Plans to revitalize UC Berkeley’s Lower Sproul Plaza may have dire consequences for small, family-owned businesses on campus. -more-

At first glance, the cute little blueberry baskets might seem out of place among the maze of political posters, stickers and T-shirts inside UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza. -more-

West Berkeley’s Pacific Steel Casting, the nation’s fourth largest surviving steel foundry, is hurting badly. -more-

The Berkeley City Council worked late into the night Tuesday to pass a modified Downtown Area Plan (DAP), setting the direction and goals for development in the city center for the foreseeable future. -more-

Berkeley was awarded $1.3 million in federal homelessness prevention funds Thursday under President Barack Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. -more-

A strangely colored beam pouring out a quadrillion watts of peak power spewing out subatomic particles juiced up by a ten-billion-electronic-volt laser plasma accelerator housed in a facility dubbed the “experimental cave”? -more-

The fate of large-scale West Berkeley developments—pushed by both Mayor Tom Bates and officials at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory—continued to preoccupy city planning commissioners Wednesday. -more-

Planning commissioners will take up controversial zoning code changes for West Berkeley when they hold their last session before the August break on July 22. -more-

The long-delayed environmental impact report on the proposed Point Molate $1.5 billion casino resort complex is finally finished, four years after the first public meeting to gather public comment. -more-

The University of California Board of Regents was expected to slash pay for faculty and staff Thursday, July 16, during the same three-day meeting at which they were set to approve funds for rebuilding Memorial Stadium. -more-

UC Berkeley has quietly occupied yet another Berkeley building, with the law school taking occupancy of 2850 Telegraph Ave. -more-

A downtown Berkeley based health museum that once drew 24,000 visitors a year is closing its doors this week because of falling attendance and a loss of grant funding. -more-

An investigation into two rival gangs from North Oakland and South Berkeley led to the arrests Friday, July 10, of several suspects, including one who was shot by a police officer, authorities said. -more-

Former University of California at Berkeley football player Noah Smith was sentenced Wednesday to four years in state prison for sexually assaulting two female students. -more-

Campus and Berkeley police are looking for a gang of five that robbed a pair of pedestrians at the corner of Oxford Street and University Avenue Sunday night, July 12. -more-

The family of much-loved Albany environmentalist Ruth Meniketti has won a $500,000 settlement for her wrongful death, said family lawyer and former Albany Mayor Robert Cheasty. -more-

In the Bay Area we have the so-called Mediterranean climate, with cool rainy winters and warm dry summers. Rarely does measurable rain fall between May and September, five dry months. -more-

For the East Bay’s many public transit groupies, London must seem like Nirvana. Cars are now taxed and otherwise restricted, so that in theory there are many fewer of them in central London. Parking, such as it is, is priced at premium rates, both on street in a few privileged neighborhoods and elsewhere. -more-

With its typical modus operandi, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) mailed the BELLA High Energy Laser Accelerator environmental assessment notification such that it was received circa June 23, when many concerned citizens are vacationing. (Look for next lab environmental assessment at Christmastime!) The notice stipulated that the cut-off date for public comment is July 18, just 25 days after receipt of notice. Furthermore, the lab sent a contingent to lobby councilmembers prior to the July 7 meeting at which this proposed High Energy Laser Accelerator was on the agenda. The agenda recommendation was that residents near the project be notified, the comment period be extended, and that city staff comment on the project. -more-

The Department of Energy (DOE) and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) are proposing to build an experimental High Energy Plasma Laser Accelerator Facility (“BELLA”) just 448 feet from a residential neighborhood in Northeast Berkeley, and 516 feet from the Lawrence Hall of Science, a children’s school and museum. -more-

It’s summer with hordes of folks heading out of town and once again Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) has decided this is the time to process their new controversial development projects like their proposed BELLA laser atom smashing accelerator. The Department of Energy (DOE) is skipping the normal environment impact review and instead have issued themselves an “environmental assessment” which means they have decided that the project offers “no danger to the public.” Proposed for site 71 which in the past has experienced unique seismic problems and located 500 feet from the Lawrence Hall of Science children’s museum should be enough reason to employ a normal review, but local folks have paid expert proof that they should be concerned about the operation of an accelerator in their neighborhood. -more-

Although I am delighted and grateful that some person or persons took the time and trouble to produce the full page ad which appeared in the July 9 issue of the Berkeley Daily Planet and even more so that 138 members of the Bay Area Jewish community were moved to sign it, I am also relieved not to be one of the signatories, as I have some deep reservations about what the ad does and doesn’t say. -more-

