Iran is always on the minds of students and teachers at Berkeley’s Golestan Kids, but more so than usual in recent weeks. The adults at this Iranian culture, language and education program—perhaps the only one of its kind in the country—are busy teaching preschoolers about Iranian culture during the day and anxiously monitoring the news from Iran at night. -more-

State budget cuts to education will force more parents to take responsibility for dropping off and picking up their children from Berkeley’s 11 public elementary schools starting in August. -more-

If it’s not easy being green, as Kermit the Frog famously sang, it’s getting easier in the East Bay—at least for businesses spawning clean, green tech and for programs that train workers how to use it. -more-

The Berkeley Board of Education approved a two-year contract between the Berkeley Unified School District and the Berkeley Federation of Teachers at the board’s June 24 meeting. -more-

With California caught in financial turmoil, the University of California wants its employees to share the pain. -more-

AC Transit took its first steps June 24 toward implementing a December districtwide bus service cut. The bus district held a public board workshop to reveal the first details of its plan and set a Sept. 9 date for a formal public hearing. -more-

AC Transit’s Policy Steering Committee has approved the bus district’s plan to consolidate station stops along the route of its prosped Bus Rapid Transit route in principle, but made it plain that any decisions on setting aside dedicated bus lanes must go to the governing bodies of the affected cities. -more-

The Berkeley Board of Education approved the lease and sale of its Sixth Street property to the City of Berkeley at the June 24 School Board meeting in exchange for a two-year lease of Old City Hall. -more-

Development of downtown Berkeley will be much on the minds of Berkeley City Council as they meet Tuesday, July 7, for the next-to-last meeting before the summer break. On the agenda is certification of the environmental impact report and adoption of the Downtown Area Plan. -more-

West Berkeley residents and business owners voiced their concerns to planning commissioners Wednesday, June 24, about proposals to ease development rules on larger parcels in Berkeley’s only industrial area. -more-

Mandated by state law to analyze the city’s Housing Element, a key section of the city’s General Plan, for constraints on building new housing, Berkeley Deputy Planning and Development Director Wendy Cosin couldn’t find any. -more-

The Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board on Thursday, June 25, approved use permits for two new residential projects that plan to make use of President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus funds to provide affordable housing for homeless youth and low-income seniors. -more-

After months of deliberation, Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board and Landmarks Preservation Commission will meet Thursday, July 2, at the City Hall Chambers to decide the fate of Wareham’s proposed biosciences lab at 740 Heinz St., the site of the landmarked Copra Warehouse. -more-

UC Berkeley has just issued a call for bids from builders for the $190 million “seismic safety improvement” overhaul of Memorial Stadium. -more-

A two-alarm arson fire caused nearly $200,000 in damage to a South Berkeley home early Saturday evening, the first in a series of three arsons on the same street that evening. -more-

A 79-year-old man, recently arrived from Iran, was seriously injured Monday night, June 29, when he stepped into traffic on Gilman Street. -more-

Family and friends of the late Ted Vincent will remember him as a loving family-man, a selfless teacher, a natural entertainer and a devoted egalitarian, but for Berkeley and the rest of the world his legacy will rest in his five published books and the untold history he uncovered. -more-

THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST -more-

There are two primary reasons that environmentalists support the 20 percent refuse rate increase currently proposed in Berkeley. -more-

Ralph Stone knows his 20th century Iranian history (“Reflections of the Iranian Election,” June 25), but we discovered some new concerns from Iranians when we went there this past April. We expected Iranians to dislike Americans because of our involvement in the coup that Stone described that put the Shah back into power in 1953 and caused the take-over of the American Embassy in 1979. We found that Iranians like Americans and have concerns about the American government just as we like Iranians and have concerns about their government. -more-

The Employee Free Choice Act, one of the most bitterly contested bills currently facing Congress, would strengthen workers’ right to choose a union and bargain with their employers over issues of wages and benefits. When making the case for this landmark legislation, its supporters often point to the actions of the country’s most aggressively anti-union employers. And there are plenty of good examples to go round. According to a report just released by Cornell University, both legal and illegal anti-union tactics have become much more widespread in recent years. -more-

Berkeley is about to implement a wrong decision that will impact its emergency services for decades. Specifically, my comments are about the placement of the emergency services coordinator (ESC) within the City of Berkeley hierarchy, i.e., as a third level reporting employee of the Fire Department—and the restrictive role of emergency services that such positioning supports. -more-

Most Americans think of North Korea as a nation of belligerent crazy people with a political succession system more akin to the 15th century than the 21st. Indeed, it is a repressive place, with a bizarre personality cult, but the United States, Japan, and South Korea share much of the blame for the current crisis over nuclear weapons and long-range missiles. -more-

One of the iconic call-and-response chants of the hip-hop world comes when a rapper shouts out to the audience, “Somebody make some noise!” It’s a phrase often overlooked by both the hip-hop youth themselves and any adult observers who might come across such an event while flipping channels, but it has a deep and profound meaning. Almost every human born to this world wants to be noticed, wants to make some noise. In many cases, that is all they ask of society and the people around them. And when they cannot get recognition for their place in the world in the accepted ways, they find other—less acceptable—means to make the point. -more-

Although you may not think of beavers as Bay Area wildlife, they’re common along the Contra Costa shoreline and even more abundant in the Delta, a major source for the 19th-century fur trade. The beaver family that moved into lower Alhambra Creek in Martinez three years ago is still going strong. The founding pair had their third litter of kits this year, around the time the surviving 2-year-olds struck out on their own. The yearlings are helping care for the new arrivals. -more-

Your washing machine is following you. OK, so I’m being a bit dramatic but it’s true. Your washing machine is trying to get into your bedroom. -more-

Who could have foreseen, in 1959 when Moe and Barb Moskowitz founded fabled, semi-eponymous Moe’s Books, that the 50th anniversary would be celebrated in the Telegraph Avenue store from 3 to 8 p. m., Saturday July 11, at full gale force, with hula dancing by Hui Hula o na Pu’u i ka Noe, cake, balloons, door prizes—and The Duke of Windsor as host? -more-

Habimah, Israel’s national theater—which is first associated with Stanislavsky, the Moscow Art Theatre and the stylized direction of Yevgeny Vakhtangov in 1917 in Moscow—will perform its signature play, The Dybbuk, in its only West Coast performances, July 8, 9 and 12. This new production, featuring live actors and puppets, will be at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in downtown San Francisco, complementing the ongoing exhibition, Chagall and the Artists of the Russian Jewish Theater 1919–1949, through Sept. 7. The exhibition features Natan Altman’s “faux-naif” color drawings for sets and costumes, as well as a set model, poster and program, and photographs of the original 1922 Habimah production—and Marc Chagall’s celebrated 1920 murals for the Moscow State Yiddish Theatre (GOSET). -more-