News

Berkeley Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who for the last seven years has been advocating for a strong sunshine ordinance to give citizens access to government records and meetings, will put the Berkeley Sunshine Committee's draft ordinance-crafted as an alternative to one written by the city attorney-on the agenda for the Dec. 8 City Council meeting. -more-

At the Landmarks Preservation Commission meeting Thursday, preservationists and architects warned against stripping historic buildings off their original windows, explaining that it could take away character-defining features, and advised homeowners to instead invest in sealing problem areas, weather-stripping and making use of natural ventilation. -more-

AC Transit Board President Chris Peeples hit the election trifecta on Tuesday, but by Friday morning, he didn’t sound in the mood for celebration. -more-

An out-of-control party at the Gaia Arts Center in downtown Berkeley two weeks ago prompted Berkeley Police to label the venue as a public nuisance, leaving its owners susceptible to a fine from the city if a similar incident occurs there in the next four months, authorities said Thursday. -more-

California’s leading newspaper publisher, Dean Singleton’s MediaNews, is shedding eight more jobs in the East Bay. -more-

Neighbors worried about cell phone antenna radiation and angry at city officials who have allowed it in their neighborhoods poured out their frustrations at the Berkeley Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday night. -more-

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to make additional state education budget cuts to stimulate California's flagging economy set off alarm bells for school districts, many of which had been fearful of mid-year reductions when the governor released a delayed state budget in September. -more-

Mayor Tom Bates handily won a third term, while two new faces will join the Berkeley City Council, Jesse Arreguin and Susan Wengraf. -more-

Berkeley -more-

Berkeley’s battle of the buildings took another twist Tuesday, when Berkeley voters spurned the City Council’s changes to the city’s Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO). -more-

Community activist and leader Beatrice Leyva-Cutler led the Berkeley Board of Education elections Tuesday night with 37 percent of the vote, with incumbent and board president John Selawsky coming in second at 30 percent. -more-

Berkeley celebrated Barack Obama’s victory as the 44th president of the United States way past midnight on Tuesday, but no one was complaining. -more-

It was a historic night of celebration in Oakland, the like of which we have never seen in our lifetimes. -more-

Some community members are outraged that the City of Berkeley-run Addison Street Windows Gallery decided not to display posters from a national series of exhibitions called the “Art of Democracy” on the basis of curatorial judgment, and instead replaced them with pottery during election week. -more-

In the Oakland City Council race, Tuesday’s general election runoff ended with the two candidates in almost the identical position they finished in last June: AC Transit At-Large Board member Rebecca Kaplan at 61.95 percent (61,431) and Oakland School Board member Kerry Hamill at 37.16 percent (36,845). -more-

Local voters picked and chose between non-Berkeley measures on Tuesday’s ballot, holding on to their money with one hand, giving out money with the other, and redistributing the money in one city budget with whatever appendage was available. -more-

Three area races saw incumbents easily beating off challengers. -more-

As election day approached, District 4 council candidate Terry Doran finally saw some of the dollars developer Ali Kashani asked his colleagues to give—though most came from one company, Hudson McDonald. -more-

Turnout was heavy in South Berkeley Tuesday, with voters lined up outside the Black Repertory Theater on Adeline Street even before polls opened. -more-

Hundreds of students and activists from all over the Bay Area marched from Ferry Park near the Embarcadero to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in downtown San Francisco Friday to protest what they called atrocities committed against undocumented immigrants by code enforcement officials in sanctuary cities. -more-

A group of neighbors of the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center have always had a good relationship with the hospital’s workers, they say, until early last Wednesday. -more-

Whatever shape the new downtown plan takes before the City Council signs off on the document next May, it’s certain to be very different from the draft prepared by the citizens the council chose to draft it. -more-

The citizens’ group working on an alternate version of the Berkeley city attorney’s draft sunshine ordinance has released its final draft and will meet with Councilmember Kriss Worthington Monday to discuss a plan to introduce it in the City Council agenda for December. -more-

Jerry Thomas, office administrator at the Berkeley Drop-In Center on Adeline Street died of complications from asthma last month. Jerry worked as a disability check distributor and general office administrator for the past 10 years. She was 54. -more-

The security guards had broken us up, trying not to hurt us. For five minutes we had swung at each other, landing punch after punch and calling each other names. The Longfellow schoolyard, filled with active students, watched all this. -more-