News

Even as Berkeley Unified School District officials meet with the city’s public health officials this week to plan for possible in-house immunization camps, Alameda County said Monday that it could be days, even months before the H1N1 vaccine becomes available. -more-

The Berkeley city clerk’s office confirmed Thursday evening that approximately 9,200 signatures were submitted to her office on Thursday afternoon on petitions calling for a referendum on Downtown Area Plan. -more-

Authorities are investigating a suspicious vehicle fire in the Oakland hills near the home of University of California President Mark Yudof early this morning, a police spokesman said today. -more-

A contentious campaign to overturn Berkeley’s recently passed Downtown Area Plan comes to an end at 5 p.m. today, Thursday, when opponents face a deadline to turn in petitions decertifying last month’s Berkeley City Council passage of the plan. -more-

The UC Theater became Berkeley’s latest concert venue last week when the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board unanimously approved a use permit modification at a July 13 public meeting. -more-

Four generations of alumni joined activists, community members and lawyers on the UC Berkeley School of Law steps to protest former Bush administration lawyer John Yoo’s return to campus Monday. -more-

One after another, impassioned speakers from Richmond’s African-American community rose Wednesday night to heap praises on a Berkeley developer’s shoreline casino resort plans. -more-

Reza Valiyee claims to have invented what physicists have long declared impossible: the perpetual motion machine. -more-

The 2009 Standardized Testing and Reporting Program results brought good news for Berkeley public schools Tuesday, with more students performing above the state average in reading and writing and math. -more-

The California Department of Education Friday launched a new website to help parents and teachers understand the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program better. -more-

At its first meeting after summer break, the Berkeley Board of Education Wednesday recommended changes to Berkeley High School’s School Governance Council. -more-

UC Berkeley and its Department of Energy-funded laboratory in the hills overlooking the city lost a major legal battle Monday in federal court. -more-

Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Bill Huyett announced at the Aug. 12 board meeting that the district had hired its first director of special education. -more-

Due to a production error, an Aug. 13 story on the Cuban 5 was incomplete. The full story is available on the Daily Planet’s website at www.berkeleydailyplanet.com. -more-

Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason said today that police are “very concerned” about a 5-year-old boy with cerebral palsy who has now been missing for nine days. -more-

A state prison inmate serving time for a Berkeley armed robbery spree has been charged with the Feb. 19, 2006, murder of a popular Berkeley High School graduate and youth football coach. -more-

Saved [in] the Bay -more-

Two angry men in search of money attacked victims in the Telegraph Avenue area last week, one armed with a stun gun and the other with a lead-lined glove, according to campus police. -more-

By Al Winslow -more-

In his Aug. 13 commentary “Crying Wolf at KPFA,” Akio Tanaka passed on a restatement by KPFA Board member Tracy Rosenberg of an e-mail by Daily Planet reporter J. Douglas Allen-Taylor. In the interests of clarification, the text of the original e-mail by Mr. Allen-Taylor to Ms. Rosenberg was as follows: In answer to a query by Ms. Rosenberg of the identity of the individual who first contacted the Planet about the alleged $100,000 transfer of funds from KPFA to Pacifica Foundation, Mr. Allen-Taylor replied “Unfortunately, I cannot answer your question. It is my understanding that the individual who first contacted the Daily Planet has requested that their name not be associated with the story. As a professional journalist, I’m bound to honor that request.” -more-