Students prepare to board the bus at Skyline High in Oakland.
Raymond Barglow
Students prepare to board the bus at Skyline High in Oakland.

Extra

New: UC Berkeley Strikers Still On Campus

By Bay City News and Online Sources
Monday May 10, 2010 - 06:38:00 PM
via Alejandro Garcia: Students march to Chancellor's house.

Hunger strikers at the University of California at Berkeley tried to block the school's administration building today but people could still get inside, according to a university spokeswoman. The students held a rally today at 3:30 p.m, and then marched to the Chancellor's residence. A twitter message at about 5 pm said "Admin has contacted us: there will be a meeting only if we end up the hunger strike." Strikers posted this video of the march on their Facebook page on Monday night. -more-


New: UC Berkeley Football Team Will Play 2011 Games at AT&T Park

By Bay City News Service
Monday May 10, 2010 - 04:32:00 PM

The University of California at Berkeley has reached an agreement with the San Francisco Giants for Cal's football team to play their home games in 2011 at AT&T Park in San Francisco while its own stadium is being retrofitted and renovated. -more-


New: Richmond and Chevron Reach Agreement

From the Richmond Progressive Association, via Councilmember Tom Butt (Partisan Position)
Monday May 10, 2010 - 08:53:00 AM

Negotiators for the city of Richmond and Chevron have reached an unprecedented agreement that settles several major tax issues. Chevron has agreed to pay millions of additional dollars to the city if the city will drop its appeal of Measure T and proposed changes in the Utility Users Tax. (See below for details.).The settlement goes to the city council next Tuesday where the Richmond Progressive Alliance expects and supports its adoption. -more-


Flash: Police Roust UC Berkeley Hunger Strikers

From a press release.
Monday May 10, 2010 - 08:43:00 AM

The hunger strikers on the UC Berkeley campus who are protesting Arizona's new immigration law were ordered to disperse by UC police early this morning. -more-


Press Release: Bart Police Ask for Public's Help in Investigating Suspicious Death

Saturday May 08, 2010 - 09:53:00 AM

OAKLAND, CA – The BART Police Department is investigating a suspicious death in which a 22-year-old white male from Berkeley, Konstantin Tomashevsky, was found at the UN Plaza entrance of the Civic Center BART Station on May 5, 2010. -more-



Page One

Updated: UC Berkeley Hunger Strike against Arizona Law Continues

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday May 07, 2010 - 12:47:00 PM

The UC Berkeley hunger strike urging university officials to publicly denounce Arizona's illegal immigration bill that began Monday at noon has garnered strength over the last few days. -more-



Rabbi Lerner Asks for Media's Help to Publicize Vandalism

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday May 07, 2010 - 12:45:00 PM

In a message to supporters Thursday, Rabbi Michael Lerner--whose Berkeley Hills home was recently vandalized by right-wing Zionists— urged the media to draw attention to the incident and what it means for “Americans and for American Jews.” -more-



Berkeley This Week

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday May 07, 2010 - 12:00:00 PM

In the news since the last issue: Berkeley City Council postpones new marijuana regulations, tables fine proposal for large daycares, approves a proposal for amendments to Telegraph late night zoning; Berkeley Rep plays get Tony nominations and Berkeley police ask for help on missing teen. -more-



Skyline High Students Visit Their Representatives in Sacramento

Raymond Barglow, Ph.D. www.berkeleytutors.net
Friday May 07, 2010 - 12:29:00 PM

It’s one thing for California high school students to read or hear a lecture about how government works. It is quite another for them to experience this in person. -more-



Features

UC Workers Join Student Hunger Strike: Say UC must realign its priorities to put students, workers first

From AFSCME 3299 Press Release
Thursday May 06, 2010 - 12:52:00 PM

Saying the University of California's sharply misguided priorities call for unprecedented and unified action, two University of California employees represented by the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3299 have joined students in a hunger strike at the UC Berkeley campus. Today's action comes after workers last week called on prominent graduation speakers at UC campuses statewide to refuse to deliver their commencement addresses unless workers' demands are met (see list of demands below). -more-


