News Updates

Berkeley High Student Arrested in Robbery after Campus Lockdown

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Wednesday May 07, 2008
Berkeley High School came under a brief lockdown Wednesday morning when Berkeley police searched the campus for a 17-year-old high school junior who was arrested for robbing a sophomore. -more-

Gaia Resolution Rescinded

By Judith Scherr
Wednesday May 07, 2008
The Gaia Building on Allston Way was back before the council Tuesday. -more-

Hoeft-Edenfield Charged with Murder in Death of UC Berkeley Student

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday May 06, 2008
The District Attorney’s office charged Berkeley City College student Andrew Hoeft-Edenfield, 20, with murder in the stabbing death of UC Berkeley engineering student Chris Wootton this afternoon (Tuesday). -more-

Immigration Arrests Spread Fear of Crackdown at Local Schools

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday May 06, 2008
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents picked up a Berkeley family around 9:30 a.m. today (Tuesday), during what immigration authorities called routine targeted enforcement action, and took all four family members to the Office of Detention and Removal Operations in San Francisco for questioning. -more-

Mystery, Anger Cloud Story Of Friday Night Shooting

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday May 06, 2008
Anger over the brazen Friday night shooting in a troubled Berkeley neighborhood has renewed calls for a greater police presence and pitted neighbor against neighbor. -more-

Vietnam Vet to Face Charges for Domestic Dispute and Standoff

Bay City News
Tuesday May 06, 2008
A 60-year-old Vietnam veteran is facing felony death threat and misdemeanor domestic violence charges for allegedly striking and threatening to kill his girlfriend and then barricading himself inside his house for nearly nine hours, Berkeley police said today (Tuesday). -more-

Conyers Asks DEA for Answers on Medical Cannabis Raids

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday May 06, 2008
Rep. John Conyers, chair of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, didn’t mince words in a recent letter to the Drug Enforcement Agency administration asking for a response to allegations that the agency has stepped up raids on dispensaries of medical marijuana. -more-

UC Berkeley Student Stabbed, Berkeley High Graduate Held

By Riya Bhattacharjee and Bay City News
Sunday May 04, 2008
Booking photo of suspect Andrew Thomas Hoeft-Edenfield.
Berkeley police arrested Berkeley City College student Andrew Thomas Hoeft-Edenfield, 20, as a suspect for the fatal stabbing of UC Berkeley engineering student Christopher Joseph Wootton on Saturday. -more-

Council to Look at Instant Runoff Voting

By Judith Scherr
Monday May 05, 2008
Four years after Berkeley residents voted overwhelmingly for Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), the City Council will vote tomorrow (Tuesday) on whether to implement the new voting process for the mayoral and council district elections in November. -more-

LPC Gets First Look at Plans for Landmarked UC Buildings

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Monday May 05, 2008
UC Berkeley officials briefed the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) Thursday on several campus projects sites still at the planning phase at landmarked buildings and sites. -more-

Report from Indiana: 40 Years after Kennedy—A Party Reanimated

By Rama Sobhani
Monday May 05, 2008
Bloomington, Indiana, a Friday night in April, there’s a rally downtown to open the new Barack Obama campaign center. About 50 or so people are milling about the small room, holding plates of food in one hand and shaking strangers’ hands with the other. For the first time in 40 years, a Democratic candidate has a reason to open a campaign office in Indiana. -more-

Berkeley, Richmond Council Target Berkeley Lab Projects

By Richard Brenneman
Monday May 05, 2008
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) made minor changes in its plans for its planned biofuel lab, but rejected any move to another site, according to a recently released environmental review. -more-

Chan and Polakoff Statements Missing from Ballot Pamphlets

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday May 02, 2008
Campaign statements from candidates in two key local legislative races—former 16th District Assemblymember Wilma Chan in Senate District 9 and Berkeley physician Phil Polakoff in Assembly District 14—do not appear on the official ballot pamphlets for the June 3 primary, some of which have already been mailed to voters. -more-

Former Rent Board Member Sentenced to 6 Months in Jail

By Bay City News
Thursday May 01, 2008
Former Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board member Chris Kavanagh was sentenced today (Thursday) to five years probation, including six months in the Alameda County jail, for his conviction for one felony count of falsely registering an ineligible voter, namely himself. -more-

News

Trees Felled at El Cerrito’s Del Norte Center

By John Geluardi, Special to the Planet
Thursday May 01, 2008
When customers arrived at Maggie’s Coffee House in El Cerrito Tuesday morning, they were surprised to see a regular customer standing his ground between a tree and three men, one of whom was carrying a chainsaw. -more-

Week’s Second Shooting Alarms Oakland Neighbors

By Richard Brenneman
Thursday May 01, 2008
Early Monday evening a running gun battle left one man critically injured and police searching for a lime green car that struck several cars during an exchange of gunfire with a pedestrian. -more-

State Committee Calls for Aerial Spray Moratorium

By Judith Scherr
Thursday May 01, 2008
The state Senate Environmental Quality Committee unanimously passed a resolution Monday calling for a moratorium on aerial spraying for the light brown apple moth (LBAM) until the state agriculture department “can demonstrate that the pheromone compound it intends to use is both safe to humans and effective at eradicating the light brown apple moth.” -more-

Zoning Officials Investigate Thai Temple Food Permit

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Thursday May 01, 2008
Sunday brunch at the Berkeley Thai Temple could soon become a thing of the past. -more-

Vivarium May Quit City Over Development, Parking Woes

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Thursday May 01, 2008
East Bay Vivarium owner Owen Maercks hugs 8-year old Taz, the store’s resident 7-foot-long Asian Water Monitor.
It’s the only place in Berkeley where you can pet a Komodo dragon. And if you are lucky, watch in bug-eyed wonder as tarantulas perform handstands and Burmese Albino pythons bask in the afternoon sun. -more-

