Former Albany Wrestling Coach Gets Lengthy Sentence for Molesting Boys
A former Albany High School wrestling coach and a longtime youth sports volunteer was sentenced today to more than two decades in prison for molesting three teenage boys. -more-
A former Albany High School wrestling coach and a longtime youth sports volunteer was sentenced today to more than two decades in prison for molesting three teenage boys. -more-
The Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society has raised more than $115,000 since a fire destroyed parts of its facility late Wednesday night, according to a spokeswoman for the organization. -more-
A suspicious fire broke out today behind 1246 and 1248 Ashby. -more-
Three University of California at Berkeley graduates who have been detained in Iran for more than nine months had a "very emotional" reunion with their mothers today at a hotel in Tehran, a family member said. -more-
A man and woman were shot in south Berkeley this morning, a police spokeswoman said. -more-
In the news today: The City of Berkeley approves fee increases for various city programs to combat deficit; fire at the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society kills 15 cats and Berkeley’s Reel Video threatened by closure. -more-
The Alameda County coroner's bureau has identified a 35-year-old man who was struck and killed by an Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District bus after being knocked from his bike into traffic in Oakland Wednesday afternoon. -more-
At least a dozen cats were killed in an overnight fire at the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, but the actions of an animal living in an apartment above the shelter gave the sad story a silver lining. -more-
A 35-year-old man was struck and killed by an Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District bus after being knocked from his bike into traffic on a busy Oakland street this afternoon, police said. -more-
The Safeway Store on 1444 Shattuck Avenue, located in the heart of our wonderful Gourmet Ghetto, is planning to remodel their store. At the most recent meeting Safeway revealed that their plan for renovation calls for the removal of every single tree on the property! This includes the stately old grove of trees standing on the south edge of the property facing Henry Street.
There is a meeting of the Design and Review Committee on Thursday, May 20, at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Avenue, at the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard. This meeting begins at 7:00 pm. Please attend and let your feelings be known.
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With a rambling and multifaceted motion, the actual details of which are still being debated, Maria Viramontes emerged last night as the new champion of the controversial Point Molate mega casino and leader of the “Casino Four.” Joined by Bates, Rogers and Lopez, the “Casino Four” gave Upstream Point Molate nearly another year’s extension of the Land Disposition Agreement (LDA) that expired in January of this year without specifically attaching any of the conditions that have been the subject of intense negotiation over the last several months. -more-
Police are looking for a man who robbed a Safeway supermarket in El Cerrito at gunpoint Tuesday night, El Cerrito police Sgt. Peter Statton said today. -more-
The mothers of three University of California at Berkeley graduates who have been detained in Iran for more than nine months arrived today in Tehran, the country's capital city, according to their spokeswoman. -more-
In the news today: The Berkeley City Council agrees to Arizona sanctions and decides not to fine large family day care centers for retroactive penalties; Berkeley sets a limit for CO2 emissions; police warn of robberies; UC Berkeley freshmen get DNA swabs as welcome presents and Berkeley High School reopens the search for a new principal. -more-
As the current school year winds down at Berkeley High, it’s time to finalize plans for the new one, including the allocation of resources. It’s time as well to evaluate the year now coming to an end, and both of these tasks were on the agenda of the most recent governance council meeting this past Tuesday. -more-
In the news today: Bayer Pharmaceutical’s announcement of a new Innovation Center will not change anything for its Berkeley campus, the Berkeley City Council tonight (Tuesday) will consider an Arizona travel ban and a request for continuation for reconsideration of the Berkeley Iceland landmark designation. -more-
Berkeley police are seeking four suspects believed to be responsible for at least two robberies just south of the University of California at Berkeley campus in the past few weeks. -more-
