The entire staff of the KPFA Morning Show has been fired. See the next issue, now in the process of being posted, for details and comments.. -more-
Ten days after the second round of service cuts to AC Transit this year, bus riders and their allies will be joined by Alameda County Supervisors Keith Carson and Supervisor Nate Miley, Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and other elected officials at a rally to launch the AC Transit Accountability Campaign. They will gather at 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 9 at 14th and Broadway in Oakland. The campaign aims to raise sufficient and sustainable funds to return AC Transit to its pre-2010 service levels. Bus riders are asking Alameda County's elected officials - from the local to the Congressional level - to join them and fight for AC Transit riders just like they fought for BART's Oakland airline travelers. -more-
The Alameda County Registrar of Voters has posted the unofficial results of the Ranked Choice Voting tallies in Berkeley and Oakland. -more-
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge sentenced former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle to two years in state prison today for involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of unarmed passenger Oscar Grant III. -more-
Photojournalist David Bacon: "Protecting Oil Companies and Attacking Unions -- US Policy in Iraq and the US", presented by Grandmothers Against the War and US Labor Against the War, 7 pm, Sunday, November 7, 2010; donation; La Peña Cultural Center; 3105 Shattuck Avenue,Berkeley, California -more-
A 17-year-old boy was arrested today in Berkeley in connection with the Saturday shooting of his teenage friend, a police spokeswoman said. -more-
Union workers at America’s first listener-sponsored radio station, KPFA 94.1 FM, have mobilized to oppose imminent dramatic cuts to KPFA staffing by their parent organization, the Pacifica Foundation. The Morning Show, Against the Grain, Hard Knock Radio, and the Evening News all appear slated for severe program changes and/or decimating cuts, which may include other vital positions at KPFA. The station has already cut nearly a fifth of its workforce over the past year. -more-
Official Alameda County election results as of 1:30 a.m. show incumbent Councilmembers Jesse Arreguin, Gordon Wozniak and Linda Maio winning re-election in Districts 4, 8 and 1 respectively. Councilmember Kriss Worthington got 49.79% of the first place votes for District 7, so he’ll be trying to pick up about 6 more votes on Friday when third place finisher Ces Rosales’ votes are added to votes for Worthington or George Beier. -more-
Voters in Richmond appear to have re-elected Gayle McLaughlin for a second term as the city's Mayor, according to complete unofficial election results. -more-
The 14th annual Mario Savio Memorial Lecture () drew a huge crowd to UC Berkeley's Pauley Ballroom on Thursday, October 28. The event honors the memory and legacy of a remarkable student leader whose presence and passion became synonymous with the favor of the Free Speech Movement, which rocked the Berkeley campus in 1964. The unprecedented student sit-in and occupation of Sproul Hall — and the mass-arrest that followed — reverberated across the country challenging the established order of the Eisenhower years and triggering the social ferment that became known as "The Sixties." (For details, see the FSM Archives .) -more-
On Monday, November 1, 2010, at 3:05 a.m. two male UC students were walking on the 2700 block of Haste Street. The two noticed a male walking towards them. As the male walked past them he pulled out a semi-automatic handgun, pointed it at them and demanded their property. The victims complied and the suspect was last seen fleeing on foot westbound on Haste Street. BPD searched the area but was unable to find the suspect. The victims were not injured during this encounter. -more-
A second man has been charged with murder for the fatal shooting of Gary Ferguson Jr. near a Berkeley barbershop in broad daylight last week. -more-
When Barack Obama won the presidency two years ago, the naysayers amongst us worried that the Bush financial tsunami was just about to crest, and that he and his party would be stuck with cleaning up the mess. Or even worse, that the Democrats would be blamed for it, even though the Republicans caused it.
Count me among the Cassandra crowd. (Recap: she was the ancient Greek who accurately predicted catastrophes but no one believed her.) And we were, of course, sadly, right. It was inevitable. And as predicted, the Democrats have paid in this election for the sins of George W. Bush and company.
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Frances Dinkelspiel on berkeleyside.com has a sensitive story about a Berkeley High freshman of 14 who was shot and killed by an older boy (17) who was supposedly his best friend. Reports in The Daily Californian and other publications differ slightly from this account. Berkeley police have yet to release much concrete information about this shooting--a number of questions are still unanswered. -more-
The results of the Daily Planet’s Measure R cartoon contest have been tabulated.
Gar Smith is the winner by a nose, followed closely by Justin DeFreitas, with J.Epstein a very respectable third and Matt Breault and Joseph Young not far behind.