UC Republicans Want Parking Space Too

By Judith Scherr
Thursday May 01, 2008

UC Biofuel Ties Grow

By Richard Brenneman
Thursday May 01, 2008

City Searching for Means to Finance Solar

By Judith Scherr
Thursday May 01, 2008

Evening Parking Meter Use Draws Critics

By Judith Scherr
Thursday May 01, 2008

Housing Commission to Hear Report on Hillegas Building

By Richard Brenneman
Thursday May 01, 2008

Voluntary Manslaughter Verdict in Hollis Shooting Case

Bay City News
Thursday May 01, 2008

Credit Card Pilferer Sought

By Richard Brenneman
Thursday May 01, 2008

Hancock Leads Chan in Endorsements

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Thursday May 01, 2008

Big Donations in Senate, Assembly Campaigns

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Thursday May 01, 2008

May Day Marches Call for Workers’ Rights, Amnesty

By Judith Scherr
Thursday May 01, 2008

Cinco de Mayo, Told by a Man Who Fought It

By Vicente Riva Palacio,introduction and translation by Ted Vincent
Thursday May 01, 2008

Immigration Teach-In at First Congregational Church

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Thursday May 01, 2008

A series of clever “parks in a bottle” designed and created by landscape architecture students is part of the Berkeley park centennial exhibit in the Addison Street Windows through May 17.

Berkeley Parks Celebrate Centennial with ‘A Day in the Park’

By Steven Finacom, Special to the Plant
Thursday May 01, 2008

UC Police Seek Suspects in Two Mass Gropings

By Richard Brenneman
Thursday May 01, 2008

A worker saws a tree that was cut down at the Del Norte Center.
Eliza O’Malley
A worker saws a tree that was cut down at the Del Norte Center.

Editorials

Editorial: Staying Alive, Saying Goodbye to Friends

By Becky O'Malley
Thursday May 01, 2008
It’s May Day today, a traditional holiday in a wide spectrum of traditions. For the Old Left and much of the rest of the world, it’s a Labor Day, a day for assertive marching and waving red flags. The ILWU and friends are honoring the old-school customs by trying to shut down shipping on the Left Coast to protest the war in Iraq. Pre-left traditions from Olde England were celebrated by gathering baskets of spring flowers to hang anonymously on the doorknobs of sweethearts and friends. Even in my innocent college days first year students left May baskets for favorite seniors—do they still do that, I wonder? -more-

Reader Commentaries

Letters to the Editor

Thursday May 01, 2008

Letters to the Editor

Monday May 05, 2008

Commentary: Berkeley’s Skate Park: Backslide on the Chrome-6

By L A Wood
Thursday May 01, 2008

Commentary: Cal Student’s Death — An Avoidable Tragedy?

Tuesday May 06, 2008

Commentary: White House Keeping Tensions High With Iran

By Kenneth Theisen
Thursday May 01, 2008

Commentary: The Dishonesty of Recruiters and the Pentagon

By Mark McDonald
Thursday May 01, 2008

Commentary: Apple Moth Pleads Not Guilty

By Miguel A. Altieri
Thursday May 01, 2008

Commentary: North Shattuck Is Fine — It’s Downtown That Needs Improvement

By Linda Trujillo Bargmeyer
Thursday May 01, 2008

Commentary: Oakland Needs Safe Streets and Neighborhoods

By Gregory McConnell
Thursday May 01, 2008

Commentary: School Board Votes Against Moth Spray Plan

By Jane Kelly
Thursday May 01, 2008

Commentary:UC Lets Tree-Sitters Nest to Divert From Clear-Cutting

By Robert Bruce
Thursday May 01, 2008

Commentary: Visualizing a Post-Legalization World

By David Nebenzahl
Thursday May 01, 2008

Commentary: The Truth About UC’s Private Militia

By Marcella Sadlowski
Thursday May 01, 2008

Commentary: ‘Crazy School with The Tree-Sitters’ Reputation Must Come to an End

By Tighe Hutchins
Thursday May 01, 2008

Commentary: Mayor Bates and The Sunsetting of Sunshine

By Gene Bernardi and Jane Welford
Thursday May 01, 2008

Columnists

The Public Eye: After Hillary: Bitterness

By Bob Burnett
Thursday May 01, 2008

First Person: Thank You, Barbra Streisand

By Dorothy Snodgrass
Thursday May 01, 2008

UnderCurrents: Obama Must Trust His Campaign, Forget About a Knockout Blow

Thursday May 01, 2008

The Westenberg House in it early years. The Claremont Hotel is visible in the distance.

East Bay, Then and Now: Westenberg House: The Grande Dame of Benvenue Avenue

By Daniella Thompson
Thursday May 01, 2008

Arts & Entertainment

Arts Calendar

Thursday May 01, 2008

First Person: The Critic Takes the Stage

By Ken Bullock, Special to The Planet
Thursday May 01, 2008

Oakland East Bay Symphony Performs Sondheim’s ‘Follies’

By Ken Bullock, Special to The Planet
Thursday May 01, 2008

Zilbersmith Set to Play Several East Bay Venues

Thursday May 01, 2008

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni at the I-House fete.

Divakaruni, I-House Alumna of the Year, Returns to Berkeley

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Thursday May 01, 2008

Moving Pictures: The Artistic Restraint of Yasujiro Ozu

By Justin DeFreitas
Thursday May 01, 2008

Home & Garden

Wild Neighbors: UC and Strawberry Canyon: The Harvestman Paradox

By Joe Eaton
Thursday May 01, 2008

About the House: ‘But It’s Still Working!’

By Matt Cantor
Thursday May 01, 2008

Events Calendar

Community Calendar

Thursday May 01, 2008