News

Rediscovered evidence of Native American burials at the site of UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium—omitted in university environmental documents—raises new questions about the future of the oak grove beside the stadium where the university is planning a massive building project. -more-

Four months after it was formed by the Oakland City Council to make recommendations for a comprehensive inclusionary zoning ordinance for the city and two weeks after its final report was supposed to be due, members of the City of Oakland Inclusionary Housing Blue Rib-bon Commission met for the first time Thursday evening under attack from tenant advocates and under pressure from councilmembers to complete an ambitious agenda before the summer council break. -more-

Next week is Timothy Burroughs’ last week as program officer for a nonprofit that works with cities to address global warming. March 5 will be his first day with Sustainable Berkeley, a collaboration among the city, university, nonprofits and business groups aimed at “keep[ing] Berkeley a national environmental leader.” -more-

Talk of “opportunity sites,” parking spaces and height limits occupied Tuesday’s meeting of a subcommittee hammering out what may become key elements of Berkeley’s plans for the downtown’s future. -more-

Smiles and tears marked the memorial of Berkeley High School Vice Principal denise brown at the Berkeley Community Theater Thursday. -more-

The Berkeley school board will meet Wednesday to approve a resolution honoring Berkeley Vice Principal denise brown and declaring Feb. 15 as denise brown day. brown died Feb. 2 following complications from knee surgery. -more-

A documentary film and public forum on the history and reuse of the 5.8-acre historic UC Berkeley Extension campus at 55 Laguna St. in San Francisco will be held on Saturday. -more-

Planning commissioners last week heard Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s (LBNL) plans for long-range growth and amended the city’s controversial soft-story ordinance. -more-

While Emeryville voters passed Measure C—the living wage ordinance for hotel workers—in November 2005 the City Council didn’t write the final regulations until last week, when they put into place rules on worker complaints. -more-

The Zoning Adjustments Board will hear the request for a use permit modification by the City of Berkeley Mental Health and Human Services to change the hours of operation of the Health and Human Services mobile crisis team at 2433 Channing Way from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. to 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. -more-

The historic 1911 Herschell-Spillman “Menagerie Edition” carousel at Tilden Park was closed earlier this month after state officials said that under state law it is unsafe without a guard fence around it. -more-

UC Berkeley’s Academic Senate probably won’t have a vote about the planned half-billion-dollar alternative fuel program now being negotiated with BP—the company formerly known as British Petroleum. -more-

The proposed agreement between one of the world’s largest oil companies, BP (formerly British Petroleum) and UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois has ignited a firestorm that promises to burn long and hot. -more-

Ousted Berkeley Planning Commission chair and environmentalist Helen Burke, defeated in a carefully staged coup Wednesday night, said Thursday that David Stoloff, her replacement, told her after the vote that he knew the only way he could beat her was by lying. -more-

While Berkeley’s revenue is higher than expected and the city will be able to write checks for $3.3 million above budgeted expenditures, the City Council may need to go to the voters to pay for essential services such as police and fire, City Manager Phil Kamlarz told the council at a budget workshop, part of the council’s regular Tuesday meeting. -more-

Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith issued a decision, made available this week, agreeing with the Berkeley Police Association, which had filed suit against the city, that open hearings on complaints against the police violate the officers’ privacy rights. -more-

State Assemblymember Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) is planning to introduce legislation, which, if passed, could reopen police complaint hearings around the state. -more-

With a major courtroom victory in hand, Berkeley protesters aren’t giving up their arboreal perches high in a threatened grove adjacent to UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium. -more-

Candy and balloons were not the only things Berkeley High students got to sift through on Valentines Day Tuesday. A group of juniors from the School of Social Justice & Ecology (SSJE)—a small school at Berkeley High—met up with their peers at BHS to dig through the school’s trash and dissect it. -more-

With Oakland Police officials insisting that no police chase preceded a Sunday evening North Oakland accident that resulted in the death of a 41-year-old Stockton woman, a North Oakland resident living within two blocks of the crash says she witnessed a police chase immediately before the fatal crash. -more-

On Wednesday, the Berkeley High School’s (BHS) School Governance Committee discussed the creation of a schoolwide advisory program for all students. Under the BHS Western Association of Schools and Colleges Action Plan, the school agreed to implement such a program, which would create a mandatory advisory class for students starting for the 2007-2008 school year. -more-