The Week

 

News

Flash: Appeals Court: Same-Sex Marriages on Hold Until Dec. 6 Hearing

By Bay City News
Monday August 16, 2010 - 07:48:00 PM

A federal appeals court in San Francisco has granted a stay that will block gay and lesbian couples from getting married until at least December while a case that challenges California's ban on same-sex marriage moves forward. -more-


Cal’s Genetic Testing of Freshmen: Retreat and Declare Victory

By Thomas Lord
Thursday August 12, 2010 - 10:33:00 PM

The University of California at Berkeley has been forced, by the California Department of Public Health, to abandon significant portions of its “Bring Your Genes to Cal” orientation program for incoming freshmen. The Department of Health informed UC Berkeley that major aspects of the orientation program – described as an “experiment” by the university – are unlawful. Today the university announced significant changes to the program to comply with the state’s demands – although questions remain concerning the program. -more-


Press Release: UC Berkeley Changes DNA Testing Plan

By Robert Sanders
Thursday August 12, 2010 - 12:58:00 PM

The California Department of Public Health has instructed the University of California, Berkeley, not to proceed with a portion of its ground-breaking program to educate students about genetic testing and personalized medicine. -more-


Press Release: University of California Postdoctoral Researchers Ratify Contract

From UC Office of the President
Thursday August 12, 2010 - 09:46:00 AM

The United Auto Workers (UAW) and the University of California today jointly announced that UC postdoctoral scholars voted to ratify their first union contract. The Union announced that postdocs approved the contract by an overwhelming vote of 2588 to 121, or 96 percent in favor, in balloting that concluded Aug. 11. The postdocs’ union, Postdoctoral Researchers Organize/UAW, and UC reached a tentative agreement on July 31, 2010. -more-


Candidates File for Berkeley's November Elections

By Becky O'Malley with Charlotte Perry-Houts
Monday August 09, 2010 - 07:15:00 PM

Friday was the last day for candidates for Berkeley city offices to file the requisite paperwork to appear on the November ballot. -more-


Assemblymember Skinner and Officials Celebrate Launch of Fourth Bore Construction

By Bay City News Service
Monday August 09, 2010 - 11:01:00 PM

Public officials switched on a 50-foot long, 130-ton tunnel-boring machine today and made the first grinding cuts into a retaining wall that will eventually become the fourth bore of the Caldecott Tunnel, project spokesman Jeff Weiss said today. -more-


Landmarks Commission Recognizes Dwight Way Victorian

By Steven Finacom
Monday August 09, 2010 - 10:20:00 PM
The newly landmarked Fish-Clark House stands on the north side of Dwight
                Way, west of California Street.

Berkeley has one new historic landmark—a 127 year old Victorian house familiar to those who travel through the central part of town—as the result of efforts of a neighborhood history group and favorable action at the August 5, 2010, regular meeting of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. -more-


Solar Waste Recycling: Can The Industry Stay Green?

By Erica Gies
Monday August 09, 2010 - 06:53:00 PM
Solar waste recycling industry starts up. Clean-tech firms seek to reuse a variety of rare, potentially toxic materials. New businesses emerge as manufacturers prepare for modules’ end of life.

Clean-tech firms seek to reuse a variety of rare, potentially toxic materials. New businesses emerge as manufacturers prepare for modules' end of life. -more-


The Other Change of Hobbit is Living in South Berkeley

By Ken Bullock
Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 12:08:00 PM

Other Change of Hobbit, Berkeley's pioneering science fiction-fantasy bookstore, now in spacious new digs at 3264 Adeline Street, between Harmon and Alcatraz, near popular destinations like The Vault and Sweet Adeline's, has been forced to contemplate the future—the near future—and survival in a gloomy economy. -more-


Press Release: Jesse Arreguin Announces Council Candidacy

From Councilmember Jesse Arreguin
Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 04:16:00 PM

Dear Friends-

Over the past year and a half as your Councilmember, I have been an independent voice on the Berkeley City Council, fighting for District 4 and continuing Dona Spring’s legacy of progressive leadership. -more-


Press Release: Bates, Hancock, Skinner Endorse Josh Daniels for School Board

From Josh Daniels
Thursday August 12, 2010 - 10:17:00 AM

State Senator Loni Hancock, Assemblymember Nancy Skinner and Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates have all joined in endorsing Josh Daniels as a consensus choice in the Berkeley School Board race. -more-


Opinion

Editorials

Creating the Jobs We All Need Now

By Becky O'Malley
Monday August 09, 2010 - 11:01:00 PM
Congressman Barney Frank and San Lorenzo Valley School District high school government teacher Cindy Martinez, a big fan who asked him to pose with her in the halls of Congress last month. (Full disclosure: She's my niece.}

