UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl stunned the city and university community Wednesday when he announced that he will step down after the end of this school year. -more-

FRIDAY, SEPT. 26 -more-

FROM THE MAYOR -more-

A symphony conductor staying at the helm of one orchestra for 25 years is pretty remarkable, but in the case of Berkeley Symphony Orchestra conductor Kent Nagano it’s a labor of love. -more-

Festival Event -more-

The behemoth that is UC Berkeley squatted down on its haunches at a Clark Kerr Campus public hearing Monday night to listen to university students and residents of the city in which it resides, and got an earful on the subject of the university’s 2020 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP). -more-

I am a parent of two children at Malcolm X Elementary School. I led the Malcolm X Parent community as PTA President for two years and now fill the roll of PTA Council President for all the Berkeley public schools. My experience with PTA has given me some insights on the Berkeley Unified School District administration and the parent community. After reading School Board Vice President John Selawsky’s letter to you this past week (“Planet Reportage Lacking, Says School Board VP,” Daily Planet, Sept. 23-25) and the accompanying response from Executive Editor Becky O’Malley, I felt compelled to respond. -more-

If you find yourself tooling along near University Avenue this Sunday and you happen to peek in the rearview mirror and see 100 or so cars behind you, customized with hedges, neon lights and aquariums, take a deep breath and resist the impulse to call the police. -more-

Caught in a blizzard of outdated and conflicting regulations, UC Berkeley is trying to determine whether the student government violated UC laws by funding a campaign against Proposition 54. -more-

As suggested by the UC Community Coalition on UCB’s Long Range Development Plan environmental review, community open space should be created in compensation for increased traffic, increased building density, for exceeding by twofold the development goals of the 1990 LDRP, etc. I am writing in support of this recommendation and in addition to advocate for preserving existing open space in Strawberry and Claremont Canyons. -more-

Shotgun Players’ new production, “The Water Principle,” takes place at the end of the road at the end of the world. Addie lives alone in a broken-down shack. Water, for drinking or even bathing, has become scarce. Weed, who covets Addie’s land, talks about man as a hunter and farmer, but there’s little left to hunt or to farm. Weed has a stash of canned beans. Addie survives on worms and an occasional crow. -more-

Fred Lupke died at 7:30 Thursday night of massive head injuries sustained a week ago when his wheelchair was struck by a car on Ashby Avenue in Berkeley. He never regained consciousness after the accident. His sister, Alice Strang of Charlottesville, Va., and his good friends of thirty years, Rich and Mary Rhodes of San Leandro, were with him at Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley at the time of his death. Rich Rhodes said plans for a memorial service are incomplete. Fred Lupke made many friends in Berkeley by participating in community political activities of all kinds, and was much appreciated at the Daily Planet for his work on our calendar and for the pleasure of his company on many occasions. -more-

I love science. -more-

A lawsuit filed by neighborhood opponents of the school district’s planned Adult School move to the former Franklin Elementary School site has no merit, Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Michele Lawrence said. -more-

Berkeley’s “Early Women” exhibit -more-

Drug bust -more-

Ward Connerly—the man so many Berkeley residents love to hate—showed up on the UC campus this week, speaking at a packed conservative lecture series event to promote passage of Proposition 54. -more-

Those of you with long enough memories will recall the time, during the Vietnam War, when the Pentagon stopped issuing the daily reports of actual U.S. deaths. Instead, they went to a system of estimation. -more-