As Michael Moore’s new film Fahrenheit 9/11 set attendance records across the country, Berkeley notched one of its own when the California Landmark Theater recorded the highest opening-night profit numbers for any movie theater screening the film nationwide. Crowds also helped sell out every afternoon and evening screening but one, from Friday through Sunday, grossing tens of thousands of dollars for the theater. A spokesperson for the theater declined to give the exact dollar figure for Landmark’s gross take. -more-

A 27-year employee is back on the job at the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center after close to the entire hospital staff—with the exception of only the doctors—threatened to walk off the job for one day unless she was reinstated. -more-

What a difference a year makes. -more-

It’s clear that the proposed new Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) for UC Berkeley is a very growth-oriented plan. While its enrollment hike would be comparatively modest (from a two-semester average of 31,800 in 2001-2002 to a projected 33,450 in future), other stats are quite dramatic. Between now and 2020, total “academic and support” space could increase by 18 percent, or 2.2 million gross square feet. That’s about three times the 15-year increase that was foreseen when the present LRDP was adopted in 1990. Parking could swell by 30 percent, or 2,300 spaces. Housing could increase by 32 percent, or 2,600 beds. These are net amounts, representing new construction minus demolitions. And they’re over and above the changes resulting from still-uncompleted projects—like the big new Stanley Hall and the giant Underhill garage—that the regents have already approved. -more-

An Oakland woman’s quest to grow medical marijuana without fear of federal intervention is heading to the Supreme Court and could result in a new precedent in the resurgent battle over states’ rights, perhaps putting in danger Berkeley’s liberal medical pot laws. -more-

A lawsuit recently filed in Federal Court in San Diego on behalf of nine male and female detainees in the now infamous Abu Ghraib prison has legal and political implications that extend far beyond allegations of torture in Iraq. The suit addresses one of the most important issues of contemporary governance: Are prison contractors, working for the U.S. government, beyond the reach of law? -more-

After an unsuccessful attempt Friday to quell a cooking oil fire that soon got out of control, a Jones Street resident ran two blocks to the nearest fire station to report the blaze in person. -more-

Sunny skies, cool breezes, the sparkle of the bay, and an appreciative local crowd attended the Saturday, June 19, grand opening of a long-awaited new building at Berkeley’s Shorebird Park Nature Center. -more-

Armed Robber Confronts Driver, Jail -more-

Last week I read in the paper about a mysterious murder that occurred in the upscale peninsula community of Hillsborough. According to the article, a 58-year-old woman was killed in a house break-in at 4:30 in the morning. Neighbors and authorities were shocked. Violent crime is almost unheard of in Hillsborough, said someone in the know. The last incident of a homicide occurred in 1998 when a woman was abducted and murdered by her house cleaner. The article went on to say that Hillsborough is one of the richest communities in the United States. The house where the incident occurred has seven bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms, and was bought in 1994 for $1,125,000. The house across the street is currently on sale for $2.8 million. -more-

Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 should be carefully studied by John Kerry’s political advisers—not for its good taste, profundity or even originality, but for its sheer bulldog tenacity in laying waste to the patriotic mythology spun out of lies and half-truths in Karl Rove’s White House. -more-

NOBEL LAUREATES -more-

SB 744 (Dunn), now under consideration by the State Legislature, would allow “affordable housing” developers to leapfrog over the local land use decision-making process and appeal to the state (Department of Housing and Community Development) any local land use decisions that either deny their project or impose conditions that purportedly render the project financially infeasible. The state could then order the local agency to reverse its decision and the developer and its friends could enforce this state order in court. This is quite a club for affordable housing developers to wield during the local land use decision-making process. -more-

Editors, Daily Planet: -more-

Editors, Daily Planet: -more-

I came to Berkeley 40 years ago this month for graduate school at UC. I quickly noticed that the Bay Area was not predominantly flat and gray like my native New Jersey, an annoying land of two temperatures: too hot and too cold. I have ever since considered Berkeley my home, even during two years in Chile and one in Washington in the late 60s. -more-

I was back in Arkansas last month, partly on family business, partly revisiting some favorite places in the Ozarks. Things have changed since I lived there. The great homogenizing forces of commerce and mass culture have been at work. You exit the freeway into outposts of Generica: Barnes & Noble, Old Navy, Starbucks. Krispy Kreme, having leapfrogged from the Southeast to the West Coast, is about to colonize Arkansas. There are signs of demographic shifts: more Mexican restaurants, and a couple of Vietnamese sandwich shops in Little Rock. -more-

Spiral Gardens Community Food Security Project’s Urban Garden Center opened grandly on Sunday, June 27, at 2 p.m., with a stageful of song, rap, and inspirational speech, and food and plants for sale and for free. -more-

Doris Moskowitz readily admits that she keeps one foot planted in the past while charting a new course for her business. She is the proprietor of Moe’s Books, a Berkeley landmark named after her father who was an icon in his own right. Upon the death of Morris “Moe” Moskowitz on April 1, 1997 at the age of 76, then Mayor Shirley Dean declared a “Moe’s Day,” closing the block on Telegraph Avenue where the store is located to allow people to come and pay tribute to its famous owner. -more-

TUESDAY, JUNE 29 -more-

TUESDAY, JUNE 29 -more-

“I’m 77 now, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said UCB Professor Donald Glaser. “I’ve never gotten so involved with politics before. I’ve given money to candidates in the past, but this year we’ve stretched ourselves financially.” -more-

Kimberly Sellers says that one of her most vivid memories from childhood is of helping her father, every year, track the number of African Americans graduating with doctorates from American universities. She remembers it so well, she says, because the nu mbers were always dismally low, usually in the single digits. -more-