After mass listener support rescued KPFA and Pacifica from a self-appointed Pacifica National Board (PNB) that was planning to sell KPFA or one of the other stations and take the “community” out of the network, new democratic bylaws were written and adopted. Pacifica’s bylaws state a commitment for peace and social justice, Article One, Section 3. It seems inconceivable that peace and social justice can even be approached with out a democratic process with transparency and accountability. As Gandhi said “Be the change you want to see in the world.” -more-

How did the City of Berkeley manage to reduce the 2003 rate of chronic homelessness by nearly half? They analyzed the data. They tried new approaches. This time, they had systems in place for setting goals, measuring progress, and establishing accountability for results. -more-

The 27-mile Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project proposed for the East Bay will move into another phase this fall as final project parameters begin to be established. BRT is expected to provide bus service that’s faster and more reliable than the existing system through the use of dedicated bus lanes, signal priority, rapid boarding and prepaid fares. -more-

Last Friday’s Berkeley Voice front-page article and picture flaunting the decimated oak grove and construction at the Memorial Stadium site really hurt. The picture in particular stung; it showed the cavernous pit dug along the west wall of the stadium where a year ago a grove of California oaks graced the stadium and historic Piedmont Way. Despite the personal pain it causes me, the controversy surrounding the oak grove demolition and the many remaining questions regarding the $100 million retrofit of a stadium sitting directly on the Hayward fault line are still of critical importance to the state-wide community and need to be talked about and explored by the media. Unfortunately the Voice’s article felt more like a UC press release than an investigative piece that could have explored ongoing concerns and responsibilities. -more-

When President Barack Obama said in his Cairo speech that “The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements,” he cut to the heart of the four-decade old conflict in the Occupied Territories, slicing through the thicket of “confidence building,” “security walls,” and “road maps” that have derailed one peace attempt after another. -more-

Out here on the left coast, we’re not big fans of the Republican Party. So we’ve taken a perverse delight in the events of recent weeks—the sordid Sanford and Ensign affairs and the awkward resignation of Sarah Palin. To these jaundiced eyes, it appears the Grand Old Party is locked in a death spiral, gathering speed as it plummets downward. -more-

Over the weekend, our friends over at the Tribune published a series of devastating and troubling articles by reporters Matt Krupnik and Thomas Peele alleging a recent pattern of fraud and fund misuse by the administration and board of the Peralta Community College District—“Alameda County college leader’s business partner gets $900,000 contract”; “Peralta raises at odds with district rules”; “Peralta district pays Harris for 57 weeks of work, and more.” -more-

Last weekend Ron and I were on the front porch late in the afternoon when we heard an unfamiliar bird call: not the towhee, not the wren, not a lesser goldfinch; something different. The source was revealed when an adult male American goldfinch flew out of the mulberry tree and onto a utility wire, followed by a second bird, greenish and frowsy-looking, fluttering its wings and repeating the odd call. It was a fledgling begging its father for food. -more-

I’m a sucker for old things. Seventy-year-old cars, 100-year-old tools and Fiesta-ware pitchers. Actually, much of the reason I inspect houses for a living is my love of old things. Yes, there are those bothersome days when I have to inspect a brand new 4,000-square-foot house, but I generally manage to conceal my ennui. (And then there’s the money…) -more-

THURSDAY, JULY 16 -more-

“I started off with my guitar, singing folk songs,” said jazz singer Inga Swearingen. A frequent guest on National Public Radio’s Prairie Home Companion show with Garrison Keillor, Swearingen will perform with her jazz band Wednesday, July 22, at Freight and Salvage. -more-

If the economy, global warming, the state budget impasse, two wars, nuclear proliferation and the fact that your 401k is in the toilet have got you leaning on your elbow like Durer’s Melancholia, cheer up. -more-

Led through a progression of rooms—passages between them with flashing lights, bureaucratic apologies and evidence of some urban accident—into a devilish cabaret, devilishly good fun, where gypsies, eccentrics, a big cat on two legs and others sing and dance, the spectators are finally pulled into another room, a party, the guest of honor on a trapeze, all invited to kiss her knee . . . -more-

“I’m driving to rehearsal in a truck loaded with banging metal shadow puppets,” said shadowmaster Larry Reed of Shadowlight Productions, who is co-directing the spectacular aspect of Dan Cantrell’s The Rootabaga Opera, featuring actors, dancers, shadowplay, women’s vocal group Kitka singing to live music. The show takes place tonight through Sunday at The Crucible’s annual Fire Arts Festival in West Oakland, which also hosts performances by several dozen other musicians, dancers, theater and circus artists, as well as demonstrations of the fire arts The Crucible teaches in workshops at its nearby facility. -more-

The Julia Morgan Center on College Avenue and the Berkeley Playhouse have announced their merger as the Julia Morgan Young People’s Performing Arts Center. -more-