A three-alarm fire that destroyed a home and damaged two others in North Berkeley on Thursday afternoon was apparently caused by a faulty lamp switch, an assistant fire chief said today. -more-
Margaret Regan has been covering immigration for over a decade for the Tucson Weekly and other publications. Her book is “The Death of Josseline: Immigration Stories from the Arizona-Mexico Borderlands.” She talked to NAM editor, Sandip Roy. -more-
PG&E on Monday issued an apology along with 45 reports dating back to August 2006 detailing reviews, monitoring, testing, and corrections identified in the company's SmartMeter program. -more-
Jurors this morning convicted Andrew Hoeft-Edenfield of second-degree murder for the stabbing death of University of California at Berkeley senior Christopher Wootton near campus two years ago. -more-
Protesters ended a 10-day hunger strike yesterday on the University of California at Berkeley campus during a meeting with the university chancellor and top administrators that both sides called productive. -more-
Home Services Crucial; Gulf Disaster; A 50th Anniversary at the Newman Center; Don't be Fooled by PG&E; Clean Up, BP; Gulf Disaster; Oil Takeover; Tea Party; Greed and Oil; End Political Parties; BRT Proponents Have Their Facts Wrong; Gestapo Epithets; Action Alert: Sleep-Out Protesting Schwarzenegger’s Deadly Cuts; Radical Republicans Doomed; Zionism; Local Likudnik Nutcases & Group Generalizations; More about Israel; Stop the Dirty Energy Proposition; PG&E Smart Meters -more-
Here for your amusement and horror is a map showing area residents who did not receive their notice (mailed April 14th) of Trader Joe's application for their liquor license as required by law. I polled almost every single residence within the notification area to collect signatures from everyone willing to state that they did for certain not receive any such notice. Only a third of people were home and only half of those who answered could state for certain whether they had or hadn't received the notice, and not all of those who knew they didn't get the notice were willing to sign the poll. And yet I managed to collect 28 signatures. In fact, I did not find anyone who said they had gotten the notice in their mail. -more-
Watch the Youtube video that has already been seen over 100,000 times and is being talked about everywhere... Click here. -more-
Dear UC President Yudof,
I received your enclosed message and statement, “UC Statement on Divestment,” and was saddened and disappointed. Not because I disagree with your position and the UC Board of Regents’ – that’s human – rather because of the thin rationale and less-than-honest language it employs. Let me elaborate.
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Imagine Berkeley Iceland reopened with new skating facilities, expanded community spaces, and a new cafe', all filled with kids of all ages. Envision the Berkeley Iceland building widened with a new community housing development designed to enhance the landmark deco look and respecting the neighborhood's character. This is the plan which is the basis of an offer made in recent months to purchase Berkeley Iceland and create a lasting legacy much as as the original design did for over 65 years. This plan provides the vision for a sustainable mixed use complex which the entire Berkeley community can support.
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After getting the pro- Measure C flyer (I use the pools and would gladly pay for them if it’s presented correctly) I came up with this: -more-
Now here's a touchy subject -- recently there's been spate of suicides by Marines who have just returned home from Iraq and Afghanistan. But here's the really touchy part: These suicides have all taken place on stateside Marine bases. One Marine recently escaped from a hospital at Camp Lejeune, got hold of a gun somehow and shot himself right there on the base. And another Marine at Quantico jumped in front of a train. -more-
This coming Tuesday, May 18, 2010, may be the most important date for the future of Point Molate since November 9, 2004 (See Point Molate is a Go, November 10, 2004). The City Council will vote on an agenda item placed by Nat Bates to extend the Upstream Point Molate Land Development Agreement (LDA) another two months from May 20 to July 20. -more-
Matt Kondolf, a professor who teaches environmental sciences, wrote an opinion piece in a recent Daily Planet which shows that, though he may be an expert on hydrology and river restoration, he obviously does not have transportation expertise. Prof. Kondolf makes numerous distorted claims and facts. -more-
