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More at Inside Bay Area : “BERKELEY, Calif.—City officials say a student at the University of California, Berkeley has been diagnosed with tuberculosis. The Berkeley Division of Public Health and the University's health services are contacting about 225 students and faculty who may have been in close contact with the infected student. Health officials say tuberculosis can spread when someone with the disease coughs or sneezes and people in close contact "directly inhale the TB germs over an extended period of time." Officials say brief or casual contact with an infected person does not spread the disease.”

President-Elect Barack Obama's just annouced his new economic team this morning  :  New York Federal Reserve head Tim  Geithner as Treasury Secretary, UC Berkeley Professor Christine Rohmer  as chair of his Council of Economic Advisers , and former Harvard President Lawrence Summers as head of National Economic Council . Geithner and Summers have been much-talked about. Summers, even with his mistatements on women, is considered a bright and effective economic policy-maker. Geithner is so well respected on Wall Street that the Dow jumped 200 points after Friday's news leak of his selection as Treasury Secretary. The surprise is Christine Rohmer, who's well-known in the San Francisco Bay Area as a professor of Economics at Cal-Berkeley. I personally met Professor Rohmer during my second year as a graduate student at UC Berkeley. I found her to be a delightful mix of the personable and the intellectual. A great mix to advance policy points and ideas. O...

Well, the war for the right to alter Cal's Memorial Grove continues; score this battle in the war as a win for U.C. Berkeley . Alameda County Judge Barbara Miller granted Cal the right to replace the trees on Tuesday, but also gave their opponents one week to file an appeal. This has been a long, hard, emotional battle between Cal and The Tree Sitters, who still remain in the trees. I captured part of that battle in a three-part video series . For their part, the Oak Grove Tree Sitters plan a march to Berkeley City Hall Thursday. Here's the schedule from their website (with spelling corrections) : Oak Grove Supporters Plan March to City Hall Thursday July 24th On Thursday the Berkeley City Council will presumably make it’s final decision on pursuing an appeal in the UC stadium case. Supporters plan a rally in front of the City Counsel. The plans include: 3:33 pm Meet at Oak grove 4:00 pm March from grove to Council 4:44 pm Rally in front of Counsel Building 5:00 pm...

If you find you parked your car in the wrong place at UC Berkeley today, this may be the day you're in the clear. Workers went on strike represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union Local 3299, and are being joined by lab techs. The story reported i n the SF Chronicle only refers to a judge's order that was violated not to strike, but it does not refer to the reasons why they did. Sloppy. This story from San Diego's Channel 10 does: UCSD Medical Center custodian Angie Mendoza said union members have been working without a contract since Jan. 31, and have been unsuccessfully negotiating a new contract since last Aug. 31. The union had a one-day strike three years ago, Mendoza said. "It helped a lot," she said. According to union spokesman William Schlitz, demands include a livable wage of at least $15 per hour, a "step pay" system that includes an annual compensation increase, and protection for benefits like...

Look, now Cal's being down right silly and arrogant. On Sunday, I understand that there was another rally -- I was resting from a busy week -- and that even Berkeley Councilmember Donna Sprng got involved. Now, UC Spokesperson Dan Mogulof seems to imply that the University doesn't want to talk to anyone. Dan Mogulof, just do it. Let's stop this silly game, find something clever and political to say to get them to go home. Why not offer the protesters a chance to be part of the action of planning? It's called a Citizen's Review Commitee. Look, I know Cal can do better. The way Cal's behaving is not what I learned at the Department of City and Regional Planning, where I got my Master's Degree...at Cal. Cal needs to grow up.

For me, covering what turned out to be this three-part video documentary started with a call from a friend and fellow Cal Alum who said that I should get "down there" with my camera because there was no video on what was happening. So, fresh from a meeting, and with two hours to spare, I went over to the Grove in front of Cal Memorial Stadium, the site of the clash between the Cal Tree Sitters and the UC Administration and Police. The overall story is that we -- Cal -- needs an upgraded stadium facility and the plans for this have been in the works for almost ten years. With the success of Cal Coach Jeff Tedford, it became easier to raise money toward this objective. As part of the effort , the University of California was able to secure $500 million from British Petroleum, most of which would go to the creation of a new research institute, and the rest toward what will be an athletic facility upgrade -- a new training center where the Grove is. (CORRECTION - The BP D...

EBMUD and UC Berkeley's present: A Clean Sweep - Help Protect the Bay! WHEN: Friday, October 26, 2007 7am-3pm WHERE: 1000 Folger Ave. at San Pablo Ave., Berkeley, CA 94720 (near Ashby) * FREE COMPUTER RECYCLING Accepting personal TVs, monitors, portable DVD players, CPUs, laptops, power cords, circuit boards, keyboards, and mice. More info at 510-642-1186 or http://overstock.berkeley.edu * SAFE MEDICINE DISPOSAL Bring unwanted medicine in original containers with your name marked out. More info at 510-287-1651 or www.ebmud.com/cleanbay * THERMOMETER EXCHANGE & MERCURY DEVICE DISPOSAL Exchange mercury thermometers for a free digital thermometer. Also accepting other mercury devices. Bring in two plastic zipper bags to prevent spills. More info at 510-287-1651 or www.ebmud.com/cleanbay