Ellie, 5, fixes a vacuum cleaner.
Ellie, 5, fixes a vacuum cleaner.

Page One

New: Berkeley Today: Monday

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Monday May 03, 2010 - 05:18:00 PM

In the news today: Zoning changes for Panoramic Hill and Telegraph, fines for daycare centers proposed, new marijuana regulations, 155-unit apartment complex for South Shattuck, credit card fraud and a music club in financial trouble. -more-



Flash: Rabbi Lerner's Home in the Berkeley Hills Attacked by Right-Wing Zionists

From a Tikkun Magazine press release.
Monday May 03, 2010 - 04:40:00 PM

[Editor's Note: This was received as a press release at 3 on Monday afternoon. A more complete article will follow. Berkeley Police Department Public Information Officer Jamie Perkins confirmed that the crime at Rabbi Lerner's home in the 900 block of Cragmont was reported at 11:40 today, Monday, and she said at about 6 p.m. that there were no suspects as yet.]

Berkeley police today confirmed that the attack on Rabbi Lerner's home late Sunday May 2nd or early morning Monday May 3rd was in fact a crime and was being investigated. -more-



New: Partisan Position:What the Berkeley City Council's Rejection of "Full Build" Will Mean

By Joyce Roy
Friday April 30, 2010 - 03:04:00 PM

Last night the Berkeley City Council unanimously approved the “Reduced Impact Alternative” BRT that is similar to “Rapid Bus Plus” as the “Locally Preferred Alternative.” It rejected the “Build Alternative” which would have removed traffic lanes and placed boarding stations in the middle of the street even though AC Transit sent a letter saying, more or less, that it was obliged to choose that alternative. This meeting with Bus Rapid Transit the only agenda item ended after 11:00 pm. Sixty-six members of the public were against the “Build Alternative,” twenty-three in favor and five asked all alternatives to be studied. Here are the alternatives. -more-



New: Berkeley Today: Friday

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday April 30, 2010 - 03:21:00 PM

In the news today: -more-



NEWS ANALYSIS: Walking or Driving While Brown-- Arizona’s New Immigration Law

by Ralph E. Stone
Friday April 30, 2010 - 08:51:00 AM

"Driving while Black." "Walking while Black." These are phrases in the contemporary vernacular for racial profiling, which is defined as the inclusion of racial or ethnic characteristics in determining whether a person is considered likely to commit a particular type of crime or an illegal act or to behave in a "predictable" manner. Arizona's new immigration law will now target those "walking or driving while Brown." -more-



Court Rejects Chevron Appeal of EIR Requirements

By Bay City News
Friday April 30, 2010 - 07:57:00 AM

A state appeals court in San Francisco on Monday upheld a lower court decision that the environmental report for Chevron's Richmond refinery expansion project is inadequate under state environmental laws. -more-



Berkeley News Roundup

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday April 30, 2010 - 07:50:00 AM

In the news since the last issue: -more-



Berkeley Council Rejects "Full Build" BRT, Votes for Hybrid Solutions

By Becky O'Malley
Thursday April 29, 2010 - 11:40:00 PM

In a late night vote on Thursday, the Berkeley City Council voted to support hybrid alternatives to AC Transit's Bus Rapid Transit proposal which eliminate dedicated bus lanes and bus boarding stations in the center of the street. According to AC Transit spokesperson Cory LaVigne this plan can’t be considered as part of the environmental impact study currently underway, making it effectively a "no build" alternative at this point. -more-



Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Repair

Maile Urbancic
Thursday April 29, 2010 - 08:02:00 PM

The usual catch-phrase for environmental responsibility is "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." However, on Earth Day, in a small computer lab in University Village, Albany, a local group added "Repair" to the list. Toolbox open, my daughter grinned as she unscrewed the base of our long-broken vacuum cleaner. In a corner, two of my friends leaned over the disassembled guts of a malfunctioning laptop. Broken cameras, microwaves, and electronics filled the tables near their hopeful owners as tools were passed around and volunteers guided each project and offered advice. -more-



Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Thursday April 29, 2010 - 08:09:00 PM

04-30-10 Letters to The Editor -more-


Students Respond to Governor’s Pledges to Higher Education

By University of California Student Association
Thursday April 29, 2010 - 07:23:00 PM

Everyone's celebrating the Governor's "pledge" to save the Cal Grant... everyone except for students, that is. The pledge to save the Cal grant doesn't save anything at all. In fact, it hurts low income students and their families. -more-