Both the wireless corporations and the federal government have hidden from the public the substantial number of studies that reveal a cause and effect relationship between cell phone sites -- towers, antennas, and other equipment -- and their adverse health effects, including cancer. In fact, in some instances, discomforting symptoms appear shortly after exposure as well as in the long run. Nor is the public warned that children are especially vulnerable, with twice the leukemia rates for those residing near cell towers compared to children who live further away. Nevertheless, despite the corporate denial of the harm done, a growing number of communities have been catching on. -more-
The relationship between the recently defeated Bus Rapid Transit proposal (in Berkeley) and densification of our neighborhoods has ramifications which will continue to come up again and again, and it is vitally important that we look at these issues. -more-
The pros brought to bring in the crowds and supposedly to help a diverse and open music program at Berkeley High School were fabulous. The Jazz Mafia, Zakiya Hooker(John Lee Hooker’s daughter)and her blues band, and a wonderful samba band "Fito Reinoso" made for a great day of music. -more-
I would like to you consider what I believe to be a fairly easy community service project that can potentially make a significant difference in the country of Afghanistan.Making a difference for the people of Afghanistan can make a very real difference for America. -more-
It’s an unusual experience to go to a meeting and afterwards read not one but two reasonably accurate reports about what happened there. But since the one I went to on Friday was the latest installment in the ongoing saga of The Future of Journalism, it’s not surprising that at least two accounts were online before two sunsets had passed.
There have been many stories told in various places about what’s happening with Warren Hellman’s media baby, born as the Bay Area News Project but recently rebaptized as the Bay Citizen. I took my little spiral reporter’s notebook to the meeting which they hosted for a few of the Bay Area’s many blogs and online news organs, but I don’t think I can improve on these two renditions.
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If you want to know what's happening before it lands on you, watch the under-the-radar activities of the Agenda Committee, a cozy Berkeley City Council subcommittee (Bates, Maio, Wozniak) that pre-scripts what the council might do a week or so later. Of course, even when they agree on the agenda, minds can change in the interim. But here's the first draft of what might happen at the June 4 City Council meeting, to be considered at the Monday agenda committee meeting. -more-
Breaking news stories can be seen on this page in the "extra" section.Click the "next issue" button above to see these new articles: Berkeley's Budget Nightmare (and Ours); Iran Sanctions Won't Work; Open Letter to UC Berkeley Officials Re Genetic Testing of Incoming Students; Of Pools and Many Things, and Why I am Supporting Measure C -more-
Regular readers (now more than 20,000 visitors a week, with almost 600 subscribers) will find this week’s Planet particularly confusing. We’re in a new phase of our experimental process, so please read this carefully and then bear with us during the transition. -more-
The Richmond Plunge restoration is almost finished. It was filled for the first time last week in a gala celebration that featured smiley-face beachballs standing in for future swimmers. -more-
I want to talk about the World Wide Web but, first, some talk about money. -more-
Americans are taught to think of mentally ill people as freaks or misfits. Usage of the word, “psychotic,” as a noun to designate a mentally ill person, is widespread. You may not realize that such a usage is hurtful and insulting to people who have to deal with these illnesses on a day-to-day basis. The word “psychotic” in correct English is an adjective that describes some of the symptoms mentally ill people must endure. -more-
Over the past twenty months the USA has experienced two cataclysmic disasters, the 2008 near meltdown of the financial system and the recent Gulf Coast ecological disaster resulting from a deep-sea oil leak. While both events resulted from failed oversight, they have a deeper genesis: magical thinking. -more-
How’s your current awareness ? If you’re aged in California, you should know about the CSL.Alas, too many people have never heard of it. -more-
Dedicated to my pursuit of discovering low cost restaurants, I've now extending that search to international restaurants. Accordingly, I hereby highly recommend Anzu, specializing in Japanese cuisine. This small but very attractive restaurant is located at 2433 Shattuck Avenue (across from the Toyota dealer if you have trouble spotting it). -more-
One last Kaua’i column and I’ll have gotten it out of my system.
