The Berkeley School District Board voted on Wednesday evening to place two measures before the voters in November. The first is a bond measure for 210 million dollars “to improve school safety and facilities for learning and teaching.” This measure would fund construction of classrooms and science labs, seismic upgrades and technology upgrades, and would renovate playgrounds, restrooms, cafeterias, heating and fire safety systems, and other facilities. -more-

The Richmond City Council had been scheduled to consider a resolution today (Tuesday) condemning the Israeli military's takeover of a ship in the Freedom Flotilla last month and the country's continued blockade of Gaza. Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and Vice Mayor Jeff Ritterman were originally sponsoring the resolution, but Ritterman announced Monday night that he is no longer backing the resolution, in a letter forwarded to the Planet by fellow councilmember Tom Butt. -more-

Attorneys for a Berkeley law professor went before a federal appeals court in San Francisco on Monday to seek dismissal of a lawsuit in which a former military prisoner claims that legal memos written by the professor justified his alleged torture while being held in a Navy brig. -more-

Measure C; Who’s to Blame?; Midwives in Peril; Cost of Doing Business; Mind the Meter Maids (and Men);Alaska Project Danger to Wildlife; Why 2/3 Vote? Scorched Earth policy by Pro-C Proponents Drained the Pool Measure of Life; Birgenau Puff Piece; BP Responsible; Dealing with Hamas; Gates Foundation Grants; BP Should Clean Up What it Messed Up; Why Should Israel Feel Embarrassed?; Leadership -more-

The Irish-owned MV Rachel Corrie is one of the ships in the international aid Gaza Freedom Flotilla that was attacked by Israeli naval forces on May 31, 2010. On June 5, Israeli forces seized the ship. -more-

For those of us in the Boomers and older group who couldn’t tell Spidey from Speidi, a funny thing happened in the media forum this spring. Two gals pushing ninety have taken center stage. -more-

I reading the Planet’s report on the failure of Measure C to rehab Berkeley’s public swimming pools, a phrase in Measure C supporter Robert Collier’s statement jumped out at me, to wit: “...will we also allow our public education to crumble and decay?” -more-

So, it looks like Mayor Bates is planning to substitute a Green Waffle, or perhaps a Trojan Horse, for the draft of the Downtown Plan which he and staff fronted in February. Slipped into Monday’s agenda for the Agenda Committee Meeting [for non-insiders: this is where the pre-council-meeting deals go down] was this peculiarly bifurcated item: -more-

While the news about British Petroleum’s (BP) Deepwater Horizon platform blowout in the Gulf of Mexico is on a 24-hour news feed, it took a long boat ride and some serious slogging by John Vidal of The Observer (UK) to uncover a bigger and far deadlier oil spill near the village of Otuegwe in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. -more-

Reading lots of blogs, so that you don’t have to.
This week’s theme: Berkeley’s political polarizations.
This week’s items: wrapping up (for now) on Measure C and the controversial Rose St. project, a Berkeley psychologist “diagnosis” of President Obama, and Berkeley High School student leadership team election problems. -more-

We’re never too long between migrations here. Most of the northbound birds have reached their destinations by now, even the chronic laggards like the yellow-billed cuckoo. But this is just a pause in the action between the first wave of shorebirds come through on their way south, starting next month; then the rufous hummingbirds tracing the Sierra southward, and the early-migrant passerines, and the raptors and the waterfowl. -more-

I’m part of an American demographic that values cool, the mystical self-confidence that sends the message “I have it handled.” Since he burst upon the national political scene in 2004, Barack Obama has seemed the epitome of cool. But after the BP gulf oil disaster, pundits accused Obama of being “too cool.” -more-

A History of Old Age is a good book…a great book, in fact. If it appears to be a mere coffee table book, look closely at the cover -- a color reproduction of an 18^th Century painting of the head of a nameless old woman? Or perhaps you agree that Christian Seybold’s ‘Old Woman with Green Scarf’ (1794) has dignity and beauty. A History of Old Age is about old age in literature and old people in history and art. It was Charlotte Perkins Gilman who pointed out that, through literature, we know the past, govern the present, and influence the future. -more-

I admit to being kind of disappointed at not receiving a single nasty e-mail after my last column. Either Planet readership has dropped significantly since going web-only, or everyone in Berkeley and environs is completely hip that the banks are screwing us, and that homeowners are not responsible for the situation in which they find themselves. -more-

San Francisco Cabaret Opera, whose Goat Hall home base on Potrero Hill is undergoing renovations this year, is presenting its innovative Fresh Voices program of new short operas at Live Oak Theater in Berkeley this week.This one, the tenth in the series, is called Fresh Voices X. -more-

Never let it be said that our Bay Area lacks exciting and mostly free activities during the long summer months. Far from it, as you'll see from the sampling of just a few events available in June and July. -more-