mail thank-you to supporters. -more-

Three candidates for local offices added their names on Friday to the list of those collecting signatures for Berkeley elections on Nov. 4: Beatriz Levya-Cutler for school board and Robert J. Evans and Eleanor Walden for Rent Stabilization Board. -more-