Berkeley Unified School District PTA members made their district proud when they formed the largest contingent at the “Flunk the Budget” California State PTA rally in Sacramento Thursday. -more-

Oakland Police are investigating a Tuesday morning shooting in which neighbors say a North Oakland man shot an intruder breaking into his 59th Street home. -more-

The courts and the governor took independent actions Thursday that resulted—at least temporarily—in stopping the planned aerial and ground spraying for the light brown apple moth. -more-

The Berkeley City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to postpone the public hearing on the Berkeley city attorney’s draft sunshine ordinance—which promises greater access to local government—to October and granted a 90-day extension to complete their work to the citizens’ group working on an alternate draft. -more-

Berkeley voters are more likely to approve a bond measure on the November ballot that supports watershed management and clean stormwater issues, but few would be willing to shell out their hard-earned dollars for a new skate park. And they’d be more willing to add a $50 item to their tax burden than a $150 item. -more-

The City Council adoption Tuesday around midnight of an ordinance that would add open-space and parking regulations in all commercial-area development, a preemptive strike against possible fallout from the passage of Proposition 98, was a disappointment to some West Berkeley residents who hoped to see the passage of a competing ordinance—one that would have limited building heights along San Pablo Avenue. -more-

Community members turned the heat up a notch on Pacific Steel Casting Tuesday when Berkeley lawyer Tim Rumberger filed a class-action nuisance lawsuit against the foundry on behalf of thousands of West Berkeley neighbors. -more-

A 21-year-old Emeryville man died and two people were injured in a spectacular crash on Interstate 80 at Ashby Avenue early Wednesday. -more-

The Daily Planet sat down with the four candidates in the California Assembly District 14 race recently and asked their views on various issues. The Daily Planet will reproduce portions of their responses in upcoming issues, beginning this week with the issue of health care. -more-

The Berkeley Board of Education voted Wednesday to proceed with the South of Bancroft Plan—which calls for the demolition of the nationally landmarked Old Gym to make room for a stadium and 15 new classrooms, with the option of relocating the warm-water pool located inside it to a site on Milvia Street—and approved $1.4 million for Baker Vilar Architects to design the new facilities. -more-

The Berkeley Unified School District was able to bring back all its “pink-slipped” classroom teachers Wednesday, after the district rescinded potential layoff notices for 11 multiple-credentialed teachers. -more-

Planning commissioners voted Wednesday night to extend the comment period on the draft environmental impact report (DEIR) for Berkeley’s long-delayed Southside Plan. -more-

Proposed revisions to Berkeley’s wireless ordinance ran into opposition Wednesday night both from neighbors, who branded the proposals as weak, and from phone companies, which said they were too strict. -more-

A private company founded by the head of one of two UC Berkeley programs created to turn plants into fuels for planes, trains and automobiles is launching a commercial venture to turn sugar cane into diesel fuel. -more-

Posted Mon., April 28 -more-

ALTERNATIVE TO BRT -more-

Laurie Capitelli begins his April 18 Daily Planet commentary standing at Vine looking south “down a vibrant Shattuck Avenue thronging with pedestrians…spilling out across traffic to claim and use the grass median strip.” What he does not say, is that this thronging mass of pedestrians does not continue down Shattuck Avenue or continue into the real downtown of Berkeley. -more-

Posted Mon., April 28—From the beginning, the idea of converting an industrial property in the middle of our manufacturing district to recreational fields and a skate park, was pure folly. -more-

Posted Mon., April 28—Over the past week top Pentagon officials have upped the Bush regime’s verbal attacks against Iran in what may be a prelude to actual military attacks. -more-

With respect to the North Shattuck Plaza, a proposal which recently resurfaced in the city’s Master Pedestrian Plan, and whose “comment period” has recently ended, I write concerning both the issue and the process. To the issue of the plaza as proposed I stand opposed. The process to which I refer is that of government imposition of such plans (to which I stand opposed) without the active and informed participation in their formulation by those who will be effected by them. A “comment period” does not constitute participation. -more-

The Daily Planet had a headline article regarding concrete cracking at the skate park. Mixed in with this was my name, as well as eight-year-old comments about environmental issues from someone on the Disability Commission. There is no connection here. -more-

The city is considering placing a bond measure on the ballot to rebuild our public pools. Pools built nearly half a century ago, in cooperation between the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) and the city, have reached their life expectancy. Crumbling infrastructure makes these pools increasingly expensive to maintain and keep viable financially and operationally. As a result, two of the three outdoor neighborhood public pools in Berkeley are closed most of the year, with West Campus pool closed even on summer weekends. Only King pool serves its North Berkeley neighborhood year around. Additionally, the city’s Warm Water Pool, housed in Berkeley Highs Old Gym, must be relocated and rebuilt. Now is the time to look at alternative scenarios. Now is the time to explore facilities that can support existing programs and act as a springboard to launch new, exciting, aquatic programs. -more-

