News

The Nov. 28 New York Times article about the efforts of a few pro-Israel activists to shut down the Daily Planet for its publication of reader contributions critical of that nation's policies provided a fair introduction to the story but failed to fully elucidate the nature of the campaign. -more-

Results of the 2009 Physical Fitness Test released Monday by the state Department of Public Education show Berkeley public schools trailing their peers in six fitness categories. -more-

Parents looking to enroll their kids at Berkeley public elementary schools next year will have a few more choices at Saturday’s annual kindergarten fair. -more-

Calling for a prompt, “impartial and comprehensive” investigation into police brutality that allegedly took place on the UC Berkeley campus during the Nov. 20 Wheeler Hall occupation, more than 100 faculty members signed an open letter to Chancellor Robert Birgeneau Wednesday condemning the violence. -more-

A small but spirited crowd turned up at a town hall meeting at Longfellow Middle School Tuesday night to protest the proposed closure of Berkeley’s Park Station post office on Sacramento Street. -more-

UC Berkeley student activists held a candlelight vigil Tuesday night in front of Wheeler Hall, the campus building that was occupied by protesters Friday as part of a demonstration against the University of California's handling of its budget woes. -more-

UC Berkeley students were preparing to stage a candlelight vigil at Wheeler Hall Tuesday night as the Daily Planet went to press, and may take over the building once again next week to protest the 32 percent tuition hike. But this time, they say, it will be an “open occupation.” -more-

Not everyone is happy with Berkeley’s latest plan, which seeks to make buses whiz through the city’s transit corridors. -more-

The UC strike reached its peak at 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, when students and custodians dumped days-old trash from the different campus buildings outside California Hall, where UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau works, to protest recent custodian layoffs. -more-

A student group at UC Berkeley’s school of law Tuesday called on the U.S. Justice Department, the Pennsylvania Bar and the University of California to “conduct full and thorough investigations” of former government lawyers who crafted the Bush torture memos, including John Yoo, a tenured faculty member at their school. -more-

The Berkeley City Council voted Nov. 17 to amend the city’s noise ordinance, unanimously allowing nightclubs, open-air festivals and other venues to exceed sound limits if they obtain the proper permits from the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board. -more-

The Berkeley Police Department announced Tuesday that they have arrested a man suspected of being involved in a Berkeley homicide that took place in May. -more-

Next time you find a pothole on your street or graffiti in your neighborhood, call the city. It might just work. Or so promises the City of Berkeley, which launched a 311 call center program at the Nov. 17 City Council meeting to troubleshoot these kinds of problems. -more-

The Berkeley City Council at its Nov. 17 meeting adopted the Citywide Pools Master plan which proposes to expand or revamp the city’s existing public pools and relocate the warm water pool from the seismically unsafe Berkeley High School Old Gym to West Campus. -more-

Years ago, I met a guy who’d been to Afghanistan, and I was surprised to hear that the country really existed. I thought it was a mythical land out of a fairy tale, and I’d never heard of the Pashtuns. That was back in 1968. -more-

As part of the ongoing protest over the University of California's 32 percent fee increase, UC Berkeley students marched to UC President Mark Yudof’s office in Oakland Monday afternoon and staged a sit-in, demanding to meet with him. -more-

All 40 occupiers were released from Wheeler Hall a little after 9 p.m. to cheers and applause from the crowd which surrounded the building. -more-

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6:36 p.m. : UC Berkeley professor of Sociology Andrew Barlow, who was part of the faculty negotiating team, told the Planet that the occupiers inside Wheeler Hall would be cited and released one by one within an hour. -more-

This just in from the occupiers' liaison—the police have broken into the space occupied by the protestors in Wheeler Hall. The protestors are holding their hands up high to indicate that they intend to act non-violently. -more-

A cold rain did not deter thousands of UC Berkeley students this afternoon as they surrounded the campus’ Wheeler Hall in support of 35 protesters who have occupied the building since this morning in demonstration against the University of California’s 32 percent tuition fee hike. -more-

Though UC Berkeley professor George Lakoff announced at 3 p.m. Friday that student protesters occupying Wheeler Hall on the UC Berkeley campus Friday would soon be exiting the building, escorted by UC police, no one has yet left the hall. -more-

Rain did not deter thousands of UC Berkeley students this afternoon as they surrounded the campus’ Wheeler Hall in support of about 50 protesters who have occupied the building since this morning in demonstration against the University of California’s 32 percent tuition fee hike. -more-

Reports are coming in that UC Berkeley students have taken over Wheeler Hall on campus to protest the 32 percent fee increase approved by the UC Regents at UCLA Thursday. -more-

The Berkeley Police Department announced Tuesday that they have arrested a man suspected of being involved in a Berkeley homicide that took place in May. -more-

The UC Regents approved a fee hike at a meeting on the UCLA campus today (Thursday, Nov. 19) to address a $1.2 billion deficit next year, amid angry protests throughout the 10-campus University of California system. -more-

The BART board of directors voted today not to give any part of a $2 million lighting improvement project for two stations to a longtime associate of the troubled Your Black Muslim Bakery in Oakland. -more-

An Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled this afternoon that the case of former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle will be moved to Los Angeles County. -more-

The business of journalism is dying. But the need for journalists is not. -more-

It was anything but business as usual at UC Berkeley Wednesday as students, faculty members and workers embarked on a three-day strike to protest budget cuts, furloughs and fee hikes. -more-

Body of Child Found in Bay Believed to Be -more-

Is Berkeley ready for a ferry? The Berkeley City Council seems to think so. -more-

Just as the hullabaloo over Balloon Boy seems to be finally cooling off, Berkeley is getting ready to make some noise about balloons. -more-

Japanese artist Chiura Obata’s landmarked Mission Revival–style studio was back before the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission Nov. 5, after a remand from the City Council asked the commission to carefully consider singling out the building’s courtyards for preservation as historic features. -more-

UC Berkeley students aren’t the only ones who went on strike this week. -more-

Citing “lingering economic uncertainty,” UC Berkeley announced Wednesday that it has abandoned existing architectural plans to construct a new Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in downtown Berkeley. -more-

More than 2,000 Berkeley public elementary school students received H1N1 vaccinations from the city’s Public Health Division this week. However, middle and high schoolers will have to wait for new shipments to arrive before they can get their shots. -more-

As a law clerk to judge Abner Mikva 20 years ago, Jeffrey Bleich never imagined that the young man Mikva tried to recruit as a fellow clerk would one day name him ambassador to Australia. -more-

Andrea Lewis, long-time broadcast and print journalist, co-anchor of the KPFA Evening News and host of Pacifica’s Sunday Sedition, died last weekend of an apparent heart attack. She was 52. -more-

The name and author of a Seattle blog were misidentified in the Nov. 12 story, “Meehan Approv-ed as City’s New Police Chief.” Quotes regarding police commanders’ length of service at Seattle’s East Precinct and about Meehan’s tenure there were originally posted by Doug Schwartz on the blog Capitol Hill Seattle. -more-