Last week I was having lunch in my favorite corner store/café in Berkeley when a mother came in with two tiny boys, one about four, the other in a stroller. She herself was a compact person, probably under five feet tall, with big brown eyes and long black hair—she looked like she came from one of the indigenous populations of Mexico or Central America. Altogether, they were a handsome and cheerful family group. -more-


The Editor's Back Fence

Subscription Note

Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 05:33:00 PM

Some subscribers have discovered that their personal letters from the Planet editor sometimes end up in Spam. To prevent this from happening to you, put my email address in your contact list right away. If you aren't a subsciber but would like to be, write to subscribe@berkeleydailyplanet.com. It's free, though all it gets you is notification when new or special issues are posted. -more-


Cartoons

Odd Bodkins: The 21st Century

Dan O'Neill
Monday August 09, 2010 - 10:37:00 PM

Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 12:22:00 PM

Where Are the Black American Men? Ex-H-P CEO Mark Hurd;Libraries and the Proposed Changes;RPP Renewals; Truth Will Out;“Most Americans seem to view those who are mentally ill as a bit less than real human beings”; Jack Bragen on Schizophrenia -more-


The Factious and Insular Nature of the Muslim World

By Rizwan Rahmani
Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 11:53:00 AM

There are roughly one and a half billion Muslims living on this planet, and it is a very heterogeneous group. It is fragmented and disparate, communal and even tribal in some parts of the Middle East, Pakistan, Africa, and Afghanistan. I know of no other community of this proportion that is politically so disorganized, and communally this incoherent. -more-


Unconscious racism? "Revitalizing Bart Plaza to welcome bigger and more diverse groups of people??"

By Anamaria Sanchez Romero
Monday August 09, 2010 - 08:06:00 PM

In the online BERKELEYSIDE, Aug. 4th, 2010, Frances Dinkelspiel writes of a $2.25 million budget for the city to make over the downtown “Bart Plaza to become an inviting spot.”. A City planner has the audacity to say the Plaza is worn and outdated, and "It is really exciting to think we will have a space people will feel really good about being in and using.… The goal is to create a space that is more welcoming to bigger and more diverse groups of people”. -more-


What the Express Left Out of the West Berkeley Story

By John Curl and Rick Auerbach
Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 11:01:00 AM

Several weeks ago the Express published a front page article ("Factories for the Future...momentum shifts toward preservation of land suitable for light manufacturing" ) describing how Oakland and other East Bay cities are now realizing the value of maintaining their industrial production lands for the important goods, services, and jobs the companies that occupy these lands provide. -more-


Weak Links Heighten Loss in Berkeley

By Ted Friedman
Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 04:15:00 PM

Weak links in a chain often break and that's just what happened in the loss of the U.C. theater a decade ago and now Reel Video, both killed off by their parents. -more-


Columns

Blogbeat: Are Student Gene Tests Science or Market Research?

By Thomas Lord
Monday August 09, 2010 - 05:53:00 PM

This week’s theme: UC Berkeley asked incoming freshmen to volunteer for genetic tests this year. The program was met with accusations that it is bad science. Some have also charged that the program is the corrupt product of commercial and personal conflicts of interest. We examine the arguments for these accusations by examining source materials found on the Internet. -more-


Dispatches From The Edge: Behind The Colombia/Venezuela Tension

By Conn Hallinan
Monday August 09, 2010 - 06:06:00 PM

If you want to understand what’s behind the recent tension between Colombia and Venezuela, think “smokescreen,” and then go back several months to some sick children in the Department of Meta, just south of Bogota. The children fell ill after drinking from a local stream, a stream contaminated by the bodies of more than 2,000 people, secretly buried by the Colombian military. -more-


The Public Eye: Obama’s Failure to Communicate

By Bob Burnett
Friday August 06, 2010 - 04:29:00 PM

Three months before the mid-term elections, Americans are angry. As a result, it’s likely that Democrats will lose control of either the House or Senate. While the negative political trends can be attributed to the stagnant economy or ruthless Republican negativism, the primary culprit is the White House: Barack Obama has failed to communicate the accomplishments of his Administration. -more-


Odd Couples: The Salamander and the Alga

Joe Eaton
Monday August 09, 2010 - 11:46:00 PM
A double handful of spotted salamander.