San Pablo Citizens Win Four Year Moratorium on Eminent Domain

By Marilynne L. Mellander (Partisan Position)
Friday May 07, 2010 - 01:58:00 PM

Hundreds of citizens attended the San Pablo City Council meeting Monday night 5/3/10 to voice their opposition to the reinstatement of eminent domain (ED) in their city, a provision that lapsed in March 2009. Redevelopment project areas currently cover over 90% of the city leaving most citizens in fear of losing their homes. -more-


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Friday May 07, 2010 - 02:04:00 PM

Mother's Day really was in its origin an antiwar day, an antiwar statement. Julia Ward Howe was sickened by what had happened during the Civil War, the loss of life, the carnage, and she created Mother's Day as a call for women all over the world to come together and create ways of protesting war, of making a kind of alternate government that could finally do away with war as an acceptable way of solving conflict. Countries used to go to war just for pride over some incident because they were offended or one king made a bad remark about another king. -more-


Updated: Of Polar Bears and Concrete Islands in Telegraph Avenue

By Matt Kondolf, with an addendum by Robert Lauriston
Friday May 07, 2010 - 10:02:00 PM

Shortly before the November 2008 election, I received in the mail a glossy flyer with a picture of a polar bear, which said “We can’t afford to wait…” The flyer argued that we must implement transit projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to save the polar bear, and that we should oppose a citizen initiative (Measure KK) to require voter approval of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) along Telegraph Avenue. My interest was piqued, and I began to follow the debate about the proposal for BRT with interest. As one trained to evaluate scientific claims, I was intrigued. The scientific question (with obvious policy implications) is whether building the proposed BRT down Telegraph Avenue will result in less greenhouse gas emissions than the current situation. But who paid for this slick flyer, and what scientific basis underlay the claim that pouring concrete islands in the middle of Telegraph Avenue was likely to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? -more-


Berkeley Budget Mess? Fix the Public Servant Cartel

By Victoria Peirotes
Friday May 07, 2010 - 10:06:00 PM

Recent headlines: “Berkeley Tackles $14.6 Million Budget Deficit”. Some may recall that ten months ago Mayor Bates was featured, in color, front page-and-center, in the Berkeley Voice, saying “The Future is Rosy for Berkeley.” Now “Rosy-the-Rivet-You” sings a different Looney-Tune. What a difference a year makes! -more-


Imploding

By R.G. Davis
Friday May 07, 2010 - 03:41:00 PM

If we take the BP oil slick, now 23000 gallons a day (May 3, 2010), floating disaster into the gulf of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas onto Florida and then into the Atlantic Ocean as the greatest, the biggest, the primo example of how oil companies are killing the ecological resources, the breeding grounds fly-ways of birds and aquatic life; and make a connection by adding a report from the US Disease Control Agency, revealing that cigarette smoking, (still!) junk food and sedentary life are now causing obesity and diabetes thus increasing heart disease in 50 percent of the adult population (Chron., Disease Control April 27, 10: A8), then we could predict, with qualifying evidence and substantial data, based upon third party research of Government agencies and official news of the established press, that these ruinous events might well weaken the courage and resources of the US economy, the society, the military and the Empire. -more-


Editorial

Making Transit Work for People: Why BRT is Doomed to Fail

By Becky O'Malley
Friday May 07, 2010 - 11:21:00 AM

Today we have an excellent reader commentary from an environmental scientist explaining, once more with feeling, why AC Transit’s Bus Rapid Transit boondoggle will do absolutely nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, contrary to the claims of some local pols. To that can be added what’s even more pathetic: It won’t do anything to improve public transit either. -more-


The Editor's Back Fence

Blips on the Screen: BP's a Threat in Berkeley Too; Raging Deer in Thousand Oaks; McMansion Marches On

Friday May 07, 2010 - 09:16:00 AM

Anyone who's worried about BP's seeming lock on a lot of space and people here in Berkeley had better read this :"...from my investigation, BP has figured out a very low-cost way to prepare for this task: BP lies. BP prevaricates, BP fabricates and BP obfuscates. That's because responding to a spill may be easy and simple, but not at all cheap. And BP is cheap. Deadly cheap." -more-


