News Updates

Partisan Position: Legislation Allows UC to Duck Alquist-Priolo Restrictions to Rebuild Stadium on Fault Line

By Janice Thomas

Monday November 02, 2009

UC Berkeley has found a way to evade the limitations on new construction atop earthquake faults which are imposed by the Alquist-Priolo Fault Zoning Act by persuading the California legislature to add just a few sentences to its 61 page Omnibus Act of 2009. -more-

Berkeley Ferry Project Makes Waves But Doesn't Win Recommendation

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Friday October 30, 2009

When news of the Bay Bridge closure broke at the Berkeley City Council meeting on Tuesday Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates asked, jokingly: “Where’s our ferry?” -more-

News

Disabled Workers Win Ruling Against McDonald’s

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday October 29, 2009

The disability community won a victory Tuesday when the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission ruled that the McDonald’s in Berkeley, on University and Shattuck avenues, discriminated against three of its disabled employees when it fired them from work last year. -more-

BMW Waits on Lease After City Waives Fees

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday October 29, 2009

Weatherford BMW said this week that it has not finalized lease agreements for renovations and new construction at its current 735 Ashby Ave.-750 Potter St. dealership location in Berkeley, although the Berkeley City Council approved about $500,000 dollars in building permit fee waivers for the project earlier this month. -more-

Partisan Position: Protesters Give UC President a Cemetery

By Raymond Barglow

Thursday October 29, 2009

A day-long conference held this past Saturday on the UC campus addressed the California public education crisis. In late afternoon of the same day, about 200 students, workers, and community activists visited UC President Mark Yudof’s house in the Oakland hills. On the hillside below his residence, the protesters built a mock cemetery, in keeping with Yudof’s recent comparison of the university to a cemetery. -more-

Neighbors Launch Rescue of Hillside Building

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday October 29, 2009

Neighbors and tenants are fighting to save the 80-year-old landmark Hillside School at 1581 Le Roy Ave.

Neighbors and tenants of Berkeley’s Hillside School say they are determined to do what it takes to save the 80-year-old architectural landmark. -more-

BUSD Plans $10M Upgrade for Oregon Street Maintenance Facility

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday October 29, 2009

The Berkeley Unified School District plans to demolish its seismically unsafe maintenance facility at 1707 Russell-1720 Oregon streets in South Berkeley and build new, smaller buildings on the site. -more-

City Council Says No to Drone Attacks in Afghanistan

By Riya Bhattacharjee

Thursday October 29, 2009

Berkeley once again dipped into U.S. foreign policy Tuesday when its City Council unanimously passed a resolution asking the Obama administration to withdraw troops and private armed contractors from Afghanistan and cease drone attacks on Afghanistan and Pakistan. -more-

Students Absent in Health Care Debate

By Rozina Ali, Special to the Planet

Thursday October 29, 2009

Bay Area Briefs

Thursday October 29, 2009

Remembering Harold Murphree

By Matt Cantor

Thursday October 29, 2009

Remembering Seymour Fromer

By Dorothy Snodgrass

Thursday October 29, 2009

By Dan Harper

Demostrators rallied in front of UC President Mark Yudof’s home in Oakland Saturday to protest cuts to education and workers’ pay. Protesters constructed a paper cemetery in back of the residence.

Editorials

Another October Surprise

By Becky O'Malley

Thursday October 29, 2009

This last week has been a demonstration in living color of why California is called the Golden State. We spent four days, more time than we’ve been able to afford for a long time, at the family farm in the Santa Cruz mountains. The persimmons are almost ripe, and yet there are still tomatoes to be picked in the garden. -more-