This is not a Bay Area story, at least not yet. But I couldn’t resist writing about one of the coolest pieces of research I’m read about in a very long time. -more-


Senior Power: Women and Aging

By Helen Rippier Wheeler
Monday August 09, 2010 - 09:56:00 PM

Age discrimination is a real and growing problem. ... Age discrimination attacks a person’s sense of self-worth in much the same fashion as race or sex discrimination.” (August 3, 1998 letter) --Dion Louise Aroner ( 1944 - ) -more-


Restoration Comedy: Perhaps They Should Change the Name To HAMPer

By Jane Powell
Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 10:43:00 AM

After my trip to Washington DC, and the promise that there might be a reply from Fannie Mae regarding my loan modification in as little as a week, what have I heard? Nothing. Well, not entirely nothing. A letter arrived from GMAC requesting letters from all my tenants detailing how much they pay me and how often. I guess the signed rental agreements that contain this exact same information were not sufficient. So they all wrote the letters, and I faxed them to every fax number I had- the one in the letter, the one I had for the representative I talked to in DC, as well as to NACA. No doubt they will have claimed to have never received them. Probably I should FEDEX them so someone will actually have to sign. Not that they wouldn’t “lose” them after that. -more-


Berkeley's Historic Thorsen House, Now A Fraternity, Open To View on Saturday

By Steven Finacom
Monday August 09, 2010 - 10:55:00 PM
The Thorsen House main façade faces Piedmont Avenue.

Though far apart geographically, Berkeley and Pasadena have some interesting commonalities. Both are home to gigantic early 20th century football stadiums where UC teams play, both have a long history of distinguished community theater, and are known for the quality of their residential neighborhoods. -more-


Arts & Events

Classical Music-East Bay Through August 22

Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 12:33:00 PM

JOHN HINKEL PARK -more-


Galleries-East Bay Through August 22

Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 12:30:00 PM

"BAY AREA HEART GALLERY," -- Exhibit consists of photographs of children, youth and families, accompanied by their compelling stories. The joint exhibit opens in the Alameda County Administration Building, 1221 Oak Street, Oakland and at the Eden Area Multi-Service Center, 24100 Amador Way, Hayward. -more-


Readings-East Bay Through August 22

Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 12:24:00 PM

A GREAT GOOD PLACE FOR BOOKS -more-


Professional Dance-San Francisco Through August 22

Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 12:24:00 PM

ODC DANCE COMMONS PERFORMANCE ART COMPLEX -more-


Stage-East Bay Through August 22

Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 12:22:00 PM

ASHBY STAGE -more-


Stage-San Francisco Through August 22

Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 10:25:00 AM

ACTORS THEATRE OF SAN FRANCISCO -more-


Classical Music-San Francisco Through August 22

Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 12:32:00 PM

COMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER -more-


Galleries-San Francisco Through August 22

Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 12:29:00 PM

A440 GALLERY -- -more-


Museums-East Bay Through August 22

Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 12:27:00 PM

AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM AND LIBRARY AT OAKLAND The Oakland Public Library's museum is designed to discover, preserve, interpret and share the cultural and historical experiences of African Americans in California and the West. In addition, a three-panel mural is on permanent display. -more-


Museums-San Francisco Through August 22

Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 12:26:00 PM

ASIAN ART MUSEUM OF SAN FRANCISCO The Asian Art Museum-Chon-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture recently unveiled its new building in San Francisco's Civic Center. The building, the former San Francisco Public Library, has been completely retrofitted and rebuilt to house San Francisco's significant collection of Asian treasures. The museum offers complimentary audio tours of the museum's collection galleries. -more-


Popmusic-East Bay Through August 22

Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 12:25:00 PM

"DOWNTOWN BERKELEY MUSICFEST," -- Aug. 20 through Aug. 29. More than 50 performances will take place at 11 different venues across Berkeley's Downtown Arts District, with bands and artists such as The Blasters, Terence Brewer Trio, Dawn Drake, Turtle Island Quartet, Mark Hummel and more. Visit website for complete lineup and locations. -more-


Exhibit: Echoes and Fragments by Rene Powell

By Peter Selz
Monday August 09, 2010 - 07:23:00 PM

A small group of innovators in the 1950s in California--Peter Voulkos, John Mason, Paul Soldner, Kenneth Price, Robert Arneson and Stephen de Staebler--began using clay no longer for its utilitarian function, but as a medium to create abstract or figurative sculpture. Called the Clay Revolution. it did not extend to ceramic tiles, which remained in the purely decorative realm. Rene Powell has done pioneering work in a narrative use of clay tiles in a show currently on view at the Doug Adams Gallery in the Bade Museum on the campus of the Graduate Theological Union. Called ECHOES AND FRAGMENTS, they deal with the Holocaust as personal experience. -more-


Press Release: Mountain Music Berkeley Style at the 8th Annual Berkeley Old Time Music Convention

From Suzy Thompson
Monday August 09, 2010 - 06:09:00 PM

Fiddles, banjos, ancient ballads and square dancing will take over Berkeley this September, at the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention, with headliners including West Virginia fiddler Jimmy Triplett (former drummer with jam band Donna the Buffalo); 86-year-old mandolin player Kenny Hall in a one-time-only reunion with the Sweets Mill String Band; award-winning North Carolina ballad singer and storyteller Bobby McMillon; resonator guitar goddess Del Rey; and many others. The centerpiece of the festival is the Farmers Market String Band Contest, a free event in Civic Center Park featuring more than 20 different string bands. -more-