Remember Joseph Heller’s Catch 22? “All the enlisted men and officers on combat duty had to sign a loyalty oath to get their maps from the intelligence tent, a second loyalty oath to receive their parachutes from the parachute tent, a third loyalty oath, etc.…Every time they turned around there was another loyalty oath to be signed…To anyone who questioned the effectiveness of loyalty oaths, [Captain Black] replied that people who were loyal would not mind signing all the loyalty oaths they had to. To anyone who questioned the effectiveness of the loyalty oaths, he said people who really owed allegiance to their country would be proud to pledge it as often as required.…The more loyalty oaths a person signed, the more loyal he was.” -more-

City officials are considering a panoply of new tax measures for the November 2008 ballot. The measures under discussion include the following projects, either separately or bundled in some fashion: public safety-police; public safety-fire; public safety-youth violence prevention; watershed management; warm water pool; (the forgoing are referred to herein as “the city measures”); and a very big general parks and recreation measure, including all pools, several playing fields, a new skate park, and more. Additionally, the library and BUSD are each very interested in substantial capital improvement measures ($25 million for the library), but appear to have made a deal to hold off until the city gets a first crack at the voters this coming November. Note that there will also likely be some regional and state revenue measures, as well as some potential changes (to extract more dollars) in the way that the State of California taxes property owners. -more-

In the printed edition of “Fight Against Moth Spray Gains Boots on the Ground” by Judith Scherr on April 8, the event our collective organized for Thursday, April 10, from 7-9 p.m. at the Berkeley Ecology Center was mistakenly credited to Pesticide Action Network (PAN). We are not affiliated with them, nor do we wish to be confused with them, because our organizations have very different approaches to anti-pesticide action. We advocate no compromise about chemical substances that harm human and environmental health, while they refuse to take a complete no toxics stand. -more-

Barack Obama’s political faux pas at the Marin county fundraiser is certainly something he could have done without, especially in light of the fact that his poll numbers were beginning to look good in Pennsylvania against his opponent. We don’t know if he was being candid or he merely misspoke. But whatever his intention was, this is exactly the sort of ammunition you don’t want to provide your opponents in this age of information where news propagates like wildfire click by click. Even though if you read his statement in full and not out of context, the last sentence of that statement doesn’t sound as bad as his opponents may like the voters to realize. But for McCain and Hillary to call him elitist is not only laughable but just plain disingenuous. -more-

Beware: The United States Department of Agriculture plans to drop bombs of pesticides over the Bay Area this summer. We can thank a former UC Berkeley professor for that. -more-

In 1903, Wisconsin’s “Fighting” Bob La Follette organized the first primaries in the U.S. La Follette hated boss-controlled conventions. The aim of the primaries, he once said, is to remove the nomination from the hands of professionals. -more-

Posted Mon., April 28—In the six weeks between the Mississippi and Pennsylvania primaries, the campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination deteriorated into trench warfare. When the dust cleared, Hillary Clinton won a nine-point victory in Pennsylvania, one that moved her no closer to securing the nomination. And the struggle between Clinton and Obama left a trail of bitterness. -more-

The recent victory of Fernando Lugo in Paraguay’s presidential election not only broke the right-wing Colorado Party’s 61-year monopoly on power, according to journalist and author Richard Gott, it signals “that the new mood in Latin America is not just a creation of a competent economist in Ecuador, a charismatic colonel in Venezuela, or a couple of union leaders in Brazil and Bolivia, but the result of a heartfelt and deep-rooted desire for change.” -more-

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been engaging in a political-difference dialogue with one of the candidates for Oakland City Council At Large, Charles Pine. I’m not going to go into the details of that dialogue; it’s all on-line, and you can look it up, if you haven’t been following it. I only raise it because I hope this serves as an example of how political dialogue ought to take place. Mr. Pine put his political positions out on his campaign website, following that up with public statements at a candidates forum. I wrote my criticisms in my column about those positions, signing my name to the criticisms. Mr. Pine answered those criticisms in a letter to the editor of my newspaper and liked his answers so much, apparently, that he posted them as well on his campaign website under the link “Exchange With Columnist About Law And Order.” -more-

If your house disappears from zillow.com, does that mean it no longer exists? Because that’s exactly what happened last month. -more-

I’m sure there’s a reasonable rationale behind it but to a posyhugger, the stretch of road leading into Sunol-Ohlone Regional Park is an instrument of torture. All along the roadcut on your right, if you’re on time for it, you’ll see a fine display of paintbrush, the occasional blue dicks and bindweed, and the first flush of Calochortus albus, the subtly gorgeous white fairy-lantern, much of it conveniently near eye-level as you pass. -more-

If you get to know anyone well enough, you’ll eventually find out which super-power they have. Most super-powers are fairly innocuous while a few are more apparent and seemingly heroic. My ex-girlfriend could find a parking place in front of coliseum Rock & Roll events. Right smack in front. Stunning. Clearly a super-power. Some people know just when to buy the 24 pack of toilet paper and never run out. For some, this is inconceivable. Some can find the screw they dropped in the grass, while I’ve been forced to leave many behind. Next time you pass some little balding guy on the street, remember, he has a super power. See if you can guess which one he has. It might be a doozy. -more-