Early on in our visit we spent a day in the Alaka’i Swamp, in the highlands of western Kaua’i. Not strictly a swamp in hydrological terms, it’s more of a bog where rainwater has collected above an impermeable layer of lava. It even has bog plants like the carnivorous sundew, the same species that grows in the Arctic tundra, probably transported to the island on the plumage of a migrating Pacific golden plover. There are patches of stunted ‘ohi’a trees, similar to the pygmy forests of the Mendocino coast.
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A single mother, atoning for her sins in a convent; the justice of countryfolk over adultery…not the stuff of Baroque or Romantic opera, but very much of the verismo style, stories from real life. True to its company name, Verismo Opera will stage two of that style's shorter masterworks, Puccini's Suor Angelica and Cavelleria Rusticana, by Pietro Mascagni, this Saturday night at 7:30 at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar. -more-
Lots of folks don’t watch TV. It’s a waste of time. But if you are tempted by this addictive diversion, let me alert you that we are living in a Golden Age of Phil Farnsworth’s one-eyed monster. -more-
When Sean Chapin found himself addicted to drugs and homeless at the age of 25, he knew something had to change. -more-
Kent Nagano returns as conductor emeritus to lead the Berkeley Akademie Thursday night, May 20, at 8, in Mozart's Quintet in E flat for Piano and Winds, Jorg Widmann's Versuch uber die Fuge (Attempt at a Fugue) and Mozart's Concerto in A for Clarinet, at the First Congregational Church, Channing Way at Dana. -more-
The Berkeley Arts Festival will run through the month of May at 2121 Allston Way in downtown Berkeley. -more-
Can Warren Hellman Save Journalism? 05-17-2010
New: Agendas 05-20-2010
In the Next Issue 05-20-2010
New Operating Instructions for This Publication 05-14-2010
The Richmond Plunge is Back 05-19-2010
Odd Bodkins: The Celestial Rock Pile Dan O'Neill 05-17-2010
Letters to The Editor 05-18-2010
Most Residents Not Notified of Trader Joe's Liquor License Application Eric Dynamic 05-17-2010
Flashmob Invades Westin Hotel - Video Goes Viral Sent by Jonah Minkoff-Zern 05-14-2010
Open Letter to UC President Yudof Re: UC Statement on Divestment Mohammad Talaat, PhD, PE 05-13-2010
Berkeley Iceland - A Plan for Creative Reuse By Tom Killilea 05-17-2010
Measure C-3rd grade math doesn't add up for this bond measure By Justin Lee 05-17-2010
Our Marines: Ridden Hard & Put Away Wet Jane Stillwater jpstillwater.blogspot.com 05-16-2010
Point Molate Extension on Richmond Council Agenda Tuesday Councilmember Tom Butt 05-16-2010
Response to Prof. Kondolf on BRT By Roy Nakadegawa 05-13-2010
The Boy Scouts: A Pact With the Devil by Harry Brill 05-13-2010
BRT, Activism, Densification, and Quality of Life By Joseph Stubbs 05-17-2010
White BHS Jazz on 4th St. Fundraiser By Steve Logan 05-17-2010
Children in Afghanistan Need Used English Books By Lt. Colonel Donald Davis 05-18-2010
Former Albany Wrestling Coach Gets Lengthy Sentence for Molesting Boys By Jeff Shuttleworth(BCN) 05-24-2010
Humane Society Receives Flood of Donations after Fire By Janna Brancolini, BCN 05-21-2010
Flash: Fire on Ashby on Friday Afternoon By Thomas Lord 05-21-2010