Editorial

What's the News Today? Or, Skipping EIR on 2707 Rose Might Cause Berkeley Council Future Problems

By Becky O'Malley
Friday April 30, 2010 - 07:58:00 AM

The question of how to provide a sustainable information source for a small city in a metropolitan area is ongoing around here. It’s a subset of what now constitutes news, since even on a national level the main “news” outlets are increasingly aggregators (an insider word meaning collectors) of news stories created in other media. The ratio of “new news” to repeats on sites like the Huffington Post is small. -more-


Columns

THE PUBLIC EYE: The Jobs Problem

By Bob Burnett
Friday April 30, 2010 - 08:09:00 AM

The latest polls indicate that if the mid-term elections were held today, Democrats would lose seats in Congress because of dissatisfaction about the economy, particularly high rates of unemployment. Over the next six months, what should the Obama Administration do to solve the jobs problem? -more-


Dispatches From the Edge:Mexico: Tales of Chrysler & Cocaine

By Conn Hallinan
Thursday April 29, 2010 - 07:55:00 PM

So what does being stranded in the middle of the high Mexican desert have to do with Chrysler and cocaine? Well, it was a Chrysler that got Anne and me into the mess—a model aptly named Attitude (“all attitude,” as one of my kids would say). But there was no cocaine or other assorted drugs in the tiny town of Bondojito Huichapan Hidalgo, just a hardware store, a minuscule tienda, and, of course, a church. -more-


SENIOR POWER: Meet some not-young members of the community.

By Helen Rippier Wheeler
Thursday April 29, 2010 - 11:34:00 PM

Part 2: “…go with the flow.” -more-


WILD NEIGHBORS: The Koa’e ‘Ula Hula

By Joe Eaton
Thursday April 29, 2010 - 02:40:00 PM
Pair of  wedge-tailed  shearwaters at nest  site.

Kaua’i is an extraordinary place to see seabirds. Kilauea National Wildlife Refuge on the North Shore hosts nesting Laysan albatrosses, red-footed boobies, and wedge-tailed shearwaters. The boobies occupy a wooded slope above the ocean; we watched them bringing in twigs as nesting material. The albatrosses, mostly unpaired adolescents and supersized chicks, use a nearby hill. Almost literally underfoot, the shearwaters had excavated burrows right at the edge of a paved path. Great frigatebirds, long-winged piratical creatures, nest elsewhere but come to Kilauea to steal fish from the hapless boobies. -more-


Pepper Spray Times

By Carol Denney
Friday April 30, 2010 - 12:22:00 AM

Arts & Events

SEAGULL SOARS AT SHOTGUN –See it by Sunday!

by John A. McMullen II
Thursday April 29, 2010 - 10:54:00 PM
Trish Mulholland.

A century ago, theatre changed. The first “modern” play was The Seagull by Anton Chekhov. The usual theater fare then was melodrama which was considered to be high art. The Seagull was people just talking, expressing their innermost longings, mired in incontrovertible conflicts of the heart, and locked in a “union of opposites.” When it opened in St. Petersburg, the audience response was hostile. The actress playing Nina was so frightened that she lost her voice mid-performance, and Chekhov hid backstage after the first act. But fellow playwright and producer Nemirovich-Danchenko saw the play’s potential and three years later in 1898 convinced C. Stanislavski to direct it for their Moscow Art Theatre. The rest is history. The MAT brought its work to NYC in the ‘20’s, the crowd gasped when actors just behaved and engaged in such startling and ground-breaking staging as turning their back on the audience while conversing. It overwhelmed the audience with a naturalism that set a new tone and mode which would be the forefather of film acting. The crest of the Moscow Art Theatre still bears a seagull. -more-


Ill Fares the Land by Tony Judt

Reviewed by Dorothy Bryant
Thursday April 29, 2010 - 02:27:00 PM

Tony Judt is a distinguished scholar, historian, writer, and academic, born in England and based mostly in America. Of his thirteen earlier books, I have read only one. Presently, I am working my way through his 2005 masterpiece Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945. I am more familiar with his highly informed and probing reviews and essays in the New York Review of Books. One of those NYReview essays (December 17, 2009) grew into this book. -more-


Home & Garden

Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour this Sunday

By Steven Finacom
Thursday April 29, 2010 - 02:47:00 PM

Spring showers will give way to local, native, wildflowers this weekend as a number of local homeowners invite the public into their gardens. -more-


