Ted Friedman

Take another piece of our hearts. "Jawzilla's" jaw. Tuesday at the Sequoia Apartments.

Extra

Berkeley Earthquake Late Wednesday Was 2.3 Magnitude

By Sasha Lekach (BCN)

Thursday December 01, 2011 - 10:46:00 AM

A 2.3-magnitude earthquake struck just outside Berkeley late Wednesday night, followed by a 1.8-magnitude aftershock this morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The earthquake shook the area 1-mile east-northeast of Berkeley at 11:10 p.m., according to the USGS. -more-

Flash: Berkeley Firefighters Believe Sequoia Fire Started in Elevator Room, Was "Accidental", Not Intentionally Set

From Mary Kay Clunies-Ross

Wednesday November 30, 2011 - 03:53:00 PM

On Friday, November 18, 2011, at 8:48 p.m., Berkeley Firefighters responded to a reported structure fire at 2441 Haste Street in Berkeley. The fire eventually went to five alarms to control the incident. This fire resulted in total destruction of the 39-unit, four-story apartment building.

Berkeley Fire Department Fire Investigators are in the process of concluding their investigation and believe all indicators point towards the fire starting in the elevator machine room in the basement. At this time, they believe this fire originated in and around the elevator machinery. They believe this fire is accidental in nature and was not intentionally set. -more-

Page One

New: Curbing Corporate Power: The Next Step for the Movement to Slow Climate Change

By Carol Polsgrove

Thursday December 01, 2011 - 04:32:00 PM

Demonstrators in Asheville, NC, protest the Royal Bank of Canada's investments in tar sands and the Keystone XL pipeline. Six of the demonstrators were arrested at the Bank of America, one of the targets of the demonstration.

Following up on the White House demonstrations to stop the Keystone XL pipeline, Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org , is already hard at work on the next stage of the movement to rein in reliance on fossil fuels.

On a three-state speaking tour, he is calling for a constitutional amendment to undo the damage the Supreme Court did when it declared corporations as persons and campaign contributions as speech. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent more money last election cycle than the Democratic and Republican national committees combined—and 97 per cent of that went to climate deniers, he told an audience in Asheville, N.C., on Nov. 30. The climate change movement has to figure out how to break “the corporate power dominating our political lives.” -more-

"Killer Crane" Killing Our Past or Building Our Future? (News Analysis)

By Ted Friedman

Tuesday November 29, 2011 - 10:13:00 PM

Taking a bite out of time. "Jawzilla"--first bite. Tuesday morning at Sequoia, Telegraph and Haste.

The Killer Crane that is chomping our heritage at the nearly century-old Sequoia Apartments, which burned last Friday, is owned by a demolition company that bills itself, "clearing the way to the future." -more-

Suit Says Police Used Excessive Force at UC Berkeley Protest

By Jeff Shuttleworth (BCN)

Tuesday November 29, 2011 - 09:58:00 PM

Students and community members filed a lawsuit in federal court today alleging that police used excessive force against them during an "Occupy Cal" protest at the University of California at Berkeley on Nov. 9. -more-

Protesters Return to Frank Ogawa Plaza--Former Berkeley Mayoral Candidate Sets Up His Teepee.

By Jeff Shuttleworth (BCN)

Wednesday November 30, 2011 - 09:37:00 AM

Occupy Oakland protesters returned to Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of Oakland City Hall today, but on a smaller scale than before. -more-

Editorial

Yudof Gets It Wrong Again

By Becky O'Malley

Wednesday November 23, 2011 - 11:07:00 AM

The University of California bureaucracy is all over the Occupy scandal, now that it’s gone viral. Seldom have I experienced such a fast response to my online opinions—but University of California President Mark Yudof seems to have hopped to, with alacrity. Unfortunately, he's only made things worse.

Last Wednesday I predicted that U.C. administrators would continue their longstanding tradition of trying stupid repressive measures against students exercising free speech. Right on cue, the dumb cops at U.C. Davis on Friday assaulted passive non-violent students with pepper spray—on camera yet. -more-

The Editor's Back Fence

Best City Council Story Ever

Wednesday November 30, 2011 - 08:40:00 AM

Thanks to Richard Brenneman for this terrific link! We think we live in Bezerkeley, but we'll never top this one.

-more-

Columns

On Mental Illness: It Takes Courage

By Jack Bragen

Wednesday November 30, 2011 - 09:57:00 AM

People with mental illnesses are often very brave and courageous people because we have to be. We are up against the “package deal” of mental illness which includes a number of elements that are altogether frightening. And to face these elements requires fortitude. -more-

(My Commonplace Book (a diary of excerpts copied from printed books, with comments added by the reader.)

By Dorothy Bryant

Wednesday November 30, 2011 - 09:21:00 AM

He was one of those idealists who, struck by some compelling idea, immediately become entirely obsessed by it forever. They are quite incapable of mastering it, but believe in it passionately, and so their whole life passes afterwards, as it were, in the last agonies under the weight of a heavy stone which has fallen upon them and half-crushed them —from “The Devils”, by Fyodor Dostoevsky -more-

Odd Bodkins: Dodo

By Dan O'Neill

Wednesday November 30, 2011 - 09:34:00 AM

Arts & Events

Don't Miss This in the Holidays

By Dorothy Snodgrass

Wednesday November 30, 2011 - 09:30:00 AM

With Thanksgiving and Black Friday fading into oblivion— the Lord be praised — life may now return to normal so that we can give full attention to the many seasonal events lined up for our holiday pleasure: -more-

Farnaz Shandravan's Art Gallery Opens in Uptown Oakland

By Ken Bullock

Wednesday November 30, 2011 - 09:15:00 AM

A prominent feature of the art of the past century has been the juxtaposition of unlike objects, radically different motifs, stylistic elements, materials ... Dada and Russian Formalism (with its "Defamiliarization") brought this to the fore; Surrealism canonized it. -more-