New: Detained UC Berkeley Hikers Have Emotional Reunion with Mothers in Iran By Jeff Shuttleworth, BCN 05-20-2010
Flash: Two Shot in South Berkeley This Morning By Bay City News 05-20-2010
Berkeley Today: Thursday By Riya Bhattacharjee 05-20-2010
Updated: Bicyclist Killed by AC Transit Bus Identified By Bay City News 05-20-2010
New: Twelve Cats Die in Fire at Berkeley Humane Society: Foster Homes, Donations Sought By Bay City News 05-20-2010
New: Bicyclist Fatally Struck by AC-Transit Bus By Bay City News 05-19-2010
New: Save Our Trees from Safeway's Axe! By Harvey Sherback (Partisan Position) 05-19-2010
Richmond City Council: Casino Four Hands Out 11-Month Extension of Point Molate Casino Land Disposition Agreement By Councilmember Tom Butt (Partisan Position) 05-19-2010
El Cerrito Safeway Robbed at Gunpoint By Bay City News 05-19-2010
Hikers' Mothers Arrive in Teheran By Bay City News 05-19-2010
Berkeley Today: Wednesday By Riya Bhattacharjee 05-19-2010
School Governance at Berkeley High: Resource Allocation, School Plan, Test Scores (News Analysis) By Raymond Barglow berkeleytutors.net 05-15-2010
Berkeley Today By Riya Bhattacharjee 05-17-2010
Berkeley Police Seek Four Suspects in Connection With Recent Robberies By Bay City News 05-14-2010
Lamp Switch Started House Fire Dan McMenamin, BCN 05-14-2010
Life and Death on the Arizona Border New America Media, Interview by Sandip Roy 05-13-2010
PG&E Apologizes for Smart Meter Problems, but Some Aren't Satisfied By Bay City News 05-13-2010
Hoeft-Edenfield Convicted of Second-Degree Murder for Stabbing UC Berkeley Student Bay City News 05-13-2010
UC Berkeley Hunger Strike Ends with Meeting Bay City News 05-17-2010
Updated: Opera Double Bill at Hillside Club on Saturday 05-18-2010
PG&E Apologizes for Smart Meter Problems, but Some Aren't Satisfied Bay City News 05-17-2010
This Week at the Berkeley Arts Festival Bonnie Hughes 05-17-2010
Blogbeat: Burritos per Barrel By Thomas Lord 05-17-2010
First Person: Lifestyles of the Mentally Ill By Jack Bragen 05-13-2010
The Public Eye: What Caused the BP Oil Leak? Magical Thinking. Bob Burnett 05-17-2010
Senior Power: Current Awareness: “What’s the CSL?” By Helen Rippier Wheeler 05-17-2010
Reader's Recommendation: Anzu Restaurant By Dorothy Snodgrass 05-13-2010
Wild Neighbors: Ghosts of the Alaka’i By Joe Eaton 05-13-2010
Readings-East Bay Through May 30 05-18-2010
Stage-East Bay Through May 30 05-18-2010
Popmusic-East Bay Through May 30 05-18-2010
Classical Music-East Bay Through May 30 05-17-2010
Museums-East Bay Through May 30 05-18-2010
Galleries-East Bay Through May 30 05-18-2010
Classical Music-San Francisco Through May 30 05-18-2010
Stage-San Francisco Through May 30 05-18-2010
Updated: Opera Double Bill at the Hillside Club on Saturday By Ken Bullock 05-19-2010
If You're Gonna Veg With the Tube, Watch the Good Stuff By John A. McMullen II 05-15-2010
From Sidewalks to Art Studios By Andrew David King 05-18-2010
Nagano Back for Berkeley Academie By Ken Bullock 05-18-2010
Last Two Weeks of the Berkeley Arts Festival By Bonnie Hughes 05-17-2010
Wild Neighbors: Ghosts of the Alaka’i By Joe Eaton 05-13-2010
Highlights-East Bay Through May 30 05-18-2010
Outdoors-East Bay Through May 30 05-18-2010
Kids-East Bay Through May 30 05-18-2010
Dance-East Bay Through May 30 05-18-2010
General-East Bay Through May 30 05-18-2010