Opinion

The results are in! The winner of this month’s Orwell Prize is……Tom Bates, for his brand shiny new Green Pathways program, announced this week at the City Council’s Hidden Agenda Committee. -more-

A SIGNIFICANT EVENT -more-

Something stinks in West Berkeley and it’s not just the noxious odors coming from several industrial firms primarily Pacific Steel Castings foundry (PSC) on Gilman Street. -more-

Six months ago I was asked to become the CEO of Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland. I am a pediatrician and am Board Certified in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. I have worked at Children’s for 37 years, originally joining Children’s Hospital to start a hematology/oncology program. Twenty-five years ago, I was asked to direct the research program, which is now called Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI). I accepted the position as CEO because I recognized the hospital’s uniqueness as a safety net hospital for the entire Northern California region; a non-profit medical center that takes care of children regardless of their ability to pay. Its mission includes care to all children, education for future medical care providers, research that improves the lives of children worldwide, and advocacy for the health of children. -more-

AC Transit is in dire financial straights and is in danger of having to cut bus service by 15 percent in March of this year. -more-

The trouble with reporting what another newspaper says is that when that newspaper gets it wrong, the secondhand “news” purveyor gets it wrong too. The San Francisco Chronicle’s story on Feb. 9 got it wrong about the likely causes of Berkeley’s budget deficit. On Feb. 10, East Bay Express columnist Robert Gammon copied, simplified, and amplified the error.   -more-

Instead of arguing (Daily Planet, Jan. 28, Feb. 4 and Feb. 11) about whether or not the Association of Bay Area Governments mandates any given number of additional residents in downtown Berkeley—which I don’t think it does—I’d suggest we broaden the discussion by looking at how regional planning is conducted, and whether it could or should be done differently.  -more-

Now that his Middle East peace initiative has shattered on the rocks of Israeli intransigence, it’s time for President Obama to consider a new approach. In the spirit of bipartisanship that he’s so dedicated to, I suggest he look to the way Dwight D. Eisenhower handled a similar challenge a half-century ago.  -more-

I enjoy a good mystery, but I was hesitant at first to pick up a Dick Francis mystery. After all, I don’t know or care anything about horse racing. But on one of my travels, I was stuck for some reading material and picked up an abandoned copy of a Dick Francis novel. I was hooked. Although the settings are always directly or tangentially related to horse racing, the books are just good reads. And I even learned a bit about horse racing. -more-