Theatre Review: Giddy Trilogy in Summer Rep at Shotgun: Table Manners, (Part One of The Norman Conquests)

by John A. McMullen II
Friday August 06, 2010 - 04:28:00 PM
Richard Reinholdt as Norman, surrounded by the
                ladies who portray his Conquests: Sarah Mitchell,
                Zehra Berkman, and Kendra Lee Oberhauser

Alan Ayckbourn wrote 1970’s British domestic comedy in the midst of the Sexual (pronounce it seks-yoo-all) Revolution, the UK having gone in a decade from “No Sex Please, We’re British,” to a middle-class revisiting of Restoration bawdiness—just like in America. His plays must have been outrageous when first produced. That this form should have recaptured the Tony for best revival of a play last year is odd to me but attests to its durability -more-


Theater Review: Broadway Bound at Chanticleers Theatre

By Ken Bullock
Monday August 09, 2010 - 08:11:00 PM

"God, tell me an idea that makes you laugh ... "--Patrick Baresi as Stanley Jerome, is down on his knees, praying for a joke, a funny idea for a sketch that may propel him and his brother Eugene (Brady Woolery) out of the family home at Brighton Beach to Manhattan, a few miles away, and success in that new fount of entertainment, television. Or radio, at least ... -more-


Don't Miss This: The Rap Scene Squared

By Dorothy Snodgrass
Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 10:56:00 AM

As a living personification of the term "Square", I'm understandably not a devotee of rap music. Nonetheless, I'm endlessly fascinated by the highly imaginative and fanciful names of these musical groups. Most of my scholarly research on this academic subject is derived from the East Bay Express, which I pick up every Wednesday from a nearby news rack that stands next to the empty, greatly lamented Berkeley Daily Planet news rack. -more-


Restoration Comedy: Perhaps They Should Change the Name To HAMPer

By Jane Powell
Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 10:43:00 AM

After my trip to Washington DC, and the promise that there might be a reply from Fannie Mae regarding my loan modification in as little as a week, what have I heard? Nothing. Well, not entirely nothing. A letter arrived from GMAC requesting letters from all my tenants detailing how much they pay me and how often. I guess the signed rental agreements that contain this exact same information were not sufficient. So they all wrote the letters, and I faxed them to every fax number I had- the one in the letter, the one I had for the representative I talked to in DC, as well as to NACA. No doubt they will have claimed to have never received them. Probably I should FEDEX them so someone will actually have to sign. Not that they wouldn’t “lose” them after that. -more-


Berkeley's Historic Thorsen House, Now A Fraternity, Open To View on Saturday

By Steven Finacom
Monday August 09, 2010 - 10:55:00 PM
The Thorsen House main façade faces Piedmont Avenue.

Though far apart geographically, Berkeley and Pasadena have some interesting commonalities. Both are home to gigantic early 20th century football stadiums where UC teams play, both have a long history of distinguished community theater, and are known for the quality of their residential neighborhoods. -more-


Exhibits-San Francisco Through August 22

Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 12:31:00 PM

"SUN SPHERES," -- "Sun Spheres'' is a trio of mosaic sculptures by artist Laurel True at the intersection of Ocean and Granada Avenues in the OMI District of San Francisco. -more-


Exhibits-East Bay Through August 22

Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 12:30:00 PM

CARMEN FLORES RECREATION CENTER -more-


Highlights-East Bay Through August 22

Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 12:28:00 PM

"BRAINWASH MOVIE FESTIVAL," -- through Aug. 14. A festival showcasing unique, independent movies from around the world, 22 shorts and one feature. Festival takes place at Mandela Village Arts Center, 1357 5th St., Oakland. -more-


Dance-East Bay Through August 22

Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 12:31:00 PM

ASHKENAZ -more-


General-East Bay Through August 22

Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 12:28:00 PM

"BRAINWASH MOVIE FESTIVAL," -- through Aug. 14. A festival showcasing unique, independent movies from around the world, 22 shorts and one feature. Festival takes place at Mandela Village Arts Center, 1357 5th St., Oakland. -more-


Kids-East Bay Through August 22

Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 12:27:00 PM

ARDENWOOD HISTORIC FARM Ardenwood farm is a working farm that dates back to the time of the Patterson Ranch, a 19th-century estate with a mansion and Victorian Gardens. Today, the farm still practices farming techniques from the 1870s. Unless otherwise noted, programs are free with regular admission. -more-


Outdoors-East Bay Through August 22

Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 12:26:00 PM

ARDENWOOD HISTORIC FARM Ardenwood farm is a working farm that dates back to the time of the Patterson Ranch, a 19th-century estate with a mansion and Victorian Gardens. Today, the farm still practices farming techniques from the 1870s. Unless otherwise noted, programs are free with regular admission. -more-