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Thursday, May 4 -more-

The recent resolution passed by the Alameda County Board of Education seems to have caught Lawrence Hall of Science and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab officials off-guard, in its straightforward, no-nonsense advisory to Alameda County schools to suspend field trips to the Lawrence Hall of Science. Children could be put in danger, the Board of Education advised, by radiation releases in the form of tritium from the stack of the National Tritium Labeling Facility, located adjacent to the Hall of Science. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco’s unusual and innovative Word for Word theater company takes classic and contemporary works of fiction – not drama – and performs them on stage as theater pieces. -more-

The St. Mary’s baseball team has been hearing the stories about Piedmont High pitcher Matt Shartsis all year, but until Wednesday afternoon, it was all second-hand information. -more-

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Your March 27 article “Downtown Apartments in the Works (by Marilyn Claessens) illustrated perfectly greed exhibited by a developer and lack of thorough consideration by Berkeley’s city government. -more-

The Berkeley High boys volleyball team kicks off a three-game season of sorts this evening, hosting East Bay Athletic League rival Granada in its 2000 home finale at Donahue Gym. The 5 p.m. showdown marks the first of three must-win game for the Yellowjackets, who hope to contend for an at-large berth at North Coast Section, if they can win at least two out of the next three, against the Matadors, Foothill and California High. -more-

The public will get the opportunity to walk around Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory this weekend during the site’s first open house since the fall of 1997. -more-

It has come to my attention that the Berkeley school board is about to consider the placing of a maintenance parcel tax on the fall ballot. Meanwhile, our teachers are campaigning for an equitable salary schedule, our parents and students are supporting well-developed programs to prevent retentions, and our high school campus seems to be under siege. All of these issues are of immediate concern to our community. It seems that they must first be solved before we embark on other less significant projects. -more-

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I still protest the oversized antenna tower in McKinley Street. -more-

A federal appeals court in San Francisco has upheld a lower court ruling that allowed the merger of Alta Bates and Summit medical centers. -more-

I want to thank you for your excellent coverage of the Berkeley Arts Festival and to respond to Polly Armstrong’s May 1 Perspective piece. I, too, question the attack on the manager’s report. It is the report that should be scrutinized not the kind of paper it is printed on. -more-

The big new traveling exhibition now at UC’s Berkeley Art Museum, “China: Fifty Years inside the People’s Republic,” is in the first place a sweeping range of documentation, and is co-sponsored by the School of Journalism, where the dean is Orville Schell, a China specialist. But it is displayed in an art museum and the photographs are mostly grouped by the individual photographers, so we are invited to consider them as works of art, as visual expressions that go beyond normal reportage. -more-

ACTORS ENSEMBLE OF BERKELEY -more-

You could say that the Berkeley High softball team got a “victry” against Amador Valley on Tuesday afternoon. That is, the ’Jackets may well have scored a victory, if they hadn’t been missing an “o.” -more-

Wednesday, May 3 -more-

Plans by the historic Claremont Hotel to add 90 additional guest rooms have ignited a reaction from neighborhood groups concerned about increased traffic. -more-

I was disheartened to read Monday’s opinion article, “Affordable Housing Projects Threatening to Metastasize.” Mr. Walter Wood’s misrepresentation of affordable housing development is based on uninformed assumptions. -more-

ASHKENAZ -more-

Alameda-Contra Costa Athletic League golf powerhouse Alameda already had the league’s lone North Coast Section team berth secured going into Monday’s ACCAL championship tournament at the Chuck Corica Golf Complex. But with three at-large individual berths up for grabs, the afternoon was hardly meaningless for the second-place St. Mary’s boys golf team. -more-

Rick Young has been doing some long-term parking – without the benefit of an automobile. -more-

Sometimes the “field” part of track and field can be overlooked in favor of the more glamorous sprint and hurdles events. But without star thrower Kamaiya Warren, who virtually guarantees the Panthers two first-place finishes in every dual meet, St. Mary’s High’s ultra-successful girls track team would not be the same high-scoring threat to the NCS title it figures to be later this month. -more-

The Berkeley Unified School District should examine an alternative option for the East Campus playing fields project. -more-

Representatives from the city, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Shorebird Nature Center broke ground Saturday on an energy-efficient, straw-bale, 860-square-foot building. -more-

