A letter to the editor in last month’s Jacket, Berkeley High’s bi-monthly student newspaper, questioning grading practices at the high school, has created much controversy and prompted Berkeley Unified School District officials to look into adopting a consensus for grading procedures. -more-

With almost a complete lack of controversy or public dissent, the Berkeley City Council unanimously approved a staff recommendation Tuesday night that will raise most parking citation fines $5 across the board, but significantly higher on University of California football game days. -more-

Berkeley City Manager Phil Kamlarz said Tuesday night that his office has asked for the return of more than a quarter of a million dollars Berkeley claims it is owed by office supply giant Office Depot. But to get the money, Kamlarz and the city are going to have to stand in a long line of government officials from around the country. -more-

The Parkway Theater is dark once again. Oakland’s beloved neighborhood movie theater shut its doors Sunday, March 22, possibly for good. -more-

A federal judge has ordered a halt to work on a $113 million computer lab at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL), saying UC officials may have tried to evade federal environmental law. -more-

The Planning Commission rejected a suggestion from one of its own that would have scaled down Shattuck Avenue development along the thoroughfare’s southern stretch in the new downtown planning area. -more-

Berkeley’s Washington ties grew stronger with the March 20 announcement in Washington by President Barack Obama that Energy Secretary Steven Chu has picked Steve Koonin as undersecretary for science. -more-

Challenger Sophie Hahn outspent Laurie Capitelli in the battle for the Berkeley City Council’s District 5 seat, shelling out $57,896.17 to the incumbent’s $43,023.05. -more-

Workers are busy putting the finishing touches on downtown Berkeley’s two newest buildings, the David Brower Center and Oxford Plaza. -more-

The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce has removed CEO Ted Garrett from office and is seeking a new candidate for the position, chamber officials announced last week. -more-

The Zoning Adjustments Board is asking Berkeley’s Thai temple to keep the noise down. -more-

The United States Marine Corps Officer Selection Office in downtown Berkeley came under attack once again last week, when a group of vandals broke the building’s windows with sledgehammers and splashed them with red paint. -more-

Oakland Police have arrested two young men who robbed four students at gunpoint at Oakland Technological High School Tuesday morning, March 24. -more-

An Alameda County Superior Court judge raised the bail for Andrew Hoeft-Edenfield, charged with murdering UC Berkeley nuclear engineering student Chris Wootton last May, to $2.5 million at a bail motion hearing at the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse, Tuesday, March 24. -more-

The NASDAQ stock exchange formally announced Wednesday, March 25, that it was delisting the stock of Magna Entertainment Corp. -more-

Jack’s cocktail -more-

Dorothy-Ann Sloan, a resident of Berkeley for more than six decades, passed away March 5. She was born in 1925 in the small town of Yale, Oklahoma, and raised there through the economic depression of the 1930s. At the height of World War II, she moved with her parents and brother to the West Coast and eventually Berkeley. Soon after, Dorothy-Ann enrolled at the University of California and went on to receive both an associate arts degree in 1945, and a bachelor of arts degree in 1953. She was also recognized as an honor student. -more-

A Southern lady arrived in Berkeley via Memphis in 1961, with three children, and her first husband, Dr. Marvin Wolff. She still wore hats, donned gloves, and left calling cards when making social visits. She spent several months complaining about Berkeley before she realized that coming here was her own freedom ride. -more-

A fifth suspect in a Berkeley hills home-invasion robbery and torture case from February turned himself in to Richmond police, Berkeley police spokesman Andrew Frankel confirmed Tuesday, March 24. -more-

Eras nearly forgotten, episodes well remembered, the highlights of neighborhoods throughout town, and the coming “green” future are all part of the panoply of history presented by the spring 2009 Berkeley Historical Society walking tour series. -more-

After my March 12 Daily Planet article on spring garden shows, tours, and sales in the Bay Area, readers have suggested a mention of some additional events taking place from this weekend through May. -more-

MARCH 19 EDITORIAL -more-

A few days ago I had the pleasure of taking three Italian men from Parma to view some community gardens and a school garden. They were in Berkeley to see what the Bay Area does with its trash, as they are opposing their city council’s desires to build a large incinerator. As fathers of small children, they are concerned about their health, as well as the health of the planet. They were impressed to see our recycling efforts, and learned that our garden trimmings and food scraps are recycled into rich compost, which is then dug into gardens all across town. Although the United States has only 23 incinerators left still working (and none has been built in the past 15 years), Italy has 50 incinerators, and 50 more proposed! Italians have just begun to organize to fight the incinerator owners and the Mafia, who run all the trash collections in Sicily and much of the rest of Italy. -more-

As an Oakland-based preservationist, I’ve always been amazed by the political savvy of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA), of which I’m a member. The organization even defeated the gutting of Berkeley’s landmark ordinance in the recent election. -more-

I have been thinking for days about a response to the editorial cartoon featured in the March 5-11 issue of the Berkeley Daily Planet about the Skirt Rally that took place on UC Berkeley’s campus. -more-

When four Oakland police officers were killed last weekend, Rep. Barbara Lee wasted no time before speaking out. The very next day—on a Sunday, no less—she issued not one but two press releases expressing condolences to the victims’ families and support for their colleagues. The following day she took to the floor of the House and for more than six minutes paid tribute to these “fallen heroes,” as she put it. The press statements promptly appeared on her official website, and a video clip of her remarks to the House was posted to her YouTube channel. -more-

By Paul Kamen -more-

Below the thunder of the upper deep; -more-