News

Oakland Police have arrested two young men who robbed four students at gunpoint at Oakland Technological High School Tuesday morning. -more-

Berkeley’s Washington ties grew stronger Friday with the announcement in Washington by President Barack Obama that Energy Secretary Steven Chu has picked Steve Koonin as undersecretary for science. -more-

An Alameda County Superior Court judge raised the bail for Andrew Hoeft-Edenfield, charged with murdering UC Berkeley nuclear engineering student Chris Wootton last May, to $2.5 million at a bail motion hearing at the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse Tuesday. -more-

A fifth suspect in a Berkeley hills home-invasion robbery and torture case from February turned himself in to Richmond police last week, Berkeley police spokesman Andrew Frankel confirmed today. -more-

The Zoning Adjustments Board is asking Berkeley’s Thai temple to keep the noise down. -more-

The push to change West Berkeley zoning rules is back before the Planning Commission Wednesday night. -more-

The Oakland City Council and Mayor Ron Dellums will hold a vigil Tuesday night in honor of the Oakland police officers shot to death Saturday afternoon by a suspect who was also fatally wounded. -more-

Oakland Police Department Officer John Hege, 41, who was shot Saturday along with three police sergeants has died, the Alameda County coroner's bureau confirmed this afternoon. -more-

Three Oakland police officers are dead and a fourth is in "grave condition" after being shot Saturday afternoon by a wanted Oakland parolee in two separate but related shootings. -more-

The Parkway Theater is going dark once again. Oakland’s beloved neighborhood movie theater will shut its doors Sunday night, possibly for good. -more-

A federal judge has ordered a halt to work on a $113 million computer lab at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL), saying UC officials may have tried to evade federal environmental law. -more-

The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce has removed CEO Ted Garrett from office and is seeking a new candidate for the position, chamber officials said Friday. -more-

The Planning Commission rejected a suggestion from one of their own that would have scaled down Shattuck Avenue development along the thoroughfare’s southern stretch in the new downtown planning area. -more-

The United States Marine Corps Officer Selection Office in downtown Berkeley came under attack once again Wednesday night when a group of vandals broke the building’s windows with sledgehammers and splashed them with red paint. -more-

The Berkeley Board of Educa-tion unanimously approved revisions to the school district’s 2008-09 budget Wednesday, March 18, to offset this year’s $3.1 million shortfall. -more-

The director of finance of the City of Berkeley says the Office Depot company has overcharged the city by as much as a quarter of a million dollars during the course of a three-year, $550,000-a-year contract to provide miscellaneous office supplies and recycled copy paper to the city. -more-

Berkeley Unified School District earned another legal victory Tuesday, March 17, for its student placement plan. -more-

Just as his father promised, Zachary Michael Cruz’s memorial was more a party than a funeral. -more-

Coming soon to a theater near you: Kobe beef sliders, salads and chicken wings, and if you’re 21 or older, cocktails—all of which can be enjoyed while watching your favorite movie from a comfy red loveseat or a leather rocker. -more-

A one-time Memorial Stadium tree-sitter remained in critical condition in an Israeli hospital, Wednesday, March 18, injured in a clash between Israeli troops and Palestinian protesters in the West Bank. -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-

Drug and alcohol use among Berkeley public school students is twice the national average, according to a survey cited by Berkeley Unified School District officials at a recent Berkeley Board of Education meeting. -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, March 13. -more-

AC Transit District, battered by the economic downturn, raised its regular bus fares by 25 cents and youth, senior and disabled fares by 15 cents last Wednesday night. The new fares go into effect July 1, when regular fares will rise from $1.75 to $2, and youth, senior and disabled fares from 85 cent to $1. -more-

Berkeley City Manager Phil Kamlarz announced Tuesday, March 17, that Berkeley Police Department Chief Douglas Hambleton will retire from his position this summer. -more-

Berkeley Liberation Radio’s never-ending war with the Federal Communications Commission is heating up again. -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-

Berkeley planning commissioners are nearing the end of their rewrite of the Downtown Area Plan (DAP), meeting even as this paper goes to press. -more-

Bay Trail advocates have sued the State Lands Commission (SLC) and Chevron U.S.A., challenging the agency’s decision to renew the lease for Richmond’s Long Wharf Terminal. -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-

Berkeley police officers responded with guns drawn to a late-night incident at the downtown Berkeley BART station Wednesday, March 11, cordoning off sections of the station for approximately 30 minutes. -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-

Second home invasion -more-

Rug burn -more-