News

UCPD Arrests UC Berkeley Students for Clark Kerr Robbery

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday October 21, 2008 - 08:49:00 PM

UC Berkeley police arrested one current and one former member of the Cal Bears football team on Monday in connection with the Sept. 30 break-in robbery of two students in their suite at the university’s Clark Kerr residential complex. -more-


Voters' Guide to Berkeley Measures HH and JJ

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday October 21, 2008 - 04:35:00 PM

MEASURE HH City Expenditures -more-


Maybeck High School Goes to ZAB for Relocation Permit

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Monday October 20, 2008 - 06:53:00 PM

Maybeck High School—a private school in Berkeley—may be moving to a new location in February. -more-


Downtown Plan, West Berkeley Plus Condos Top Planning Slate

By Richard Brenneman
Monday October 20, 2008 - 06:51:00 PM

Berkeley planning commissioners will tackle the downtown plan again Wednesday as they rush to meet the deadline for getting their own version to the City Council. -more-


Peralta Trustee Challenger Charges Hodge’s Brother Improperly Sought Confidential Employment Information

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Monday October 20, 2008 - 06:50:00 PM

The race for the Area 2 Peralta Community College District Trustee seat suddenly grew a little chippy last week with the charge that the brother of incumbent Marcie Hodge improperly tried to gain confidential employment information about challenger Marlon McWilson from one of McWilson’s former employers. -more-


Jefferson Teacher in Creationism Controversy Resigns

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Monday October 20, 2008 - 10:00:00 AM

A Jefferson Elementary School third-grade teacher has resigned following allegations that she might have violated the separation of church and state by teaching creationism to her third-grade class, district officials said Friday. -more-


Students Remember Berkeley High Teacher in Heartfelt Memorial

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Monday October 20, 2008 - 09:58:00 AM

Pink and green ceramic tiles—stacks of them—lay outside Berkeley High’s Community Theatre Thursday, waiting to be used to make a table honoring one of the school’s newest but most-loved teachers, who died from a heart attack in August while she was in the Phillipines on a Fulbright Scholarship. -more-


Climate Action Plan Mandates Transit Corridor-based Growth

By Richard Brenneman
Monday October 20, 2008 - 09:59:00 AM

Though called a climate action plan, the document presented to Berkeley planning commissioners Wednesday night looked more like a developer’s dream. -more-


Berkeley Rep Raises $6,000 to Help Struggling Student Newspaper

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Thursday October 16, 2008 - 10:32:00 PM

The Berkeley Rep announced Thursday that it had raised $6,000 at the world premiere of Yellowjackets to help the Berkeley High School student newspaper The Jacket stay afloat. -more-


Smoke Got in Their Eyes, And Now There’s a Law

By Richard Brenneman
Thursday October 16, 2008 - 09:44:00 AM

The persistent efforts of 30 to 40 Berkeley neighbors have given Berkeley a new law, one that proponents say promises relief from a chronic, unhealthy and all-too-frequent menace. -more-


State Budget Cuts Threaten Men’s Shelter

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday October 21, 2008 - 12:26:00 PM

To the world, 1931 Center St. in downtown Berkeley is little more than what it claims to be at first glance: the historic Veterans’ Memorial Building. -more-


Big Bright Blue Barack Delights McGee Ave.

By Richard Brenneman
Thursday October 16, 2008 - 09:44:00 AM

Tina Estes and Val Hammel first learned that two dozen or so Berkeley schoolchildren had stopped outside their McGee Avenue apartment Wednesday when they heard the “Ohhs.” -more-


Emeritus Professor of Geology Weighs In on Memorial Stadium

By Garniss H. Curtis
Thursday October 16, 2008 - 10:11:00 AM

Subject: regarding certification of final environmental impact reports for the proposed computational research and theory facility and the helios energy resource facility and project approvals. -more-


News Analysis: Public Relations (Again) Trumps Public Safety at UC Berkeley

By Gray Brechin Special to the Planet
Thursday October 16, 2008 - 09:45:00 AM
A bird's-eye view of Memorial Stadium from a vintage photo postcard.

With the alacrity of a dying sloth, the San Francisco Chronicle waited until the University of California had evicted and arrested the remaining tree-sitters at California Memorial Stadium before asking what it should have at the top of the hour: Is the stadium safe, and can it ever be made safe enough to accommodate anyone, let alone 75,000 spectators? -more-


Tilden Carousel Reopens

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Thursday October 16, 2008 - 09:47:00 AM
East Bay Regional Park District Regional Parks Foundation Board member William Acevedo takes his daughter for a ride at the recently renovated Tilden Park Carousel.

After undergoing a $700,000 renovation, which lasted nearly nine months, the rare 1911 Herschell-Spillman Menagerie edition merry-go-round has reopened in Tilden Park. -more-


State Budget Cuts Threaten Men’s Shelter

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Thursday October 16, 2008 - 09:43:00 AM

To the world, 1931 Center St. in downtown Berkeley is little more than what it claims to be at first glance: the historic Veterans’ Memorial Building. -more-


Newspaper Thieves Charged

By Richard Brenneman
Thursday October 16, 2008 - 09:47:00 AM

A pair of newspaper pilferers were cited for a variety of offenses early Wednesday morning following a citizen’s arrest in North Berkeley. -more-


Sather Gate Gets a Facelift

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Thursday October 16, 2008 - 09:49:00 AM
Sather Gate should be back in place by April after undergoing extensive repairs.

It has weathered the Great Depression, World War II, the McCarthy Era and the Free Speech Movement. -more-


North Oakland Residents as Divided as Berkeley Over Bus Rapid Transit Proposal

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Thursday October 16, 2008 - 09:50:00 AM

While the battle over the North Oakland portion of AC Transit’s proposed Bus Rapid Transit line has not reached the level or volume that it has in neighboring Berkeley, a Saturday morning political forum at Peralta Elementary School showed that the battle lines are drawn around similar issues. -more-


UC Considers Owl Box for People’s Park Rat Problem

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Thursday October 16, 2008 - 09:50:00 AM

People’s Park might not get a free clothing box any time soon, but an owl box is more than welcome, especially if it acts as a rat patrol. -more-


Berkeley Cracks Down on Unruly Parties for Second Time This Year

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Thursday October 16, 2008 - 09:50:00 AM

Two weeks ago, for the second time in a year, the Berkeley Police Department and city officials sent out a letter to 400 restaurants in Berkeley, warning them against holding late night parties, which have resulted in fights, gunfire and unruly crowds. -more-


A Guide to Berkeley Measures KK and II

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Thursday October 16, 2008 - 09:51:00 AM

Measure KK (Berkeley Bus Ordinance)-more-


Mounting Criticism Targets Biofuel Programs

By Richard Brenneman
Thursday October 16, 2008 - 09:53:00 AM

While UC Berkeley is betting big on biofuels—a half-billion-dollar wager funded by British oil giant BP—the notion of fueling cars with crops is drawing international fire. -more-


In Praise of Parsley

By Shirley Barker Special to the Planet
Thursday October 16, 2008 - 09:54:00 AM

If I could choose only one green leafy vegetable to eat for the rest of my life, it would be parsley. I almost put my money on the versatile cabbage, delicious raw or cooked, stuffed, grated and even fried, but for sheer flavor, and ease and speed of growth, parsley edged cabbage by a nose. -more-