News

Berkeley High Crew Men’s Lightweight 4+ boat won the bronze medal at the USRowing Southwest Junior Championship Regatta. All medal winning squads earn a berth to compete at the USRowing Youth Nationals. The National Championship is scheduled to take place in early June at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. -more-

Following an extensive evaluation, the University of California, manager of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), today released a list of six potential sites for the Lab’s proposed second campus. -more-

The state and federal budget crises are bringing deep cuts to government-sponsored public assistance. Many of California’s most needy, including a disproportionate number of children, are facing profound reductions in aid. CalWORKs, which provides day care assistance to working families with minor children, faces the largest cuts in 25 years. And day care for 11- and 12-year old kids of working parents stands to be slashed entirely.

Wrenching as they are, many feel these cuts are justified. Anecdotal stories often circulate about purported welfare cheats squandering the public’s money in casinos, at strip clubs, and on drugs. For example, Sacramento-based CalWatchDog recently accused day care recipients of “sponging” off of the state. A self-described conservative blogger called all welfare recipients “lazy good-for-nothing moochers” who take “extravagant vacations in Hawaii.” Assemblywoman Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, wants CalWORKs parents to be tested for drugs. If the parents fail, then the kids would be cut off. -more-

According to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Leon Panetta, the U.S. never informed Pakistan about the operation to assassinate al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Ladin because it thought the Pakistanis could “jeopardize the mission” by tipping off the target. -more-

The Berkeley Library Management, has spent over two years falsely presenting South Branch Library as a disintegrating "cinder block" building. Actually nothing is further from the truth. It is a reinforced concrete, post and beam structure, which has been seismically tested. The alternating glass and concrete block infill are not the structure. The false presentation of the concrete block as the menace of disintegrating "cinder block" was deployed to rule out renovation. -more-

Once again, East Bay MUD’s more than two million water customers in the East Bay are facing a rate hike. This time, the staff proposal is for a six percent across-the-board increase in water rates. EBMUD’s explanation is, essentially, that we customers have been too good at saving water. As a consequence, the water district has been getting less revenue, while its costs haven’t decreased accordingly. -more-

U.S. Boat to Gaza - West presents Gilad Atzmon in concert and talk in a benefit for the Bay Area's flotilla passengers who will be onboard The Audacity of Hope. -more-

In an early morning extension of their April 26 meeting the Berkeley Council moved forward with controversial plans to demolish and rebuild the South and West Berkeley branch libraries. -more-

When President Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden, his demeanor was properly restrained. It is hard to imagine George W. Bush issuing a similar pronouncement without cracking a grin and making a disparaging remark. The killing of bin Laden, Obama reflected, said much about America: “We will be true to the values that make us who we are.”

Sadly, the media showed too many Americans greeting the news of bin Laden’s death with fist-pumping elation. Raucous, shouting mobs gathered outside the White House and at New York’s “Ground Zero” to wave US flags and chant “USA! USA!” — as if the cold-blooded execution of an unarmed man in a Pakistan suburb was somehow on par with winning the Superbowl. -more-

Hungry students and their supporters sit for the seventh day in front of University of California at Berkeley’s California Hall, after a futile meeting with University Chancellor Robert Birgeneau. The students asked Birgeneau yesterday to reinstate fired ethnic-studies staff members. -more-

The North Berkeley neighborhood used to cherish the Monterey Market. One of the market’s die-hard fans, Lisa Brenneis, was even moved to make a prize-winning documentary called “Eat at Bill’s” about the pioneering produce store. (The New York Times hailed the film as “a heartfelt and loving homage to [Bill Fujimoto], his produce, and his devotion to helping sustain America's newly-blossoming agrarian entrepreneurs.”) But when Bill and Judy Fujimoto, the long-established owners, retired from the market a few years back, the love affair between the business and the residents began to sour.

This week, a leaflet appeared that served to draw the growing rift into the public eye. Circulated by local storeowners and concerned residents, the broadside explains that the problem “all started with Mahmoud.” Mahmoud, a flower vendor who worked the curb alongside the Market’s northern flank, was the first victim of the Market’s new owners. -more-

Berkeley's Telegraph Avenue responded Monday to U.S. killing of Bin Laden with a big ho-hum and grave respect for the dishonored dead. Mon. evening, Chris Hedges, a leading critic of U.S. government policies covered much of the street's ground. -more-

UC students, faculty, and staff gathered at the lunch hour on Berkeley’s warmest day of the year so far to inaugurate a green seedling—a new “Strawberry Creek Native Plant Nursery and Garden” on the campus. They dined on watermelon and strawberries, planted a few symbolic natives, and basked in the accomplishment of a small but significant environmental milestone for the campus. -more-

If you know — or are — a budding, up-and-coming young environmentalist, Earth Island Institute has just published an essential tool that you might want to pass along to your local Green Teen. -more-

City Council has set a public hearing to take public comment on the ZAB issued Use Permits for a NEW South Branch Library at 1901 Russell Street and a NEW West Branch Library at 1125 University Avenue. -more-

Garden-perfect weather arrived on Sunday, May 1, 2011 to frame the seventh “Bringing Back the Natives” tour.

Extending from Martinez to Fremont, West Berkeley to Clayton, the annual event allows tour-goers to peak inside gardens that emphasize plantings of native California, and Bay Area, species and talk to landscape professionals and home gardeners.

Several Berkeley sites, from re-landscaped front yards in the lowlands to hillside redwood groves behind historic homes, were featured among the more than 50 sites on the tour. Hundreds came out for the free event. -more-