Columns

The Public Eye:Budrus: Good News from the West Bank

By Bob Burnett
Friday May 07, 2010 - 12:23:00 PM

I flinch every time I read a headline that includes the words Israel, Palestine, West Bank, or Gaza. Usually the articles contain horrific news: suicide bombs maiming Israeli civilians, troops dragging Palestinians off their ancestral lands, escalating anger and violence. At long last, the documentary film Budrus brings good news, a tiny ray of hope in what’s seemed to be an ocean of despair. -more-


Wild Neighbors: The Dog That Runs in the Rough Water

Joe Eaton
Friday May 07, 2010 - 11:38:00 AM
Oblivious Hawai'ian monk seal, Po'ipu Beach Park, Kaua'i.

The trick to spotting a Hawai’ian monk seal, according to Kaua’i-based naturalist David Kuhn, is to look for the orange plastic cones delimiting its space on the beach. -more-


BP

By Marian Kamensky
Friday May 07, 2010 - 01:07:00 PM

Odd Bodkins -- The Miracle

By Dan O'Neill
Friday May 07, 2010 - 01:03:00 PM

Arts & Events

At the Berkeley Arts Festival This Weekend

By Bonnie Hughes
Friday May 07, 2010 - 11:43:00 AM

This weekend the Berkeley Arts Festival will present the third night of John Schott's Typical Orchestra Retrospective and the India Cooke Bill Crossman Duo Audiences coming into the future home of the Judah L. Magnes Museum at 2121 Allston Way are greeted by the large figurative works of painter Bob Brokl. -more-


Arts Listings

Friday Through Tuesday

Friday May 07, 2010 - 11:48:00 AM

Events Listings

Friday Through Tuesday

Friday May 07, 2010 - 11:56:00 AM

Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

Making Transit Work for People: Why BRT is Doomed to Fail 05-07-2010

A Hate Crime with a Religious Motive 05-04-2010

The Editor's Back Fence

Blips on the Screen: BP's a Threat in Berkeley Too; Raging Deer in Thousand Oaks; McMansion Marches On 05-07-2010

New: BP's in Berkeley Too 05-05-2010

Cartoons

BP By Marian Kamensky 05-07-2010

Odd Bodkins -- The Miracle By Dan O'Neill 05-07-2010

Odd Bodkins -- The Miracle By Dan O'Neill 05-03-2010

Public Comment

Letters to the Editor 05-07-2010

Updated: Of Polar Bears and Concrete Islands in Telegraph Avenue By Matt Kondolf, with an addendum by Robert Lauriston 05-07-2010

Berkeley Budget Mess? Fix the Public Servant Cartel By Victoria Peirotes 05-07-2010

Imploding By R.G. Davis 05-07-2010

Letters to the Editor 05-03-2010

Against BRT: Streets are for People, Not Buses By Peter Smith 05-04-2010

First Person: The Metamorphosis and Evisceration of Islamic Progressivism By Rizwan Rahmani 05-03-2010

The Dementia of Petroleum Addiction? By Craig Collins, Ph.D. 05-03-2010

Signs of Our Time By Steve Martinot 05-03-2010

The Berkeley Divestment Campaign and the Problem of Antisemitism By Ronald Hendel 05-04-2010

News

New: UC Berkeley Strikers Still On Campus By Bay City News and Online Sources 05-10-2010

New: UC Berkeley Football Team Will Play 2011 Games at AT&T Park By Bay City News Service 05-10-2010

New: Richmond and Chevron Reach Agreement From the Richmond Progressive Association, via Councilmember Tom Butt (Partisan Position) 05-10-2010

Flash: Police Roust UC Berkeley Hunger Strikers From a press release. 05-10-2010

Press Release: Bart Police Ask for Public's Help in Investigating Suspicious Death 05-08-2010

Updated: UC Berkeley Hunger Strike against Arizona Law Continues By Riya Bhattacharjee 05-07-2010

Rabbi Lerner Asks for Media's Help to Publicize Vandalism By Riya Bhattacharjee 05-07-2010

