Flash: Court Upholds Decision in Favor of BUSD Student Assignment Plan
Berkeley Unified School District earned another legal victory Tuesday for its student placement plan. -more-
Berkeley Unified School District earned another legal victory Tuesday for its student placement plan. -more-
Berkeley City Manager Phil Kamlarz announced Tuesday morning that Berkeley Police Department Chief Douglas Hambleton will retire from his position this summer. -more-
Just as his father promised, Zachary Michael Cruz’s memorial was more a party than a funeral. -more-
San Francisco Chronicle workers voted Friday to cut their benefits and extend their working hours so that fewer of their colleagues would lose their jobs. -more-
Planning commissioners are scheduled to meet Wednesday night to wrap up their revisions on a critical map that will determine the future skyline of downtown Berkeley. -more-
Friends of a Bay Area activist who was critically injured while demonstrating in a village on Palestine's West Bank have organized their own demonstration in downtown San Francisco today as a show of solidarity. -more-
Pink balloons, pink bow-ties, pink arm bands and even pink toilet seats marked a rally organized by the Berkeley Federation of Teachers Friday. The "Pink Friday" event was part of a statewide protest of teacher layoffs in response to state education budget cuts. -more-
A one-time Memorial Stadium tree-sitter was critically injured in a clash between Israeli troops and Palestinian protesters in the West Bank. -more-
Firefighters saved seven members of a West Berkeley family from a Friday the 13th early morning encounter with a silent, deadly killer—carbon monoxide. -more-
AC Transit, battered by the economic downturn, is raising its fares. At a March 4 meeting, AC Transit announced a 25-cent increase for regular bus fares and a 15-cent hike for youth, senior and disabled fares. -more-
The Berkeley Board of Education unanimously approved revisions to the school district’s 2008-09 budget Wednesday to offset this year’s $3.1 million shortfall. -more-
Berkeley police have arrested three suspects in connection with a brutal home invasion robbery two weeks ago but five suspects remain at large. -more-
Berkeley police officers responded with guns drawn to an incident at the downtown Berkeley BART station late Wednesday night, cordoning off sections of the station for approximately 30 minutes. -more-
Albany’s Golden Gate Fields goes on the auction block April 3 as part of a court-mandated sale of properties owned by ailing Magna Entertainment. -more-
The Berkeley Unified School District sent out at least 130 potential layoff notices to teachers and counselors Tuesday, district officials said. -more-
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-
Whole Foods Market announced last week that the company has reversed its plans to let the lease expire for its tenant, Ashby Flowers. -more-
On a recent Friday morning, the lobby of the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society in West Berkeley was missing the noisy barking and pitter-patter of tiny paws that has greeted visitors for the last five decades. -more-
The home of Berkeley architect Donald Olsen became a city landmark Mar. 5 in a move that marked the embrace of a new era of design. -more-
The City of Berkeley continued in its place at the head of urban green technology, winning a first place City Solar Award from the non-profit Northern California Solar Energy Association (NorCal Solar) as the Bay Area city with the highest number of solar panel systems installed within its borders. -more-
The Berkeley City Council took a small step this week toward overhauling the city ordinance governing cellphone towers, approving on first reading Councilmember Gordon Wozniak’s substitute motion to adopt a slightly watered-down version of modifications to the ordinance. -more-
By Richard Brenneman -more-
Just as UC Berkeley researchers are poised to lead a national effort to create new fuels from genetically altered plants and microbes, they have encountered obstacles closer to home. -more-
Golden Gate Fields is up for sale as owner Magna Entertainment (MECA on the NASDAQ stock exchange), a move announced when the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Mar. 5. -more-
Berkeley’s Planning Department will begin its mandatory update of the city plan’s housing element on Monday, Mar. 23. -more-
Berkeley police arrested three men in the early-morning stabbing of a UC Berkeley student Mar. 7 in the city’s south campus area. -more-
Some 50 to 75 demonstrators rallied for an hour and a half in front of the Fruitvale BART station turnstiles on the afternoon of March 5 in continuing protests over the New Year’s Day shooting death of a Hayward man by a BART police officer, but the sponsoring organization backed off on its pledge to attempt to shut the station down. -more-
Rain or shine, drought or deluge, the greater Bay Area has an extensive array of spring garden tours, shows, and plant sales from March through June. -more-
“As UC president, Yudof will receive a compensation package valued at $828,000 in the 2008-09 year, compared to a current package estimated at $790,000 at the University of Texas. (These figures do not include standard retirement plan funding for future retirement benefits for university employees at both institutions.)" -more-
It’s the height of cynicism to accuse someone of being hateful in a letter that is itself filled with hate and misrepresentation, then try to inflict financial damage. It’s the best irony when the attacker shoots himself in the foot. -more-
The bailout money handed to financial firms was supposed to relieve the credit constraints of the economy. Perhaps this prevented a greater crash, but the effects have been relatively minor. Some of the bailout funds will be used by banks to pay dividends, bonuses, and to buy out other banks rather than lending it to credit-starved customers. -more-
When God said “Be fruitful and multiply” perhaps he should have added “within reason.” -more-
