Local News and Opinion from The Berkeley Daily Planet

News Updates

Flash: Burning Body Found Near Berkeley Shore

By Richard Brenneman

Tuesday December 30, 2008

Berkeley police and firefighters rushed to the shoreline early Tuesday morning, where they discovered a body burning inside a container. -more-

Post-Christmas Fire Claims Berkeley Cats

By Richard Brenneman

Monday December 29, 2008

Two cats died on Friday from smoke inhalation in a slow-burning fire in a rented home at 1367 La Loma Ave. -more-

Buried Body in Wall Identified by Police

By Richard Brenneman

Tuesday December 23, 2008

A crime scene cleanup technician finishes donning his protective gear as he prepares to work on the Ashby Avenue room where police found a body buried behind a wall.

The dramatic suicide of a Berkeley man last week led police to a second gruesome discovery two days later, a badly decomposed male corpse walled up inside the first floor laundry room. -more-

News

Fire Forces Evacuation of Regent Street Apartments

By Richard Brenneman

Tuesday December 23, 2008

A second-floor bedroom fire led Berkeley Police to evacuate a large three-story apartment building on Regent Street on Monday morning as firefighters fought to contain the flames. -more-

People’s Park Tree-Sit Ends With Holiday Reprieve

By Richard Brenneman

Tuesday December 23, 2008

The threatened acacia trees are fenced off at People’s Park.

Berkeley’s latest tree-sit ended the same day it began last week when campus police signed a Christmas truce that spares—for the moment—two acacias in People’s Park. -more-

Round and About

By Jerry Cote

Tuesday December 23, 2008

Virginia Bakery… Virginia Cleaners… Virginia Street—it’s all right there on two short blocks in a small north Berkeley neighborhood. As I jog past the bakery’s storefront, the scent of warm bread and joy from inside drifts out into the street deliciously. -more-

Finding Berkeley’s Center

By Ted Friedman

Tuesday December 23, 2008

In 1950s Springfield, Illinois, we often settled arguments with the absurd challenge: “If you’re right, I’ll kiss your hiney [although we pronounced it differently and spelled it with only three letters] at Fifth and Monroe.” Why there? It was the center of town, at least to us. -more-