News

Elephant Pharm, which opened in Berkeley six years ago as a pharmacy promoting holistic health merchandise, has closed and declared bankruptcy, blaming the economic downturn and the tightening of the credit market, according to a notice posted at its 1607 Shattuck Ave. location on Tuesday morning. -more-

Acknowledging that Andrew Hoeft-Edenfield, charged with murdering UC Berkeley graduate Chris Wootton in May, posed a threat to the community and a flight risk, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson set his bail at $2 million Monday. -more-

Caltrans will fund $2 million in improvements to Highway 13 in Berkeley as part of the settlement of a lawsuit by civic activists challenging the state’s plans to drill a fourth bore for the Caldecott Tunnel. -more-

I came across the article today about the shots shutdown at the GAIA building on Friday night. I was walking home through downtown Berkeley when the shots were fired. It was disappointing to have no mention on it from ANY bay area news source over the entire weekend. The berkeley police don't even appear to mention it in their bulletin. We had no idea what was happening - or what happened.. Police were out in force and even closed off the streets... Allston, Center, etc. Anyway, the article raised doubt as to how many shots were fired. I came across this video taken during the shots fired... there were 3 - they happened just after halfway. -- Moni -more-

While protesters and the family of Oscar Grant III reacted with anger and anguish to the announcement that former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle would be granted bail Friday afternoon, the most significant action taken at last week’s bail hearing may have been the words directed to the former officer by the Alameda County Superior Court judge in charge. -more-

Berkeley planning commissioners will be back at work on the new Downtown Area Plan Wednesday night, this time looking at access and streetscapes and open space. -more-

The Berkeley Police Department shut down yet another party at the Gaia Arts Center in downtown Berkeley Friday night, after it attracted a large unruly crowd which blocked streets at Shattuck Avenue and Allston Way, and led to gunshots being fired in its aftermath, authorities said Saturday. -more-

The struggle over the West Berkeley’s future brought a packed house of worried small business owners, craft workers and artists to the Planning Commission on Wednesday. -more-

The Malcolm X kindergartener who was hit by a car Friday morning on her way to school in South Berkeley came out of surgery at Children's Hospital in Oakland around 1 p.m. and is expected to recover soon, authorities said. -more-

Bay Area Rapid Transport (BART) announced Thursday afternoon that it will turn over its internal affairs investigation to an independent third party which will inspect the actions of all the officers involved in the events leading up to the killing of Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day at the Fruitvale station in Oakland. -more-

The Berkeley Board of Education, at a public meeting Wednesday, unanimously approved a $50,000 contract with the non-profit Berkeley Alliance to oversee the process of developing a city-wide plan to close the achievement gap for minority students, as outlined by the 2020 Vision, a partnership started by the City of Berkeley, the Berkeley Unified School District and a group of community organizations in June. -more-

In a sometimes testy meeting that lasted until after midnight, the Berkeley City Council approved a compromise two-year agreement with 3M Corporation for maintenance of the city library’s electronic book monitoring system, granted City Manager Phil Kamlarz an 8 percent raise, and told staff that more work needed to be done before complicated modifications to the city’s condominium conversion ordinance can be passed. -more-

The Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker factory in West Berkeley will be closing this year, leaving 150 employees without work. -more-

After spending the last two weeks dealing with the sometimes violent aftermath of the Fruitvale BART station shooting death of a Hayward man by a BART police officer, Oakland turned its attention to its own law enforcement problems this week with the suddenly embattled chief of police announcing his retirement, two prominent civil rights attorneys threatening to initiate contempt of court charges against the city because of failure to fully implement a court-imposed police settlement agreement, and Mayor Ron Dellums calling for a 10 percent reduction in crime over the next year. -more-

The $819 billion federal economic recovery package that the House approved Wednesday will inject California’s public school system with nearly $10 billion in federal aid over the next two years, providing funds for scholarships, child-care development, at-risk children, Head Start, school renovations and other programs. -more-

Berkeley police are asking the community to help them track down a serial sexual predator accused of assaulting at least three college women around UC Berkeley’s South Campus area early Saturday morning. -more-

MediaNews, the region’s dominant newspaper publisher, Wednesday ordered all its Bay Area employees to take a mandatory unpaid week off during the next two months. -more-

Despite protests from neighbors and community members about traffic impacts and height, the Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board approved local developer Ali Kashani’s five-story mixed-use project last week. It would bring 98 condos, 7,770 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and 114 parking spaces to a 43,210 square-foot lot at 1200 Ashby Avenue, on the corner of San Pablo. -more-

Two environmental groups filed suit Monday in an effort to block construction of a casino resort and condo complex at Richmond’s Point Molate. -more-

The public is now able to comment on the Berkeley citywide pools master plan, which was released on Friday, a week later than it was originally promised. -more-

The 2020 Vision program, initiated in June as a collaboration between the City of Berkeley, the Berkeley Unified School District and community organizations to close the achievement gap in the schools, will launch an All City Equity Task Force during a three-day retreat at the Berkeley Yacht Club today (Thursday). -more-

The proposal for the Berkeley High School redesign—which has generated controversy so far but has been moving at a brisk pace since it was first unveiled in November—is scheduled for public discussion to give the community and district officials a chance to comment on its strengths and weaknesses. -more-

UC President Mark Yudof named a key ally of new U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s to fill the secretary’s former post as head of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. -more-

The first draft of the key regulatory document required before the city and UC Berkeley can sign off on a new downtown plan is now available online. -more-

BB attack -more-

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson scheduled a bail motion for former Berkeley City College student Andrew Hoeft-Edenfield—accused of murdering UC Berkeley nuclear engineering student Chris Wootton in May—for Feb. 2. -more-

While a Berkeley man was charged last week with murder following the death of the victim of a Jan. 11 West Berkeley shooting, a 47-year-old woman originally charged with the shooting has been released. -more-

Berkeley’s downtown had a big event in the midst of the Great Depression. -more-

I turned 43 on Friday. Woo hoo! Age doesn’t scare me, in the just-a-number chronological sense: I hope never to lie about my age—ridiculous vanity. Wrinkles don’t scare me: peaches are sweet and delicious, but so are raisins. Gray hairs don’t scare me: gray is a lovely neutral. I’ll look fab wearing chartreuse. The fact that I am, technically, old enough to be my 3-year-old son’s grandmother doesn’t scare me. -more-