News

A tall, heavy-set man claiming to be “God and the messiah” barricaded himself inside his Ocean Gardens home for 20 hours before surrendering without incident early Thursday. -more-

Berkeley Police Officer Sgt. Cary Kent has not been charged with a crime, but the district attorney’s warrant allowing officers to search his office, locker and computer ties Kent tightly to drugs missing from the department’s evidence vault. -more-

Citizens spoke out before and during the Wednesday night Police Review Commission meeting at the South Berkeley Senior Center, demanding commissioners investigate allegations that Berkeley Police Sgt. Cary Kent tampered with drug evidence locked in the Berkeley Police Department vault. -more-

Want your anti-war protest to get noticed? Don’t pay your taxes. -more-

The countdown has begun. If contract negotiations aren’t reached within a week, Oakland teachers will walk out. -more-

At least 42 candidates have applied to serve on the task force planning the first stages of development at the Ashby BART station. -more-

Berkeley’s legendary ice-skating rink will stay open—for now. -more-

The oft-embattled flagship Pacifica radio station, KPFA, seems to be cruising into its 57th birthday—tomorrow, April 15—on relatively calm waters, with fundraising goals met, the last beleaguered-short-lived general manager gone, a permanent executive director at the national level in place and, last week, the appointment of Interim General Manager Lemlem Rijio. -more-

Tom Butt thinks he’s found a way to get quick action to start fixing Richmond’s sorely overtaxed sewer system—shut down new connections till the job is done. -more-

The gathering at St. Joseph the Worker Church Tuesday morning was a send-off of sorts for Sarah Harper and Cheryl Sommers. The two women had called friends and the media to the church where they intended to speak out in public for the last time before they went to jail for three months. -more-

Despite a recent legal setback, the attorney for ousted Alameda County Medical Center Trustee Gwen Rowe-Lee Sykes said that he is working on continuing legal action against what he calls a “culture of intimidation” at the center “which retaliates, penalizes, and punishes people who point out problems” at the center. -more-

“This is where it all begins,” said Jim Allison, BART spokesperson, as he pointed out the Operations Control Room (OCC) at the Lake Meritt station on Monday morning. -more-

César E. Chávez, the courageous defender of those who work the earth, used to claim that farm workers were an early warning system against environmental destruction. -more-

Hundreds of demonstrators flocked to Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley Monday to protest proposed federal immigration reform and to shore up support for immigrant rights. -more-

With South Berkeley residents complaining of threats against their lives following an appeal hearing in their Small Claims Court “drug house” lawsuit last week, questions are again being raised as to whether such lawsuits should be handled by city officials rather than by neighbors. -more-

After two years of labor strife between employees and Library Director Jackie Griffin—and growing discontent with the director from a citizen’s group—Berkeley’s Board of Library Trustees met Saturday behind closed doors to discuss possible litigation threatened by the library director’s attorney, were she to be terminated. -more-

Proposed development on San Pablo Avenue described by one resident as resembling “someone who squeezed into a pair of pants two sizes too small and is bursting at the seams” was narrowly granted a use permit by the Zoning Adjustments Board Thursday. -more-

Cheryl Chinn received a special delivery Friday: a Tupperware filled to the brim with an oily, murky liquid, and an accompanying note handwritten in marker. -more-

The battle between a developer and neighborhood preservationists in the city’s Sisterna Tract Historic District continues, in part because city staff failed to date a key document. -more-

City landmarks commissioners took up matters concerning construction at UC Berkeley twice Thursday night—once as a pitch about a massive new project at and around Memorial Staduim and again to set a hearing on landmarking the Bevatron. -more-

A crowd gathered Thursday on Bancroft Way outside UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law to denounce the United States’ role in torture, the centralization of federal power in the executive branch and Boalt Hall Professor John Yoo, the man protesters condemn as the author of these policies. -more-

Responding to Mayor Tom Bates’s proposal to weaken the city’s landmarks ordinance, Berkeley preservationists say they’ll be taking the issue to the voters. -more-

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a series of interviews with local elected officials. -more-

Eye check-ups topped the list of “to-do things” for homeless kids attending Berkeley’s “Youth Connect” event at the Youth Emergency Assistance Hostel (YEAH!) on April 3. -more-

Carjacked -more-