News Updates

UC Berkeley Considers Tuition Hike

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Tuesday March 10, 2009

UC Berkeley announced plans to institute a 9.3 percent tuition increase to address a state budget crisis that is taking away millions of dollars in public education funding. -more-

Union Concessions Save the Chronicle—For Now

By Richard Brenneman

Tuesday March 10, 2009

America has lost another major urban daily paper while newsroom downsizings and cutbacks continue at an unprecedented pace, but the Bay Area’s most famous masthead will stay in print—at least for a while. -more-

Three Arrested in South Campus Stabbing

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Monday March 09, 2009

Berkeley police have arrested three men in the stabbing of a UC Berkeley student early Saturday morning in the city’s south campus area. -more-

NASDAQ Strikes Magna From Its Stock Listings

By Richard Brenneman

Monday March 09, 2009

The NASDAQ Stock Market, the nation’s leading electronically based stock exchange, is striking Magna Entertainment Co., the owner of Albany’s Golden Gate Fields, from its listings. -more-

AC Transit Board Considers 25-Cent Fare Increase

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor

Monday March 09, 2009

The AC Transit Board of Directors will consider a proposed 25-cent fare increase at its Wednesday evening meeting. -more-

Berkeley City Council to Take Up Cellphone Ordinance Revisions Tuesday

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor

Monday March 09, 2009

The Berkeley City Council is set to consider long-awaited revisions to its Wireless Telecommunications Facilities Ordinance at its regular Tuesday night meeting. However, the change in the rules governing the placement of cellphone tower facilities in the city will fall far short of the demands of some neighborhood groups, or even of the extensive revisions requested by the city’s Planning Commission. -more-

March 23 Special Meeting Begins Housing Plan Update

By Richard Brenneman

Saturday March 07, 2009

Berkeley’s Planning Department will begin their mandatory update of the city plan’s housing element on Monday, March 23. -more-

Berkeley Unified to Eliminate More than 100 Teaching Positions

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday March 05, 2009

The Berkeley Board of Education voted unanimously Wednesday night to eliminate numerous teaching jobs. -more-

Magna Files For Bankruptcy; Golden Gate Fields to Be Sold

By Richard Brenneman

Thursday March 05, 2009

Golden Gate Fields is up for sale as owner Magna Entertainment (MECA on the NASDAQ stock exchange) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today (Thursday). -more-

Whole Foods Allows Ashby Flowers to Stay

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday March 05, 2009

Whole Foods Market announced late Thursday evening that the company has reversed its plans to let the lease expire for its tenant, Ashby Flowers. -more-

News

UC Students Don Skirts to Protest Assaults

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Wednesday March 04, 2009

Morgan (left), a college student who was assaulted by the sexual predator targeting young girls wearing skirts, walks down Piedmont Avenue with her friends during a Wednesday afternoon“skirt rally” organized by UC Berkeley students.

Short skirts, long skirts, itsy-bitsy polka-dotted mini skirts, ruffled skirts and pleated skirts, and even a kilt or two took over the steps of Sproul Plaza Wednesday at noon to protest the sexual predator on the UC Berkeley campus who is going around lifting women’s skirts on desolate street corners and dark alleyways. -more-

Civil Suit Opens New Legal Front In Berkeley Sea Scouts Case

By Richard Brenneman

Wednesday March 04, 2009

Three young men filed suit Tuesday against the Boy Scouts and their former Berkeley Sea Scouts master, seeking damages for their sexual molestation on board the S.S.S. Farallon. -more-

LeConte Remembers Student Killed in Collision

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Wednesday March 04, 2009

Community members continued throughout the week to place flowers, candles and notes at the intersection of Derby and Warring streets, where 5-year-old Zachary Cruz was hit and killed by a welder’s truck on Friday, Feb. 27. -more-

Investigation Continues Into Kindergartner’s Death

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Wednesday March 04, 2009

Zachary Michael Cruz at school last week.

Berkeley police are still investigating the fatal accident of 5-year-old Zachary Cruz, a LeConte Elementary School kindergartner who was struck and killed Friday, Feb. 27, by a contractor’s truck at Warring and Derby streets. -more-

Tragedies Shine Spotlight on Traffic Safety Issues

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Wednesday March 04, 2009

Two tragic accidents involving Berkeley public school students, occuring within a month of each other, have put a spotlight on traffic safety and improvements. -more-

Berkeley High School Student Arrested for Brandishing Firearm

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Wednesday March 04, 2009

Mayor’s Land Use Donors Topped Dean’s by 18-1

By Richard Brenneman

Wednesday March 04, 2009

German Publisher Buys Berkeley’s Ten Speed Press

By Richard Brenneman

Wednesday March 04, 2009

Critics Charge BART Airport Connector Took AC Transit Funds

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor

Wednesday March 04, 2009

School District Plans Layoffs in Light of State Budget Cuts

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Wednesday March 04, 2009

Neighbors Share Concerns Over West Berkeley Building Proposal

By Richard Brenneman

Wednesday March 04, 2009

West Berkeley Zone Changes Linked to UC, Lab Startup Firms

By Richard Brenneman

Wednesday March 04, 2009

Former Hancock Aide to Replace Kaplan on AC Transit Board

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor

Wednesday March 04, 2009

Police Blotter

By ALI WINSTON

Wednesday March 04, 2009

Toronto Stock Exchange Delists Magna

By Richard Brenneman

Wednesday March 04, 2009

Riya Bhattacharjee

Community members continue to place flowers, cards and soft toys at the intersection of Warring and Derby streets, where the accident happened Friday.

Editorials

Time for a Toady to Go

By Becky O’Malley

Wednesday March 04, 2009

It’s the classic old school East Bay greeting: “How ‘bout them A’s?!” Heard at the Oakland Symphony concert on Friday night, a not-so-surprising new variant: “How ‘bout that budget?!” And I knew exactly what he meant: not the disgraceful California model, but the Obama presentation that was all over the front page of the New York Times on Friday. It was a revelation to those of us who have suffered for the last 25 years through the politics of low expectations. -more-