City planning staff have dropped a bombshell on anxious West Berkeley activists: a proposal that would double the height of new buildings and potentially open the area to office complexes. -more-

State budget cuts will force the Berkeley Unified School District to cut more than $1 million from its adult education program. -more-

Safeway will unveil the latest design for its College Avenue store April 29 at the Claremont Hotel in Oakland, even as neighbors complain that they are being left out in the cold. -more-

Citing a sudden rise in accidents involving Berkeley Unified School District students, Superintendent Bill Huyett announced at the Berkeley Board of Education meeting Wednesday, March 25, that the district would work with traffic safety groups to educate children about bicycle and pedestrian safety issues. -more-

“Determination” was the word of the day at Malcolm X Elementary School Monday, March 30, the eve of Cesar Chavez’s 82nd birthday. -more-

Rather than wait for the government to jump-start a struggling economy, a group of merchants on Solano Avenue have decided to take matters into their own hands. -more-

Is the City of Berkeley moving in the direction of opening up more of its commercial business districts towards street-level office use? That seemed to be the indication during the last two months as the City Council considered, but ultimately rejected, granting a first-floor office space permit for a building on Solano Avenue. -more-

Depending on the outcome of bankruptcy actions in U.S. and Canadian courts, the would-be owners of Albany’s Golden Gate Fields say that once they acquire the property, they intend “to immediately commence seeking all required approvals to develop the property for commercial real estate uses.” -more-

Plans for one new building at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) were soaring this week, just one week after another had received a major cash boost, thanks to the lab’s former boss. -more-

State legislators representing Berkeley and Oakland constituents in Sacramento gave a mixed message on the upcoming May special election to local progressive activists last week, uniting in opposition to a proposition that would impose a permanent cap on state spending, but dividing over a ballot measure that would siphon money from the state lottery. -more-

In 2008, reports Paper Cuts, a weblog that tracks U.S. newspaper closings and staff reductions cost, the country’s papers lost at least 15,859 jobs. -more-

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced the appointment of Paul D. Seeman of Berkeley to a judgeship on the Alameda County Superior Court bench. -more-

As the sun rises above the Berkeley Hills on the morning of Wednesday, April 8, some local Jews will gather at the Berkeley Marina to greet it and carry out, atop Berkeley’s newest piece of land, an ancient religious ritual held at 28 year intervals. -more-

El Cerrito police are asking for the public’s assistance in locating a 24-year-old woman who was reported missing March 10. -more-

The last three suspects in a home-invasion robbery and torture case in the Berkeley hills last month have turned themselves in, Berkeley police spokesman Andrew Frankel said today. -more-

Three high school-age couples parked on a romantic spring Saturday night on a Grizzly Peak Boulevard turnout suddenly found themselves in a most unromantic encounter—a stick-up. -more-

Berkeley police are in Tilden Regional Park in the Berkeley hills for a second straight day to look for evidence in an old case in which new information has emerged, police spokesman Officer An-drew Frankel said Wednesday. -more-

At a March 20 hearing, Judge Morris Jacobson of the Alameda County Superior Court ordered a witness to appear for the May 18 preliminary hearing of Berkeley resident Andrew Hoeft-Edenfield. -more-

This year’s annual Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA) Spring House Tour takes place Sunday, May 3. The tour extends broadly over the architectural spectrum, with homes from the Maybeck era to the “Mid-Century Modern” period, all concentrated in the North Berkeley hills. -more-

During my midlife career break, which lasted about 18 years, we ran a small software development group. We started on Telegraph in the late 1970s, upstairs in the brick building which now houses Rasputin’s at the corner of Channing. At that time the building was owned by a southern California cheap- clothing chain which absolutely didn’t get Berkeley. They attached no value to the upstairs offices, so we were able to rent vast spaces with high ceilings, big windows and crown molding for about 30 cents a square foot, with no lease. We bought some used metal desks and a big table, and we were in business. -more-

Sometimes when a large majority of a group holds the same opinion, the opinion takes on the aura of fact. It can even become a group mantra. Such is the case with the supposed fact that “Berkeley is dense.” -more-

In late November, 2008, the California Humboldt County Registrar of Voters and a group of citizen volunteers working together as the Election Transparency Project detected an error in the November 4 final vote tally: 197 ballots had been eliminated by the Premier (formerly Diebold) electronic election system. How was this possible? The quiet story of the Election Transparency Project demonstrates that true election transparency is possible now, given the winning combination of strong commitment by a County’s Registrar of Voters and generous volunteer citizen effort, including volunteer technical expertise. -more-

This perspective might be very hard for many sociopolitically naive white people to read. But it’s very important to understand the sheer depth of negative feelings that many people of color (even those with no criminal record) have against the police. This is due to lifelong and often unpredictable, almost always potentially life-threatening, negative experiences (from petty to lethal), that they or their loved ones and friends, as people of color, have had from the police. -more-

The Oakland Police Department suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the foot when it further racialized the March 28 shootings by rescinding Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums’ invitation to speak at the public funeral of the four officers who were gunned down. -more-

What a difference a week makes! In the previous issue of this paper, I criticized Rep. Barbara Lee for, among other things, failing to speak out promptly and strongly after Israel forces critically injured one of her constituents, Tristan Anderson, by firing a high-velocity tear-gas canister at his head in the aftermath of a non-violent demonstration in the occupied West Bank. -more-

When it comes to Berkeley rental property owners, the more things change the more they remain the same. At the council meeting of March 24, the agenda included a proposed increase in the yearly fee landlords pay to maintain the Rental Housing Safety Program. Other agenda items covered discussed a common theme, the state of the economy, local unemployment and how it affects small businesses. The council went as far as helping developers allowing the deferral of permit fees up to $200,000. This is essentially an interest-free loan to large developers for the duration of a project. One member of the public objected and claimed the city ran the risk of never collecting these fees as had been the case with a large developer. One council member eloquently defended a local electrical contracting business which threatened to leave its Berkeley location. The councilperson added how the city must be willing to work with the business community in these rough economic times. -more-

Can’t tell you what I learned from school -more-