To the delight of environmentalists and the dismay of anarchists, artists and dog-lovers, the Albany Bulb is one major step closer to joining the Eastshore State Park. -more-

Some neighbors of the old Berkeley High School East Campus say they are afraid that a BUSD school board decision last week on whether to close a block of Derby Street might mean the campus will long remain an abandoned, empty lot instead of the promised multi-purpose athletic fields and community park space. -more-

Praised by citizen activists in Richmond, the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) got a less than friendly reception Thursday night in Berkeley. -more-

Without granting a hearing, a superior court judge Friday denied the petition of three Berkeley residents, including a city councilmember, seeking to ultimately undo a settlement agreement reached last week between the city and UC Berkeley. -more-

A Los Angeles mega-mall developer is pushing forward with his plans for an up-scale shopping complex and a hotel at Golden Gate Fields. -more-

Recent actions at Peralta Community College Trustee meetings may be signaling a new era of increased financial scrutiny within the four-college district. -more-

The Zoning Adjustment Board ruled Thursday that the cottage resting atop a weathering plywood shell that dominates the corner of Shattuck Avenue and Emerson Street, known as the “flying cottage,” now complies with city zoning laws. -more-

Click here to view the latest work by Justin DeFreitas-more-

MODERN-DAY SLAVERY -more-

If you have flown the polar route, from London to San Francisco, you may have had the opportunity to look down on the arctic ice cap from 35,000 feet. In the summer the vast span of perennial sea ice—some 1.7 billion acres—begins just west of Greenland a nd extends for hundreds of miles, ending in a span of open water off the coast of North America and Eurasia. The next time you fly this route, take a long look at this endless expanse of whiteness. Before the end of the century the ice cap will be gone, a victim of global warming or, more precisely, the anthropogenic forcing of global climate change. -more-

I read in the paper that front row tickets for the upcoming Rolling Stones concerts are selling for over $5,000 a piece. That’s a lot of money to shell out to see four geezers prance arthritically around on stage. -more-

We got lice. We got staph. We were temporarily brainwashed by an amateur cult leader. We paid our own way, took semesters off to travel and took in homeless veterans. We learned that, sadly, sometimes things do need to get worse before they get better. -more-

Thanks to the Daily Planet, it has now become an open secret that Tom Bates is extending his heavy hand to thwart the efforts of the Berkeley Unified School District to begin construction of the transportation facility that was to be located on Sixth and Gilman streets. (A faded poster containing the formal legal announcement of the district’s plans for the project is still affixed to the anchor fence on the site.) -more-

For the past 10 years California population has grown at an average rate of 1.3 percent a year, with the result that the state is now adding almost 500,000 people per year. However, from 2000 to 2003 (the years for which I found data) Alameda County grew by only 0.4 percent per year, and Berkeley actually shrank at a rate of 0.3 percent per year. There are many in Berkeley who have fought hard to achieve this. We have a zoning ordinance which limits new building heights to one-half that of some existing buildings. We have people who appeal to have buildings landmarked in order to block development plans. We have people who protest when plans trade-off an increase in units against a decrease in parking places. We have people who want an environmental impa ct report for any large, or medium-sized development. We have succeeded in halting growth in Berkeley, despite the growth in the state as a whole. -more-

I’ve been hearing a lot of foolishness and hypocrisy about parking in Berkeley. -more-

As a fan of the Berkeley Daily Planet, I was worried when I learned that Knight Ridder was starting a free daily newspaper in the East Bay. I had just finished reading Davis Merritt’s new book, Knightfall: Knight Ridder and How the Erosion of Newspaper Journalism Is Putting Democracy at Risk. The story he tells does not inspire faith that, when Knight Ridder moves in, good journalism will prevail. -more-

One hundred years ago poet George Sterling arrived in Carmel on the cusp of a storied era for the Monterey Peninsula. -more-

Gothic columns of petrified motion, -more-

The wild turkeys continue to expand their presence in the Berkeley hills. Some of their new neighbors have mixed feelings about these large untidy and sometimes aggressive birds. And the turkeys may be impacting other species, either through predation (on salamanders and the like) or displacement. -more-

TUESDAY, MAY 31 -more-

TUESDAY, MAY 31 -more-