A major earthquake along the Hayward Fault could force the closure of UC Berkeley for a year, resulting in the loss of 8,900 jobs, $680 million in personal income and $861 million in sales during that period. -more-

After much sound and fury, the Alameda County Education Board saw through the tactics of the “Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste” and gave the Lawrence Hall of Science a clean bill of health. The Superintendent of Public Schools announced on the county web page that she will send her son to the Hall during the summer. -more-

Berkeley’s Shotgun Players opened an intriguing and often mystifying production of English feminist playwright Caryl Churchill’s dark, dense, difficult, and at times gruesome play “The Skriker” Saturday at Julia Morgan Theater. -more-

Tuesday, May 2 -more-

The Berkeley High girls sprint relay team’s weekend trip to Philadelphia for the prestigious Penn Relays was plenty educational. But even in the heart of American Revolutionary history, with the city’s abundance of historical landmarks, it was the actual track meet that proved to be most enlightening. -more-

\\\Tuesday, May 2\\ -more-

He’s the pet at Fire Station No. 5 and the firefighters love him, but he’s a lot more than a cheery pal who rides the truck with his buddies. Dylan is a disaster search dog, trained to find people trapped under rubble. -more-

More than five years ago I was approached by the first director of a proposed “Berkeley Free Folk Festival” and asked to recommend potential workshop spaces for the event, which I was happy to do. I explained the necessity of using fully accessible locations, since the event was to be partially funded by public money, to a self-appointed director whose initial response was, “People in wheelchairs don’t play the guitar.” -more-

For 83 percent of the Berkeley High boys golf team, the 2000 season ended with Monday’s eight-place finish at the East Bay Athletic League championship tournament at Oakridge Golf Course. -more-

A 63-year-old man was attacked and beaten on the street around 8 p.m. Sunday in the 1300 block of Channing Way. -more-

It was a most unusual day indeed. -more-

Resident stops burglar -more-

Residents, merchants and shoppers and people commuting via College Avenue are due for big changes next month as the street’s repaving project enters an expected three-month construction period. -more-

Residents and merchants in the neighborhood near 1719 University Avenue (the former Kelley Moore Paint store) are seeking a cure for the latest in an unprecedented wave of high-density housing projects. -more-

THEATER -more-

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Classes weren’t in session, but the halls were buzzing all day Saturday at the City of Franklin Microsociety Magnet School. -more-

It was with considerable disappointment that I read Daily Planet reporter Judith Scherr’s gossip column in Tuesday’s paper (April 25). I and many others had hoped that the Daily Planet was going to be a real paper with serious, objective reporting about the myriad activities going on in Berkeley. You had such a promising beginning with mature reports, which really served to inform. Lately it has seemed that the paper has developed a point of view which is that things are rotten in Berkeley and everyone is trying to get away with something. A report on an interesting and exciting UC-sponsored panel of thoughtful, intelligent people who get things done in Berkeley, discussing their hopes and concerns for Berkeley’s future, was reported in a denigrating and derogatory way. An attempt on the part of the city staff to inform Berkeley residents about many interesting things going on in Berkeley, through an annual report mailed to every address in town, was dismissed as costing $30,000 to create and mail city-wide, and as having a few typographical errors. (I noticed that the distasteful gossip column had many such errors itself.) What about the content of the report and how about interviewing some of the “non-regulars” about what they thought of the report? -more-

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Berkeley residents and city departments have vowed to cut carbon dioxide emissions by more than 2 million pounds as part of an Earth Day pledge to help the environment. -more-

Berkeley High rugger Joanna Hoch scored all three tries for the BHS/Piedmont contingent in Saturday’s match at Fielding Field in Berkeley, but the more experienced Oakridge squad had the offensive consistency to prevail, 25-15. -more-

Testing Datestring Testing Datestring Testing Datestring Testing Datestring Testing Datestring Testing Datestring Testing Datestring Testing Datestring Testing Datestring Testing Datestring Testing Datestring Testing Datestring -more-

If it were up to the Zoning Adjustment Board, Kragen Auto Parts would shut its doors forever at California Street and University Avenue. -more-

KPFA activists are celebrating a legal victory: A judge ruled this week that they can move forward with the lawsuit filed in July by Oakland attorney Dan Siegel. -more-

