From the Contra Costa Times:

OAKLAND — Claiming they are still in the game when it comes to keeping the A’s in Oakland, city officials and others trying to keep the team in town released results of a study today claiming a new waterfront baseball park is worth millions to the city’s coffers and billions to the local economy.

The study, commissioned by the nonprofit group Let’s Go Oakland, claims that building a new 36,000-seat, $500 million baseball-only stadium in the city’s Jack London Square area immediately would create 1,661 new construction jobs in Oakland while also generating about $2.6 billion in total economic activity for the city over the next 30 years.

“We really need and want the A’s to stay in Oakland,” said City Council President Jane Brunner. “The real reason we need to have the Oakland A’s is for economic development.”   Link to article…

From  KTVU.com:

DALY CITY, CA — The Salvation Army is looking for recruits to help pack a million meals for earthquake survivors in Haiti. 

On Saturday they are inviting teams of 12 to sign up for four hour shifts. The “Million Meals for Haiti” is part of an ongoing relief effort. The volunteers will be packing meals consisting of rice and beans that the Salvation Army says are nutritious enough to keep people in good health until they are able to fend for themselves. 

The event is Saturday from 8 am to 11 pm at the Cow Palace in Daly City. DALY CITY, CA — The Salvation Army is looking for recruits to help pack a million meals for earthquake survivors in Haiti. 

On Saturday they are inviting teams of 12 to sign up for four hour shifts. The “Million Meals for Haiti” is part of an ongoing relief effort. The volunteers will be packing meals consisting of rice and beans that the Salvation Army says are nutritious enough to keep people in good health until they are able to fend for themselves. 

The event is Saturday from 8 am to 11 pm at the Cow Palace in Daly City.  Link to article…

From  the Berkeley Daily Planet:

“Of course the new management will need to take input from the neighbors about what’s right and what’s not,” he said. “If you look at the reviews for their theater on Yelp, it looks good.”

Gordon said that Great Indian Entertainment would like to offer beer, wine and food inside the theater to attract more people.

“That’s what a lot of theaters are doing these days,” he said. “If it makes a difference, why not?”

“For instance look at Viks,” Gordon said, referring to the Indian chaat and grocery store in West Berkeley that recently moved to a new location on Fourth Street. “It started out as a simple warehouse and has transformed itself so much. We need to have something that gets people excited. Neighbors were not supporting the old theater that was there. Perhaps if we do something different, then more people will come.”  Link to article…

From the Contra Costa Times:

Living in the fast lane in the land of colas, fries, doughnuts and hormone-ridden meat is hard enough on our bodies. But when spring shows up with its showy flush of beautiful buds and blooms, many of us must also cope with not-so-beautiful reactions to pollens, fresh grasses, ragweed and a host of other allergens that descend upon us each year as we ring in the new season. And make no mistake, despite the cold weather, spring has arrived in full force here in the Bay Area. My daffodils are at their height, my magnolia tree is displaying beautiful pink blossoms and even the late-bearing fig tree is sporting some ripe buds.

But if you’re among the 40 million Americans for whom a walk in the park is no walk in the park, it means that your immune system is going hypervigilant on you. Rest assured there are steps you can take to help tame your macho immune system and the good news is that they don’t need to involve a trip to the drugstore.  Link to article…

From the East Bay Express:

Facing a $30 million budget shortfall for the upcoming fiscal year, the Oakland City Council will likely make some tough choices this week during its midcycle budget review process. One of the most severe is a proposed 50 percent reduction to the city’s Cultural Funding Program.

The Cultural Funding Program provides about $1 million in grants annually to arts organizations and artists, funding operations, individual art projects, and arts education in the schools. Some of the city’s biggest arts and cultural institutions receive grants through the program, which is funded by the general fund.

And if the proposed cuts are approved, it will undoubtedly put a strain on an already-strained arts community. “I don’t know what they’re thinking,” said Margo Dunlap, chair and co-founder of the Oakland Cultural Trust, an association of Oakland art organizations and artists, and executive director of Pro Arts, which receives funding through the program. “This is a time for trimming the budget, not for eliminating infrastructure. A 50-percent cut is one stroke from eliminating the entire program.”  Link to article…

From ABC7news.com:

Whole Foods Market is starting a wine cork recycling program to make it easy for wine enthusiasts to properly dispose of corks. The company said it will accept natural wine corks at all of its 292 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.  Link to article…

See this very complimentary review from the East Bay Express.

The Berkeley Free Clinic Philosophy:

The Free Clinic was founded in 1969 as a grassroots “street medicine” clinic. A group of activists wanted to respond to an overwhelming need for healthcare in the absence of state and federal programs and services. Since the Clinic opened, there has been an ever-present need for its services, albeit a dynamic need, as social conditions have undergone shifts and changes. It has become something of an icon in the area, and has served countless thousands in a variety of ways during its 35-year history. Its founding principles and structures survive to this day:

Health care is a basic human right and should not be linked to profit.  Continue to their site…

From TakePart.com:

He’s overseen the recycling of 300,000 pounds of e-waste. He’s successfully lobbied the Rhode Island state legislature to ban the dumping of electronics. He’s used refurbished computers to create media centers in developing countries like Cameroon and Sri Lanka to foster computer literacy.He’s Alex Lin and he’s just 16 years old.

“I don’t see anything uncommon in it,” says Lin, a high school senior from Westerly, Rhode Island. “My friends and I have been doing this since fifth grade. It’s become part of our lifestyle.”

Lin’s catalytic moment came in 2004 when he chanced upon a Wall Street Journal article. “It first alerted me to the e-waste problem, and warned of an e-waste tsunami to come.”

E-waste, or electronics garbage, is the quickest growing section of the U.S. trash stream. In 2007, Americans discarded more than 112,000 computers daily, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Even worse, just 18 percent of discarded televisions and computer products were collected for recycling.

While there is no federal law banning e-waste, 20 states have passed legislation mandating statewide e-waste recycling.  Link  to article…

From The Huffington Post:

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Four years ago, California earned accolades for adopting a law that would slash its greenhouse gas emissions and serve as a model for national climate change legislation.

With the state mired in a crippling recession, the law that once looked like a landmark achievement is coming under assault. The regulatory effort Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger set in motion is facing a political backlash and could come to an abrupt halt in the months ahead.

A coalition of businesses, financed largely by three Texas oil companies, is funding a ballot petition that would delay the law until California’s current unemployment rate is cut by more than half.

Leading Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has vowed she would suspend the law on her first day in office, which she would have the authority to do.  Link  to  article…

From the SF Chronicle:

Since voters backed a $9.95 billion bond to fund California’s high-speed rail system nearly two years ago, critics have questioned the lack of details while backers have wondered what progress is being made. Officials have been pleading for patience, and this week, they will offer a glimpse at where the fast train system is headed – especially through the Bay Area.

Thursday in San Jose, the High-Speed Rail Authority will meet and release a report revealing some details about studies on the location of a San Francisco station and where high-speed trains will travel – at ground level, in a trench or tunnel, or atop an elevated structure – as they make their way down the Peninsula. But no firm decisions are expected.  Link to article…