After many months of considering Bus Rapid Transit, my neighbors and I have developed an alternative plan that we think is much better. Our plan should provide the benefits desired by transit supporters without damaging our neighborhood. This should satisfy AC Transit, the City of Berkeley, and the people who live and work in this part of Berkeley. -more-
According to the Department of Commerce, foreign affiliates of American multinational corporations employ about 10 million workers. As many as 400,000 jobs annually are being lost as a result of foreign outsourcing. Another study revealed that three years after layoffs about one third of displaced workers were still unemployed. Moreover, about half who did find jobs suffered substantial wage reductions. Millions more blue and white collar jobs are expected to go abroad by the end of this decade, leaving behind the damage—mass unemployment, underemployment, poverty, and even substantially higher mortality rates, as a study at Johns Hopkins showed. -more-
I watched the oral arguments before the California Supreme Court in challenge and defense of Proposition 8. -more-
So far, President Obama has kept his campaign promises by addressing the economy, Iraq, healthcare, civil liberties, and a host of other issues. Nonetheless, liberals fear Obama is about to make a big mistake in Afghanistan. -more-
Over the past several years, Oakland has been using a two-prong strategy to attack its nagging and serious problem of violent crime: police-related solutions (more police, better targeted policing strategies, “community policing”) and strengthening and creating violence-prevention projects and programs. -more-
Tinkering with the natural world often invites unintended consequences. Replacing exotic weeds with native vegetation is usually a laudable goal. But what if a sensitive species has its own plans for the weeds? -more-
Some of you may remember Rube Goldberg. He’s a favorite case study of mine when it comes to home remodeling. If you know who he is, you’re giggling now. Rube, a UC Berkeley grad and local engineer (he worked on the sewer systems in San Francisco!) invented cartoon machinery that would perform one simple task in 20 or more complicated and ludicrous steps. -more-
The Berkeley High School Alumni Jazz All-Stars, featuring musical director Peter Apfelbaum, will perform Sunday afternoon in almost 20 different groups to honor band director and teacher Charles Hamilton’s 27 years of service. -more-
Going into Bridgehead Studio in Alameda—practically across the street from the Nob Hill Market on Blanding—the newly-collaged doorway, a real portal now, is the first thing to catch attention. Then, inside, is the “Isolated Beauty” exhibit, featuring works in different visual media which parallel the theme of The Hermit Bird, the original play by John Byrd that Virago Theatre Co. is premiering at the studio. (The band Pike County will play before this Friday’s performance—also thematic to the region in which the play is set.) -more-
Stripped of its overtly political satire, Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte premiered their adaptation of Marriage of Figaro, proclaiming a new form of musical theater. San Francisco Cabaret Opera’s production (under the aegis of Goat Hall) teases out the vaudeville still lurking in the sleek new—or Neo-Classical—model, once again fusing entertainment with lavish singing. The show started last weekend in San Francisco and now, with some changes in cast and accompaniment, migrates to the Hillside Club, a few bucolic blocks east of the Gourmet Ghetto. -more-
If you think Jewish music is confined to singing Hava Nagila at Jewish summer camp, well get ready to have another nagila. The Jewish Music Festival, now in its 24th year, features music in Hebrew, Ladino, Yiddish and English performed by a cosmopolitan array of singers and musicians representing traditions that range from the Sephardic Balkans, European classical, Eastern European Chasidic and klezmer, Indo-European Gypsy, Middle Eastern Mizrachi as well as blues, jazz, swing, bluegrass, gospel, rock, punk and hip-hop. In whatever lands that Jews have lived, they have absorbed musical influences and in turn have influenced the music of their adopted lands. Nowhere has this been truer than in the United States. -more-
Bay Area Baroque Orchestra, a group of Bay Area musicians led by conductor Frances Blaker, will play a program of Corelli, Bach and Lully at 4 p.m. Sunday, Mar. 15 in Richmond. -more-
Adventure in Music, the second installment in Berkeley Symphony’s new family concert series, led by conductor Ming Luke and featuring San Francisco Opera violinist Dawn Harms, will include “Spring” from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Violin Concerto in D Major”; Leopold Mozart’s “Toy Symphony”—and the theme (by Danny Elfman) from The Simpsons TV series. -more-
American Bach Soloists bring Favorite Cantatas of their namesake to First Congregational Church at 8 p.m. Saturday (lecture at 7), a show that will also play in Belvedere, San Francisco and Davis, featuring remarkable baritone William Sharp, excellent singers soprano Yulia Van Doren and alto Jennifer Lane, and Bach Soloists’ own extraordinary tenor, musical director Jeffrey Thomas. $10-44. (800) 838-3006. http://americanbach.org. -more-
Russian actor-director Oleg Liptsin, who has presented a piquant Beckett’s Happy Days and a remarkable staging of Dostoyevsky (Notes From Underground as Apropos of the Wet Snow) in Berkeley, will premiere the first part of his latest project, The Nose, a solo show centered around Gogol’s Overcoat, celebrating the great Russian author’s 200th anniversary. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Phoenix Theatre Annex, 414 Mason St., Suite 406, San Francisco (near Union Square). $15-20. (415) 944-1555. http://phoenixtheatresf.org, http://theatreensemble.org. -more-
Some of you may remember Rube Goldberg. He’s a favorite case study of mine when it comes to home remodeling. If you know who he is, you’re giggling now. Rube, a UC Berkeley grad and local engineer (he worked on the sewer systems in San Francisco!) invented cartoon machinery that would perform one simple task in 20 or more complicated and ludicrous steps. -more-