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Editor's Note: The latest issue of the Pepper Spray Times is now available. -more-
My upbringing wasn’t highly unusual. I believed I was much more different a person than I actually was. I was a fairly typical Jewish boy; shy with girls, intellectual, and ambitious. However, in high school, I was bullied to the extent that I wanted to get out of school and go to work early. This I did. However, my job wasn’t much to brag about, looking back on it. The job also caused me to be somewhat isolated. And at age seventeen, my behavior inexplicably became bizarre and dangerous. My older brother had exhibited mental problems at the same age. Now I was acting strange and bad enough that I was put into a mental hospital. -more-
It’s been 77 years since Adolph Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, ending the fourteen-year democracy known as the Weimar Republic. A long time ago but painfully relevant as the November 2, 2010 elections near, because there are ominous parallels between Germany in 1933 and the United States in 2010. -more-
Are the U.S. and China on a collision course? Consider the following: -more-
Dr. Robert Neil Butler, M.D.-- psychiatrist-turned-gerontologist -- died in July. He was the first to articulate the concepts of "ageism" and of "productive aging." -more-
BEACH BLANKET BABYLON This long-running musical follows Snow White as she sings and dances her way around the world in search of her prince. Along the way she encounters many of the personalities in today's headlines, including Nancy Pelosi, Condoleezza Rice, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Harry Potter, Tiger Woods, Oprah Winfrey, Britney Spears, Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Hillary Clinton, George and Laura Bush, Michael Jackson, Martha Stewart, Tom Cruise, Angelina, characters from Brokeback Mountain and Paris Hilton. Persons under 21 are not admitted to evening performances, but are welcome to Sunday matinees. -more-
BRAVA THEATER CENTER -more-
A GREAT GOOD PLACE FOR BOOKS -more-
BAYVIEW OPERA HOUSE -more-
Verismo Opera -more-
Three young tourists, a woman and two male friends, travel to a distant and dangerous part of the world. They cross a restricted border and find their lives changed forever. This sounds like the saga of Sarah Shourd, Jeff and Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal but this is the story of another trio — three student journalists from Europe who crossed into the killing fields of Kilinochchi at the end of Sri Lanka’s bloody rampage against the LTTE — the Liberation Tigers. -more-
At intermission, I spied this witty actress with whom I’ve worked, and asked her what she thought about the play. “Wonderfully cheesy!” she quipped. It was pithy and apropos. -more-
On our recent trip to Copenhagen, we visited the National Gallery of Denmark (Statens Museum for Kunst)
There is a wave of Iliad and Odyssey plays washing over the East Bay: the “Salt Plays” at Shotgun, and now PENELOPE’S ODYSSEY by Gary Graves at Central Works playing at the historic Berkeley City Club. -more-
924 GILMAN ST. All ages welcome. -more-
ARDENWOOD HISTORIC FARM Ardenwood farm is a working farm that dates back to the time of the Patterson Ranch, a 19th-century estate with a mansion and Victorian Gardens. Today, the farm still practices farming techniques from the 1870s. Unless otherwise noted, programs are free with regular admission. -more-
ASIAN ART MUSEUM OF SAN FRANCISCO The Asian Art Museum-Chon-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture recently unveiled its new building in San Francisco's Civic Center. The building, the former San Francisco Public Library, has been completely retrofitted and rebuilt to house San Francisco's significant collection of Asian treasures. The museum offers complimentary audio tours of the museum's collection galleries. "In a New Light," ongoing. There are some 2,500 works displayed in the museum's new galleries. They cover all the major cultures of Asia and include Indian stone sculptures, intricately carved Chinese jades, Korean paintings, Tibetan thanksgas, Cambodian Buddhas, Islamic manuscripts and Japanese basketry and kimonos. -more-
AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM AND LIBRARY AT OAKLAND ongoing. The Oakland Public Library's museum is designed to discover, preserve, interpret and share the cultural and historical experiences of African Americans in California and the West. In addition, a three-panel mural is on permanent display. -more-
"15TH ANNUAL CRUSH FESTIVAL," -- Nov. 7. The Berkeley Chamber's annual gourmet food and wine festival, featuring a taste of local cuisine and 25 local wineries. Also on tap: live music, auctions, and more. Event takes place at Hotel Shattuck Plaza, 2086 Allston Way, Berkeley. -more-
A GREAT GOOD PLACE FOR BOOKS -more-
"15TH ANNUAL CRUSH FESTIVAL," -- Nov. 7. The Berkeley Chamber's annual gourmet food and wine festival, featuring a taste of local cuisine and 25 local wineries. Also on tap: live music, auctions, and more. Event takes place at Hotel Shattuck Plaza, 2086 Allston Way, Berkeley. -more-
"SUN SPHERES," -- ongoing. "Sun Spheres'' is a trio of mosaic sculptures by artist Laurel True at the intersection of Ocean and Granada Avenues in the OMI District of San Francisco. -more-
BOOKS INC., ALAMEDA -more-
ALAMEDA COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS -more-