Saturday, April 29 -more-

Berkeley’s own “Ranger Danger” has left the building. -more-

For several years, the self styled “watchdog group” the Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste (CMTW) has been proselytizing the City of Berkeley with its view of the dangers of radiation in general and tritium in particular. This cult of true believers teaches that any level of exposure to radiation is dangerous and gives the impression that the Department of Energy (DOE) is the source of all radiation. Faced with the truth that there are many natural sources of radiation, they fall back on an alternative teaching that manmade radiation is much worse than natural radiation, even if they are identical. -more-

The Berkeley High swimming and diving team closed out the 2000 home season with a moral victory of sorts on Friday afternoon, setting a number of personal records in individual and relay events in a 53-111 (boys) and 47-114 (girls) losses to the much larger San Ramon Valley contingent. -more-

The Berkeley High swimming and diving team closed out the 2000 home season with a moral victory of sorts on Friday afternoon, setting a number of personal records in individual and relay events in a 53-111 (boys) and 47-114 (girls) losses to the much larger San Ramon Valley contingent. -more-

A new estimate by the Berkeley Unified School District says the April 12 arson fire at the high school caused between $1.5 million and $2 million in damage – and that cost doesn’t include the money being spent on relocation efforts linked to the fire. -more-

The extent to which the oft-mentioned concept of “momentum” actually matters to most playoff-bound teams is debatable, but for an emotional team like Berkeley High, the concept is not so abstract. -more-

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A firefighter who magically knows about accidents before they happen is something Berkeley High could have sorely used a few weeks back, and also happens to be the pretense of a film directed by one of the school’s six new Hall of Fame honorees. -more-

Volunteers got help from Washington Elementary School students on Friday in the creation of new garden beds at the campus. The original garden was built on the eastern side of the school, but ever-growing trees are limiting the amount of sun that can reach those beds. So, a group of community members decided to pitch in and create new beds on the west side of campus. Anyone who wants to volunteer can visit the school, at the corner of Bancroft and Martin Luther King Jr. ways, today between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. And if you’re looking for anything else to do this weekend, turn to page 2 for our Out & About calendar. It’s a busy weekend, with lots to do around town. -more-

A woman walking with two small children was robbed about 9:45 p.m. Thursday on Rose Street near Acton Street. -more-

Two of Berkeley’s biggest employers opened their doors to employee’s children Thursday to celebrate “Take Your Daughter To Work Day.” -more-

After blowing leads in the first two games against Monte Vista at Donahue Gym on Thursday, the Berkeley High boys volleyball team finally settled down, overcoming the Mustangs in the next three consecutive games to escape with a 14-16, 15-17, 15-5, 15-6, 15-5 win. -more-

Berkeley schools take down signs in ‘phony’ move -more-

A firefighter who magically knows about accidents before they happen is something Berkeley High could have sorely used a few weeks back, and also happens to be the pretense of a film directed by one of the school’s six new Hall of Fame honorees. -more-

Friday, April 28 -more-

Most of the students, merchant representatives and neighborhood activists, speaking at Wednesday night’s Planning Commission public hearing on the Underhill Draft Environmental Impact Report condemned the planning process by which the Underhill Projects and Southside Plan are roaring down parallel tracks. -more-

Berkeley High sprinters Aisha Margain, Raqueta Margain, T’carra Penick, Katrina Keith and Simone Brooks have repeatedly demonstrated superhuman feats on the track this season, but even Berkeley’s fabulous five aren’t fast enough to be two places at once. -more-

A working group on Southside housing, zoning and land use went to the Planning Commission Wednesday night with a brash new plan for development in the south-of-campus area. -more-

A woman was assaulted and the puppy she was holding was stolen Wednesday evening as she waited for her husband and the new owner of the dog to return from a cash machine. -more-

A resident was burglarized by a “hot prowler” around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. She said she was late in getting up to go to work, opened her living room window in her first floor apartment on the 2000 block of Delaware Street. -more-

In two separate incidents Thursday, two men were victims of armed robbery in Aquatic Park: one at Bay Street and Potter around 3 a.m. and the other at 11 p.m. on Bolivar Drive north of Bay Street. -more-

Dog bites dog -more-