Local News and Opinion from The Berkeley Daily Planet

News Updates

Safeway Announces Meetings to Decide Fate of College Ave. Store

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Wednesday September 10, 2008

Safeway will hold a series of public meetings starting today (Wednesday) at Oakland’s Claremont Middle School in an effort to come up with a different design for remodeling its College Avenue store. -more-

Flash: Grove’s Last Tree Falls; University Says ‘No Deal’

By Richard Brenneman

Tuesday September 09, 2008

The last tree occupied by Berkeley tree-sitters before their surrender Tuesday afternoon was itself gone by 5:18 p.m. -more-

Tree-sitters Surrender

By Richard Brenneman

Tuesday September 09, 2008

As a scaffold rose beneath them, section by section, Berkeley’s last four tree-sitters finally surrendered—with Huckleberry, the last holdout, finally setting his bare feet on the earth at 1:33 p.m. today (Tuesday). -more-

University, Protesters Near Grove Showdown

By Richard Brenneman

Monday September 08, 2008

UC Berkeley officials are “weighing their options” to end the tree-sit at Memorial Stadium after negotiations ended between university officials, tree-sitters and their supporters on the ground. -more-

UC's Memorial Stadium Oak Grove is No More; Four Defenders Remain in Lone Redwood

By Richard Brenneman

Sunday September 07, 2008

Only one tree remained standing at Memorial Stadium Sunday morning of those the University of California had slated for the chainsaw.Perched in the upper branches of the redwood were the four remaining tree-sitters who had taken to the branches in an ultimately doomed effort to save the impressive collection of coast live oaks and other trees marked for destruction by the university. -more-

Spectators Mourn as UC Destroys Memorial Stadium Oak Grove; Two Arrested

By Richard Brenneman

Friday September 05, 2008

Treesitters watched as university contract workers began chainsawing trees at Memorial Stadium, talking to supporters on the ground with a solar-charged cell phone.

UC Berkeley brought out the chainsaws Friday, and the air outside Memorial Stadium jittered to the sounds of saws, woodchippers and the earthward crashes of once mighty oaks. -more-

UC Berkeley Begins Chopping Down Memorial Stadium Oak Grove

By Bay City News

Friday September 05, 2008

University of California, Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said the university today began chopping down oak trees next to its football stadium as the first step in a project to build a news sports training center adjacent to the stadium. -more-

UC Gives Tree-Sitters 72-Hour Warning to Leave Grove

By Richard Brenneman

Friday September 05, 2008

A day after winning their battle in court Thursday, UC Berkeley gave Memorial Stadium tree-sitters a 72-hour warning Friday morning that their days in the branches were nearing an end. -more-

BUSD, State Show Growth in API Scores

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Friday September 05, 2008

At least 11 schools in the Berkeley Unified School District met their Academic Performance Index targets for 2008 according to the state’s 2007-08 Accountability Progress Report (APR) released by State Superintendent Jack O’Connell Thursday. -more-

Campus Rally Protests Long Haul Police Raid

By Richard Brenneman

Friday September 05, 2008

Protesters—including Free Speech Movement veterans and a Berkeley city councilmember—gathered in Sproul Plaza Thursday to rally against the Aug. 24 UC Berkeley police raid on the Long Haul. -more-

News

Oakland Police Arrest 3 In Takeover Robbery Case

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor

Thursday September 04, 2008

Oakland police said Wednesday that they have made what they consider a major breakthrough in the city’s restaurant takeover robberies, announcing the arrest of three suspects following a Tuesday night takeover at K&T Nail Salon at 108th Avenue and Bancroft in East Oakland. -more-

Chainsaws Level Memorial Stadium Grove

By Richard Brenneman

Thursday September 11, 2008

UC Berkeley brought out the chainsaws Friday, and by the time their engines went silent Tuesday, the Memorial Stadium grove was gone. -more-

East Bay Police Collaborating in Identifying Suspects

By Kristin McFarland

Thursday September 04, 2008

The East Bay has been plagued by takeover-style restaurant robberies this summer, with 11 robberies in Oakland, one in El Cerrito, one in Hayward, one in unincorporated Castro Valley, and two in Vallejo. -more-

Rough Arrest at KPFA Stuns Station, Community

By Judith Scherr

Thursday September 04, 2008

All hell broke loose at KPFA Radio Aug. 20 when a station volunteer resisted Berkeley police, summoned by station management to remove her from the premises. -more-

Chef Blyden Reinvents Henry’s

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday September 04, 2008

Chef Eddie Blyden prepares spaetzle in Henry’s kitchen.

When Chef Eddie Blyden took over Henry’s at the historic Hotel Durant last spring he brought more than spaetzle from Munich and deviled duck eggs from San Francisco along with him. He brought a bit of controversy as well. -more-

Long Haul Activists Plan Rally at Sproul Plaza

By Richard Brenneman

Thursday September 04, 2008

Supporters of Berkeley’s venerable Long Haul, angered by last Wednesday’s raid, plan to rally at Sproul Plaza today (Thursday) from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the wake of the seizure of 13 computers and a collection of disc and hard drives from the group’s offices at 3124 Shattuck Ave. as police searched for the source of what they described as threatening e-mails. -more-

Berkeley School Board Race Gets Under Way

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday September 04, 2008

School District Working to Meet Water Reduction Goal

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday September 04, 2008

New Athletic Director for Berkeley High

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday September 04, 2008

Citizen’s Group Calls Meeting to Discuss Sunshine Ordinance

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday September 04, 2008

FINAL DRAFT: CITY of BERKELEY SUNSHINE ORDINANCE

Thursday September 04, 2008

Berkeley Sunshine Ordinance: Summary

Thursday September 04, 2008

New Pot Club Laws Change Little, Says NORML

By Richard Brenneman

Thursday September 04, 2008

Zoning Board, Westside Artists Want Scaled-Down Wareham Project

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday September 04, 2008

New Appeal Filed in Memorial Stadium Lawsuit

By Richard Brenneman

Thursday September 04, 2008

Judge Affirms Richmond Council Broke the Law in Casino Accord

By Richard Brenneman

Thursday September 04, 2008

UC to Brief Landmarks Commission On Design for Historic Cloyne Court

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday September 04, 2008

Carrie and Stan Sprague in their garden a few years ago.

Carrie Sprague 1933-2008

By Nancy Holland

Thursday September 04, 2008

Police Blotter

By KRISTIN McFARLAND

Thursday September 04, 2008

Fire Department Log

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Thursday September 04, 2008

Statements Stricken from AC Transit Challenger’s Ballot Statement

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor

Thursday September 04, 2008

Herode Garry Laurent poses with three children he works with in Cité Soleil in front of a home converted to a clubhouse, affiliated with Pax Christi, to keep children from the impoverished shantytown off the street and to help break up the factionalism among youth that divides those from upper and lower Cité Soleil.

Haiti Chérie

By Judith Scherr

Thursday September 04, 2008

By Richard Brenneman

Huckleberry, the last Berkeley treesitter to surrender Tuesday, waves to supporters before he climbs down to waiting campus police.

Editorials

Sarah Palin Fails Her Most Important Job

By Becky O’Malley

Thursday September 04, 2008

What’s a feminist to think? In my youth, people talked about trying to figure out the “standard liberal position” on a controversial issue. Later on, “liberal” got to be a no-no word as the hip left competed to see who could be more radical than thou. “Politically correct” was used without irony for a season or two among those who had an old left background, only to acquire a sarcastic edge among the rest of the left who distrusted the verities of previous eras. The compromise word de jour seems to be “progressive”—it’s a word even Republicans have been known to use. -more-