Berkeley This Week By Riya Bhattacharjee 05-07-2010

Skyline High Students Visit Their Representatives in Sacramento Raymond Barglow, Ph.D. www.berkeleytutors.net 05-07-2010

UC Workers Join Student Hunger Strike: Say UC must realign its priorities to put students, workers first From AFSCME 3299 Press Release 05-06-2010

San Pablo Citizens Win Four Year Moratorium on Eminent Domain By Marilynne L. Mellander (Partisan Position) 05-07-2010

New: UC Workers Join Student Hunger Strike From AFSCME 3299 Press Release 05-06-2010

New: UC Berkeley hunger strike negotiations break down when administration tries to split students and workers From the organizers' press release 05-06-2010

New: Jury Starts Deliberations in UC Berkeley Student Murder Case By Bay City News 05-05-2010

New: Oakland: Council Votes to Boycott Arizona over Immigration Law By Bay City News 05-05-2010

New: Berkeley Today: Wednesday By Riya Bhattacharjee 05-05-2010

Berkeley City Council Rejects "Full Build" BRT for EIR, Endorses "Reduced Impact" By Joyce Roy (Partisan Position) 05-04-2010

Rabbi's Berkeley Hills Home Vandalized From a Tikkun Magazine Press Release 05-04-2010

Berkeley News Roundup By Riya Bhattacharjee 05-04-2010

Arizona’s Immigration Law Spurs Copycat Legislation By Marcelo Ballvé, New America Media 05-03-2010

New: Ex-Letter Carrier Tries to Run Down Postal Supervisor in Albany By Bay City News 05-05-2010

UC Berkeley Students in Second Day of Hunger Strike By Bay City News 05-04-2010

Family Mourns Son Murdered a Year Ago Today--Crime is Still Unsolved 05-04-2010

Berkeley High Community Members Weigh in on Principal Selection Process By Raymond Barglow www.berkeleytutors.net 05-04-2010

Closing Arguments in UC Berkeley Stabbing Trial By Bay City News 05-04-2010

Columns

The Public Eye:Budrus: Good News from the West Bank By Bob Burnett 05-07-2010

Wild Neighbors: The Dog That Runs in the Rough Water Joe Eaton 05-07-2010

SENIOR POWER:"Age Strong! Live Long!" By Helen Rippier Wheeler 05-04-2010

Nice Day in Berkeley Draws a Thousand Tourers to BAHA, Natives Events By Steven Finacom 05-04-2010

Arts & Events

Friday Through Tuesday 05-07-2010

At the Berkeley Arts Festival This Weekend By Bonnie Hughes 05-07-2010

Wild Neighbors: The Dog That Runs in the Rough Water Joe Eaton 05-07-2010

Friday Through Tuesday 05-07-2010

CLASSICAL MUSIC-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 16 05-04-2010

POPMUSIC-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 16 05-04-2010

CLASSICAL MUSIC-SAN FRANCISCO THROUGH MAY 16 05-04-2010

PROFESSIONAL DANCE-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 16 05-04-2010

READINGS-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 16 05-04-2010

STAGE-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 16 05-04-2010

GALLERIES-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 16 05-04-2010

EXHIBITS-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 16 05-04-2010

DANCE-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 16 05-04-2010

STAGE-SAN FRANCISCO THROUGH MAY 16 05-04-2010

A Reader Recommends: Jerusalem, the East Side Story By Annette Herskovits 05-04-2010

A Reader Recommends: La Fiesta By Dorothy Snodgrass 05-03-2010

Nice Day in Berkeley Draws a Thousand Tourers to BAHA, Natives Events By Steven Finacom 05-04-2010

OUTDOORS-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 16 05-04-2010

MUSEUMS-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 16 05-04-2010

GENERAL-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 16 05-04-2010

KIDS-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 16 05-04-2010

HIGHLIGHTS-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 16 05-04-2010

GENERAL-SAN FRANCISCO THROUGH MAY 16 05-04-2010

MUSEUMS-SAN FRANCISCO THROUGH MAY 16 05-04-2010