News

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-

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-

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-

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-

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

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-

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

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

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

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-

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-

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-

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-

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 police and Berkeley High School are still investigating a report made by a student Feb. 25 that he had been threatened by another student from the school with a gun or an imitation firearm at the end of the lunch period. -more-

In last November’s battle of Berkeley mayors, incumbent Tom Bates outspent former Mayor Shirley Dean more than 2 to 1 to win re-election to the post he had won from Dean six years earlier. -more-

Despite a crowd of public transit advocates packing last week’s meeting of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, many of them seeking more money for the embattled AC Transit bus agency, MTC Commissioners opted to give the largest single allocation of new federal money to a project to provide BART service between the Coliseum BART Station and the Oakland Airport. -more-

German media giant Bertlesmann bought legendary Berkeley independent publishing house Ten Speed Press Monday through its New York-based publishing unit Random House. -more-

Statewide education cuts have forced the Berkeley Unified School District to consider eliminating at least 118 teaching positions in the 2009-2010 school year, district officials announced last week. -more-

The struggle over the size of Wareham Properties’ latest Berkeley project entered a new phase last week with the first public meeting to gather insight for an environmental impact report (EIR). -more-

UC Berkeley, already the instigator of a new plan for downtown Berkeley, is leading the effort to reshape West Berkeley as well. -more-

A divided AC Transit Board chose Oakland corporate attorney and former State Senator Loni Hancock’s campaign field organizer Joel B. Young last week to fill the vacancy left when At-Large Board Member Rebecca Kaplan left for the Oakland City Council. -more-

Sexual assaults continue -more-

Golden Gate Fields moved closer to the auction block Monday when the Toronto Stock Exchange ordered shares of Magna Entertainment removed from its listings. -more-