News

In a landmark achievement, Caltrans announced Tuesday a billion dollar settlement agreement with disability rights advocates to improve sidewalk access. -more-

Miles Wang, 6, and his sister Kyra, 9, of Oakland, pick out a Christmas tree Tuesday afternoon from the tree lot at the corner of Ashby and Telegraph avenues. “We’re running out of time and we saw the lot,” Paul Wang said as he watched his children evaluate the trees. The family had a fake tree last Christmas. “It’s still in the box,” Kyra said. “This year we want a real tree. Real trees smell good.” -more-

A new report warns that funds belonging to the city’s mental health clients could be in danger of being lost, stolen or misused due to a lack of oversight by city officials. -more-

Fred Medrano has been a constant presence in Berkeley civic life for the last 30 years. But this week Medrano will be stepping down from his position as director of Berkeley’s Department of Health Services after 14 years, during which time he oversaw California’s only independent health and mental health jurisdictions. -more-

For Berkeley resident Rash Ghosh, every day for the last two years has been a fight to win back his home. But last week, Ghosh may have finally received a sliver of hope. -more-

The Alameda County Transit Board of Directors voted unanimously Wednesday, Dec. 16, to cut bus services by 8.4 percent beginning March 2010 to offset a $57 million budget deficit next year. -more-

A new assessment of the condition of state roadways ranks Highway 13—including Ashby Avenue—as the second most-deteriorated section of roadway in the San Francisco–Oakland metropolitan area. -more-

The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce has selected Mark Berson of Alabama as the chamber’s new CEO. In a statement released Dec. 16, the chamber announced that Berson “would lead the organization through a new era of growth and expansion.” -more-

Preliminary data released by the state Employment Development Department Friday, Dec. 18, show that Berkeley’s unemployment rate is the lowest since May. -more-

Proponents of Berkeley’s first public charter school presented their proposal to the Berkeley Board of Education at its Dec. 16 meeting. -more-

A policy subcommittee of the Berkeley Board of Education once again took up the issue of equality in Berkeley High School’s governance at a Dec. 16 meeting. -more-

In my book, Eccentrics, Heroes, and Cutthroats of Old Berkeley, I presented the stories of 17 culturally important but largely forgotten local people of the 19th century. Other captivating stories I came across were not right for use in the book but are nonetheless very meaningful. -more-

A new assessment of conditions of state roadways ranks Highway 13—including Ashby Avenue—as the second most-deteriorated section of roadway in the San Francisco-Oakland metropolitan area. -more-

The Alameda County Transit Board of Directors voted unanimously Wednesday to cut bus services by 8.4 percent beginning March 2010 to offset a $57 million budget deficit next year. -more-

The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce has selected Mark Berson of Alabama as the chamber’s new CEO. In a statement released Dec. 16, the chamber announced that Berson “would lead the organization through a new era of growth and expansion.” -more-

James Fang, the longest-serving member on BART’s board of directors, was selected Thursday by a unanimous vote to serve as the board’s president for the third time. -more-

Gary Cornell could have lived the easy life with the fortune he made publishing information technology books. -more-

The Berkeley City Council postponed discussion of the most controversial item on its Dec. 15 agenda. -more-

Berkeley is getting ready for another landmark brawl. -more-

The Berkeley High School Governance Council (SGC) voted last week to approve the latest school redesign plan, including a controversial proposal to eliminate science lab instruction that is currently offered before and after regular school hours. -more-

An attack on UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau’s house and conflicting reports as to why students were arrested at Wheeler Hall Friday, Dec. 11, have added a new twist to ongoing protests against university budget cuts. -more-

After months of debate, BART’s board of directors joined the Port of Oakland in awarding a contract for the construction of an Oakland Airport connector. -more-

The final hurdle for creating enterprise zones in West Berkeley has cleared, paving the way for more than 1,000 local businesses to receive tax credits. -more-

In response to state budget cuts, UC Berkeley students, faculty, and staff in the Department of Landscape Architecture are pitching in to help on-campus environmental restoration efforts and gardening programs at local schools. They call themselves the Landscape Progress Administration, an echo of the Depression-era Works Progress Administration that provided public-sector jobs and left a legacy of public works in the Bay Area and across the nation. -more-

Three UC Berkeley alums detained in Iran since July 31 will stand trial, according to Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, U.S. media reported Monday. -more-

In the 1960s Euell Gibbons was the man to consult for a back-to-nature approach to food, and Ruth Stout was the expert in a more natural way of growing it. Since one Gibbons title is Stalking the Healthful Herbs, in which is a recipe for pine-needle tea (“almost enjoyable”), when in January it was time to wonder what to do with one’s Christmas tree, the answer was, send it to Euell. -more-

Just in time for holiday gift giving, the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association has brought out a long-awaited new edition of 41 Berkeley Walking Tours. -more-

Happy 18th birthday! Congratulations, you are now officially an adult. You can vote, you can drink, you are independent.” -more-

If you love browsing the booths along Telegraph Avenue from the campus down to Dwight Way, the Telegraph Holiday Street Fair offers all that and much more. Held for the last three weekends in December, the entire street along those four blocks is closed to traffic and filled with about 100 craftspeople offering the most amazing variety of their creations for sale. -more-