The City Council Tuesday easily adopted a budget that erases Berkeley’s $10.3 million general fund deficit without laying off a single employee. -more-

Three West Berkeley businesses say that recent changes in the signage, traffic signals and road striping at three Berkeley intersections—Ashby and 7th, Ashby and 9th and 7th and Murray—have created hazards for drivers and pedestrians and at the same time made it extremely difficult to get to their stores without breaking the law. -more-

The Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees, still reeling from allegations made by outgoing Vista College President John Garmon that he was ousted by a black racial conspiracy, named a district veteran to replace Garmon on an interim basis. -more-

It is clear that important new evidence about al Qaeda has been gathered and released by the 9/11 Commission. But it is also clear that the commission did nothing when a Justice Department official, in commission testimony last week, brazenly covered up the embarrassing relationship of the FBI to a senior al Qaeda operative, Ali Mohamed. By telling the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to release Mohamed in 1993, the FBI may have contributed to the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya five years later. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO--She's been called "The Good Jailer" by the New York Times and hailed as a reformer. -more-

Berkeley voters will likely face landmark ballot initiatives that would make the city the friendliest place in California for medical cannabis users, sex workers and some trees. -more-

Berkeley real estate agent and developer John Gordon is floating before the Zoning Adjustments Board the notion of relocating two landmarked buildings onto a lot he owns. Whether the two buildings will actually fit on the small lot remains an open question. -more-

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – The overall cancer death rate has decreased slightly over the past decade, but African-Americans continue to suffer higher rates of death from every major form of cancer than their white counterparts, according to a joint report issued this week by four leading health agencies. -more-

When I first heard the Gwo-Ka Masters debut album, Yonn-dé, I was, in a manner of speaking, blindfolded, even hoodwinked. A friend played it without showing me the cover and I said, with a bittersweet feeling, “Now we have to go to the West Indies to hear great jazz saxophonists.” I’m always lamenting the death of jazz. In this case I was wrong. The remarkable tenor saxophonist and bass clarinetist embedded within the olla podrida of jazz players and Guadeloupean musicians was Berkeley’s own David Murray, among the greatest of all living jazz musicians. -more-

For Farmers’ Market shoppers who have been wondering what to cook with the array of interesting and unusual produce to be found at the Berkeley Ecology Center Farmers’ Market, the Market will present the first program in its Ethnic Food Festival, Latin American Cuisine, this Saturday, June 26. Three popular market food purveyors will demonstrate the tricks of their trade. Amigas, a Mexican caterer, Flaco’s, with vegan Mexican food, and Sofrito Puerto Rican Cuisine will give cooking demonstrations at the market, located next to the Berkeley City Hall on Center St. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. -more-

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School Board Backs Community Park -more-

Mr. John Protopappas, the President of the Port of Oakland Commission, informs us of an interesting new math being practiced over there at the commission’s glass palace by the bay. The new executive director for the port started this week. Meanwhile, the outgoing executive director—Mr. Tay Yoshitani—will be allowed to stay on the payroll for three more months as something called “Extra Position No. 1” (no, I am not making this up) at his regular salary of $20,650 per month, complete with full benefits and an office of his own, even though Mr. Yoshitani may actually have left Oakland and is already on his way back to Baltimore. -more-

It’s a safe bet there weren’t many buses of Reagan mourners leaving Berkeley for Simi Valley or Washington the other week. We understand that behind the soaring rhetoric was a cruel reality, an indifference to people in need, foreign policy by death squad. -more-

Virtually everyone agrees on the goal of getting more people to take public transit. And this past March voters passed Regional Measure 2 to fund more mass transit projects. However, when it comes to how and where there are some differences of opinion. -more-

At first, to the doctor who checked her over, the illness that struck my daughter, Cora, looked like a virus. Even the blood test suggested a virus. That was because I had taken her in so quickly when she started shaking with chills. -more-

MEANS TESTING -more-

A few weeks ago my friend Jernae and I attended a tea party in the middle of Addison Street in downtown Berkeley. This wasn’t just any tea party. This was a tea party with an environmental agenda. Entitled “A Tea Cup Give Away Storytelling Tea Party,” it was sponsored by the Berkeley Art Commission’s Addison Street Windows Gallery. In association with the Urban Creeks Council, local interdisciplinary artist/performer Patricia Bulitt has put together the current window exhibit that includes photo imagery, text, poetic prose, costumes, hats, and recycled kettles. -more-

Playwright Doug Wright, who won this year’s Tony, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his current Broadway hit, “I Am My Own Wife,” apparently has learned a lot about playwriting in the years since he wrote the play, which is currently being perf ormed at the Julia Morgan Theatre. -more-

FRIDAY, JUNE 25 -more-

Even non-railroad buffs of all ages will find adventure at the California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento State Historic Park. -more-

June 21, 2004 -more-

FRIDAY, JUNE 25 -more-

The back page cartoon in a recent New Yorker showed a Kerry campaign rally. The candidate was standing at a flag-draped podium with Kerry banners above. In the foreground, also at the podium and looming large enough to dwarf the candidate, who was reduce d to peeking out from behind, was a grinning Bill Clinton. -more-

A couple of weeks ago metropolitan papers carried a story about a North Beach incident in which a gallery owner reported that she had been spat on (punched in the face in some accounts) because her shop window displayed a painting derived from photographs, which depicts in graphic comic-book style the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. military. The painter was a fairly well-known Berkeley figure, and we intended to report on the incident or perhaps comment on it in this space, but we never got around to it. -more-