B.B. King is coming to town—or might soon if Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board approves a new concert venue at the abandoned historic UC Theater on 2036 University Ave. -more-

One hundred thousand dollars in funds from Berkeley radio station KPFA are not being transferred to an account of parent company Pacifica Foundation, as alleged by a KPFA official in a Berkeley Daily Planet story last week, but controversy continued this week over whether such a transfer was thwarted by the allegations themselves, or if the money transfer was never contemplated in the first place, and reports of it stemmed from a misunderstanding in a telephone conversation between Wells Fargo Bank and KPFA. -more-

Erling Horn knows that you can’t keep a good man down, but as for the world of his childhood, that’s a different story. Horn’s past may be buried, but it’s not forgotten. -more-

Berkeley officials confirmed Friday that plans are in the works to try to provide tax incentives to Bayer, the city’s largest private-sector employer, to keep the company from leaving the city. -more-

Zoning changes proposed for West Berkeley could have significant impacts on area noise, air quality and traffic, according to an environmental initial study (EIS) released by city staff. -more-

The long-running and sometimes noisy battle over the installation of cell phone antennas in a South Berkeley neighborhood has ended quietly with a few pen strokes. -more-

The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce announced Friday that it had appointed a new CEO after a four-month nationwide search for a replacement. -more-

Organizers of the “How Berkeley Can You Be!?” Parade and Festival announced last week that the party is on hold for this year. -more-

Office Depot Berkeley is taking tits fight to the media. After former account manager Earl Ante of Fremont filed a lawsuit against the company alleging that he was fired because he refused to falsify information, the company sought to present their point of view. -more-

Construction is set to begin next summer on a new 424-bed university housing complex, a four-to-six-story structure that will rise at the site of the Anna Head parking lot. -more-

The Cuban 5 have come to Berkeley—in spirit if not in person. -more-

With school starting in less than three weeks, the Berkeley Unified School District is closely watching the federal government’s new guidelines on how to prevent swine flu from spreading and how to handle sudden breakouts. -more-

Hackers have struck again at UC Berkeley computers, this time at the Graduate School of Journalism, the university announced Tuesday. -more-

The FBI is now involved in the search for a missing 5-year-old boy with cerebral palsy who was last seen in Oakland on Monday afternoon. -more-

Critical injuries -more-

Dorothy Headley died at age 95 on July 28, 2009 after a short illness. -more-

The first thing we did on the day after we returned from the European marathon last week was to rush to the downtown Farmers’ Market to replenish our supply of anti-oxidants. Rio Oso peaches from Ram Dass! Union label strawberries from Swanton! Annabelle from Marin with exotic Italian veggies, much more exotic than any we saw at the Campo dei Fiori farmers’ market in Rome! Berkeley maintains its title as the fer-sure foodie capital of the world, with farmers rushing in from the far corners of California three times a week to offer us their best. -more-

As a longtime progressive activist as well as South Berkeley neighborhood leader, I urge progressive voters in Berkeley to sign the referendum to place the City Council’s adopted Downtown Plan on the ballot as I did.  -more-

On Aug. 15 activists and community members from around the Bay Area will be joining Richmond residents to protest the Chevron corporation’s devastating environmental and human rights record around the world. They’ll be working with a coalition of dozens of social justice and environmental organizations, called the Mobilization for Climate Justice, to highlight and stop Chevron’s legacy of criminality. From faulty environmental impact reports for a dirty crude expansion and ongoing pollution in Richmond, to using the Nigerian military to murder environmental activists in the Niger Delta, to toxic waste sites and subsequent harm to human health (that dwarfs the Exxon-Valdez spill) in the Ecuadorian Amazon, Chevron is responsible for a substantial roster of injured people and denuded environments around the world—not the least of which are the lands and people of Iraq, which is why it’s important for anti-war activists to work with environmental and labor groups to oppose Chevron this August. -more-

As many Daily Planet readers may know there is a KPFA Local Station Board election coming up. I am running for re-election to the KPFA board so I was quite intrigued last Thursday when an article titled “KPFA charges Pacifica with Raiding KPFA Funds” by J. Douglas Allen-Taylor appeared on the front page of the Berkeley Daily Planet. -more-

Immediately following the election of 2004 I formed the Voting Rights Task Force of the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club to demand that the vote in Ohio be challenged by Sen. Boxer. She ultimately did challenge the vote, which was historic, but failed to overturn a stolen election carried out by the secretary of state of Ohio along with local election officials. The task force continues to the present-day trying to improve the process of transparent, open and accurate elections, succeeding in convincing the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to remove electronic voting machines. -more-

While the Obama administration was careful to distance itself from the recent coup in Honduras—condeming the expulsion of President Manuel Zelaya to Costa Rica, revoking Honduran officals’ visas, and shutting off aid—that doesn’t mean influential Americans aren’t involved, and that both sides of the aisle don’t have some explaining to do. -more-

Some weeks ago, a friend from the East Coast e-mailed to ask me my thoughts on the Henry Louis Gates incident. Mr. Gates, you may remember, was the well-known African-American Harvard professor who was arrested by a Cambridge, Massachusetts police officer after Mr. Gates was forced to break into his own home. -more-

THURSDAY, AUGUST 13 -more-

Singin’ in the Rain, the 1952 Stanley Donen-Gene Kelly movie musical, has never diminished in popularity in its six decades of showings. But there’s a different way to experience the song and dance than on the two dimensions of the silver (or digital) screen: in three dimensions, live, on the broad, deep stage at Woodminster Amphitheatre at Oakland’s Joaquin Miller Park, with the lights of the Bay Area as backdrop. -more-

Two notable artists currently share the exhibition space at the Graduate Theological Union Library. They both produce very different paintings, based on photographs. -more-

“This will be my band, the one I’ve been playing with a long time,” said lifelong Northern California jazz musician Mel Martin—a ubiquitious presence for half a century in the Bay Area as tenor saxophonist, woodwinds player and band leader—of the eponymous group he’ll be playing with at Yoshi’s in Oakland next Monday night. -more-

While selling out shows at the Ashby Stage by their adult professional company of the musical “Peter Pan,” an old chestnut about the Lost Boys escaping from the adult world in Never-Never Land, Berkeley Playhouse’s youth company is putting on a two-night only staging of what Berkeley Playhouse’s managing director called “an anti-establishment piece,” the Broadway hit musical “Urinetown.” inspired by Bertolt Brecht-Kurt Weill classics like “Threepenny Opera” and “Mahagony,” at the Julia Morgan Theatre this weekend. -more-

Aurora Theatre Company, entering on its 18th season, has announced the completion of the new Neil and Jules Dashow Wing, which will add 2,600 much-needed square feet to the 7,200 square feet already occupied by the company on Addison Street near Shattuck in downtown Berkeley. There will be a private ribbon-cutting ceremony this coming Monday. -more-

Four out of five Americans support specific measures to regulate firearms, such as requiring background checks at gun shows. In the 2006 and 2008 elections, candidates who explicitly backed such regulations defeated NRA-endorsed or “A-rated” candidates overwhelmingly. But now House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as well as the Democratic leaders of the Senate and the House are universally afraid to even raise the subject. Why is that? -more-

“Oakland’s an old railroad town,” said playwright Judith Offer, who’s researched African-American involvement as porters and written Compared to What? about a woman trying to convince two porters to join the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Two free staged readings with discussion: 2 p.m. Saturday at the Oakland Main Library Auditorium, on 14th Street; 3 p.m. Sunday at the Noodle Factory theater, 1255-26th St., West Oakland. Wendell Brooks, Berkeley High teacher, plays one of the roles. 444-0257. -more-