Events

The Berkeley Arts Festival Opens with Sarah Cahill and the Dazzling Divas

By Bonnie Hughes
Thursday April 29, 2010 - 08:22:00 PM
Left to right: Kathleen Moss, Eliza O'Malley, Pamela Connelly

Highly acclaimed pianist Sarah Cahill will inaugurate the Berkeley Arts Festival at 8 pm on Saturday, May 1, performing a program of exciting piano music, including of Annie Gosfield's Five Characters Walk Into a Bar (2010), Eve Beglarian's Night Psalm (2009), Terry Riley's Fandango on the Heaven Ladder (1994), Balinese Ceremonial Music arranged by Colin McPhee/Evan Ziporyn (2007), Tania Leon's Mistica (2003), selections from Larry Polansky's B'midbar (2009), Guy Klucevsek's Don't Let the Boogie Man Get You (2005), and selections from Mamoru Fujieda's Begonia in My Life (2009). -more-


Wine and Chocolate at Community Garden on Saturday

By Steven Finacom
Thursday April 29, 2010 - 07:56:00 PM

Any old messiah can turn water into wine. But wine into water? That takes a community effort. -more-


Adobe building event Sunday, May 2

By Steven Finacom
Thursday April 29, 2010 - 07:37:00 PM

If you want to get dirt under your fingernails in a productive cause, there’s an opportunity this weekend. -more-


Theater Around and About

By Ken Bullock
Thursday April 29, 2010 - 03:00:00 PM

With previews starting Friday, April 30 at 8, at the Berkeley City Club: TERRORISTKA, a new play by Rebecca Bella, directed by Jessica Holt for Threshold Theatre (which began in a Berkeley directors workshop), based on a true story Bella heard while a Fulbright Fellow in Russia, of a young Chechen woman, recruited to be a suicide bomber, journeying to Moscow, told in verse and song. With sound design by Greg Scharpen and costumes by Tammy Berlin, both of Central Works. Thursdays through Saturdays, 8 p. m.; Sundays at 5 2315 Durant Ave. $12-$29. (415) 891-7235; thethresholdproject.blogspot.com -more-


Arts Listings

GENERAL-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 9

Friday April 30, 2010 - 11:22:00 AM

STAGE-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 9

Friday April 30, 2010 - 11:19:00 AM

CLASSICAL MUSIC-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 9

Friday April 30, 2010 - 11:01:00 AM

Events Listings

TOURS AND ACTIVITIES-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 31

Friday April 30, 2010 - 11:28:00 AM

Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

What's the News Today? Or, Skipping EIR on 2707 Rose Might Cause Berkeley Council Future Problems 04-30-2010

The Editor's Back Fence

The Activist's Guide to What's Happening in Berkeley This Week 04-27-2010

Cartoons

Pepper Spray Times By Carol Denney 04-30-2010

Odd Bodkins -- Happy Chem Trails to You By Dan O'Neill 04-27-2010

The Tea Party By Justin DeFreitas 04-27-2010

Public Comment

Letters to the Editor 04-29-2010

Students Respond to Governor’s Pledges to Higher Education By University of California Student Association 04-29-2010

Letters to the Editor 04-27-2010

Arizona's Immigration Law and Likely Congressional Immigration Reform By Ralph E. Stone 04-27-2010

When Will the University of California Stop Funding War Crimes Against Palestinian Civilians? By Matthew A. Taylor 04-27-2010

Rapid Bus Plus is the Best Alternative to Bus Rapid Transit By Vincent Casalaina 04-27-2010

Resolution Opposing "Citizens United" Decision at City Council Today (Tuesday) By Phoebe Sorgren 04-27-2010

New: Court Decision on Chevron EIR Vindicates Richmond Critics By Tom Butt 04-28-2010

Using Section 8 funding to dispose of Berkeley's public housing By Lynda Carson 04-27-2010

News

New: Berkeley Today: Monday By Riya Bhattacharjee 05-03-2010

Flash: Rabbi Lerner's Home in the Berkeley Hills Attacked by Right-Wing Zionists From a Tikkun Magazine press release. 05-03-2010

New: Partisan Position:What the Berkeley City Council's Rejection of "Full Build" Will Mean By Joyce Roy 04-30-2010

New: Berkeley Today: Friday By Riya Bhattacharjee 04-30-2010

NEWS ANALYSIS: Walking or Driving While Brown-- Arizona’s New Immigration Law by Ralph E. Stone 04-30-2010

