News Updates

Laser-Powered Accelerator Plan Gets Boost from Recovery Act

By Richard Brenneman

Monday July 13, 2009

A strangely colored beam pouring out a quadrillion watts of peak power spewing out subatomic particles juiced up by a ten-billion-electronic-volt laser plasma accelerator housed in a facility dubbed the “experimental cave?” -more-

UC President Announces Sliding Scale Cuts; Regents to Act on Stadium Finances

By Richard Brenneman

Friday July 10, 2009

The University of California Board of Regents is expected to slash pay for faculty and staff during the same meeting where they’re set to approve funds for rebuilding Memorial Stadium. -more-

Pacific Steel Lays Off Half its Workforce, Citing Weak Economy

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Friday July 10, 2009

West Berkeley’s Pacific Steel Casting, the nation’s fourth largest surviving steel foundry, is hurting badly. -more-

West Berkeley Zoning Struggle Heats Up as Deadline Nears

By Richard Brenneman

Friday July 10, 2009

The fate of large-scale West Berkeley developments—pushed by both Mayor Tom Bates and officials at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory—continued to preoccupy city planning commissioners Wednesday. -more-

Berkeley Receives $1.3 Million in Federal Homelessness Prevention Funds

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Friday July 10, 2009

Berkeley was awarded $1.3 million in federal homelessness prevention funds Thursday under President Barack Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. -more-

Three Arrests in South Berkeley-North Oakland Gang War

Bay City News Service

Friday July 10, 2009

An investigation into two rival gangs from North Oakland and South Berkeley led to the arrests today of several suspects, including one who was shot by a police officer, authorities said. -more-

News

Wareham Wins Permit for West Berkeley Bioscience Lab

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday July 09, 2009

Wareham Development’s proposal for a new 92,000-square-foot bioscience laboratory on the site of the landmarked Copra Building at 740 Heinz in West Berkeley.

In what was regarded as a first for West Berkeley’s zoning history, the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board last week gave Wareham Development the green light to exceed neighborhood height limits and construct a four-story, 92,000-square-foot bioscience lab on the Aquatic Park Campus. -more-

City’s ‘Chronic Homeless’ Count Drops 50 Percent; ‘Hidden Homelessness’ On the Rise

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday July 09, 2009

Berkeley’s chronically homeless population decreased by nearly 50 percent over the last six years according to a recently released study. Federal officials said it was the largest reduction of chronic homelessness in the state to date. -more-

City Council Postpones Final Vote on Downtown Plan

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor

Thursday July 09, 2009

The Berkeley City Council ground its way slowly—and sometimes painfully—towards passage of its proposed Downtown Area Plan Tuesday night, working its way through consideration of a series of detailed amendments by Councilmember Jesse Arreguín before finally putting the matter off until next week. -more-

Teaching Kids to Dance at AileyCamp

By Jaime Robles Special to the Planet

Thursday July 09, 2009

Sitting in the empty audience of Zellerbach Hall, David McCauley talks about AileyCamp, the educational dance project that he is the charter director of for Cal Performances. Simultaneously, on the barren stage, stripped of its curtains and scrims, some 15 adolescents are being led through modern dance exercises by M’bewe Escobar, who has taught and danced with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for over a decade. -more-

Farewell to the Fujimotos

Thursday July 09, 2009

The Monterey Market neighborhood—and the greater Slow Food community—hosted a party for Bill and Judy Fujimoto, who are walking away from the Monterey Market due to a family rift. A crowd of nearly 100 foodies, shoppers, growers, restaurant owners, musicians, and even the Cal Band, joined in celebrating the Fujimotos and their pioneering contribution to quality food in the Bay Area. -more-

Battle Over LBNL Computer Center Heads for Key Court Hearing

By Richard Brenneman

Thursday July 09, 2009

Judge Halts Chevron’s Richmond Refinery Expansion

By Richard Brenneman

Thursday July 09, 2009

Zoning Board to Vote on Downtown Teen Center

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday July 09, 2009

Richmond Man Convicted of Murder for Berkeley Shooting

Bay City News

Thursday July 09, 2009

Hearing Scheduled for Oakland Contractor Charged with Underpaying Immigrant Workers

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor

Thursday July 09, 2009

Albany Woman Killed by Amtrak Train in Berkeley

By Richard Brenneman

Thursday July 09, 2009

Bank Robber Strikes in Downtown Berkeley

By Richard Brenneman

Thursday July 09, 2009

A firefighter tosses a shovelful of broken wallboard out the window of a third-floor apartment in the 2300 block of Russell Street Tuesday afternoon. Layers of aluminum, melted by the intense flames, formed metallic icicles visible on the drainpipe and the bottom of the window frame.

Flames Force Evacuation of Russell Street Apartments

By Richard Brenneman

Thursday July 09, 2009

Stephen Sutton (UC), the Rev. Renae Extrum-Fernandez (United Methodist Church), Deborah Matthews (Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board), and Vincent Wong (Wesley Foundation Board President) line up to swing gold-painted sledgehammers during the groundbreaking ceremony, while documentary filmmaker and UC student Brighton Kimbel records the scene from behind.

Ground Broken for New Wesley Center Building

By Steven Finacom Special to the Planet

Thursday July 09, 2009

Black Press Pressures White House for Stimulus Money, Advertising Fairness

By Hazel Trice Edney NNPA News Service

Thursday July 09, 2009

Joe Yang

Teenagers practice dance moves at AileyCamp, where the goal is to teach them to value their bodies and themselves as individuals in the world.

Editorials

Development Goes Bust in Ireland

By Becky O’Malley

Thursday July 09, 2009

Sometimes it can be hard to get away from home. Headline in the opinion section of the July 3 Irish Times we picked up in the Dublin airport: “Brought to our knees by bankers and developers.” It was a scathing piece by one Morgan Kelly, identified as professor of economics at University College, Dublin, documenting in exhaustive detail the relationship between Ireland’s building boom and its current disastrous economic bust. -more-