Court Rejects Chevron Appeal of EIR Requirements By Bay City News 04-30-2010

Berkeley News Roundup By Riya Bhattacharjee 04-30-2010

Berkeley Council Rejects "Full Build" BRT, Votes for Hybrid Solutions By Becky O'Malley 04-29-2010

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Repair Maile Urbancic 04-29-2010

New: Berkeley Today: Monday By Riya Bhattacharjee 05-03-2010

New: Berkeley Today:Thursday By Riya Bhattacharjee 04-29-2010

Updated: Berkeley Today:Wednesday By Riya Bhattacharjee 04-29-2010

New: Court Rejects Chevron Appeal in Refinery Expansion Case By Bay City News 04-28-2010

New: More Cuts Suggested for AC Transit East Bay Service By Riya Bhattacharjee 04-27-2010

Cities Need to be the Deciders on BRT Alternatives

Partisan Position
By Joyce Roy 04-27-2010

The Albany Waterfront – Open Space Outcome For City Visioning Process.

Partisan Position
By Patricia Jones 04-26-2010

New Orleans After Katrina

News Analysis
By Ralph E. Stone 04-27-2010

Press Release: Civil Rights Advocates Condemn Arizona Immigration Law at Press Conference 04-29-2010

Haiti Earthquake Lecture Wednesday By Steven Finacom 04-27-2010

04-28-2010

THE PUBLIC EYE:Big Liars and the Voters Who Love Them By Bob Burnett 04-26-2010

Columns

THE PUBLIC EYE: The Jobs Problem By Bob Burnett 04-30-2010

Dispatches From the Edge:Mexico: Tales of Chrysler & Cocaine By Conn Hallinan 04-29-2010

SENIOR POWER: Meet some not-young members of the community. By Helen Rippier Wheeler 04-29-2010

WILD NEIGHBORS: The Koa’e ‘Ula Hula By Joe Eaton 04-29-2010

Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour this Sunday By Steven Finacom 04-29-2010

SENIOR POWER:Meet some not-young members of the community. By Helen Rippier Wheeler 04-27-2010

East Bay Then and Now:The Goddards and Julia Morgan by Daniella Thompson 04-28-2010

Arts & Events

GENERAL-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 9 04-30-2010

STAGE-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 9 04-30-2010

CLASSICAL MUSIC-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 9 04-30-2010

SEAGULL SOARS AT SHOTGUN –See it by Sunday! by John A. McMullen II 04-29-2010

Ill Fares the Land by Tony Judt Reviewed by Dorothy Bryant 04-29-2010

WILD NEIGHBORS: The Koa’e ‘Ula Hula By Joe Eaton 04-29-2010

Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour this Sunday By Steven Finacom 04-29-2010

TOURS AND ACTIVITIES-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 31 04-30-2010

The Berkeley Arts Festival Opens with Sarah Cahill and the Dazzling Divas By Bonnie Hughes 04-29-2010

Wine and Chocolate at Community Garden on Saturday By Steven Finacom 04-29-2010

Adobe building event Sunday, May 2 By Steven Finacom 04-29-2010

Theater Around and About By Ken Bullock 04-29-2010

GENERAL-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 9 04-27-2010

STAGE-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 9 04-27-2010

CLASSICAL MUSIC-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 9 04-27-2010

POPMUSIC-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 9 04-27-2010

EXHIBITS-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 9 04-27-2010

GALLERIES-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 9 04-27-2010

CLASSICAL MUSIC-SAN FRANCISCO THROUGH MAY 9 04-27-2010

Berkeley Arts Festival Starts This Weekend with Sarah Cahill and the Dazzling Divas 04-27-2010

Oakland Museum re-opening this weekend By Steven Finacom 04-26-2010

BAHA House Tour Focuses on Julia Morgan By Daniella Thompson 04-26-2010

Exhibition: “Women Hold Up Half The Sky: Bay Area Women's Posters of the 1970s and 1980s” Raymond Barglow 04-26-2010

East Bay Then and Now:The Goddards and Julia Morgan by Daniella Thompson 04-28-2010

MUSEUMS-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 9 04-27-2010

OUTDOORS-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 9 04-27-2010

TOURS AND ACTIVITIES-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 31 04-27-2010

KIDS-EAST BAY THROUGH MAY 9 04-27-2010

TOURS AND ACTIVITIES-SAN FRANCISCO THROUGH MAY 31 04-27-2010