In addition to raising parking fees and adding meters (see the story in print), the Berkeley City Council also returned to the issue of affordable housing in its meeting Tuesday. The council voted to hold a workshop Oct. 27 to investigate methods of strengthening the city’s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance.

By compiling a panel of experts and forming specific recommendations for the Planning Commission in the workshop, the council hopes to expedite the process of creating affordable housing throughout the city, council members said.

“I don’t think we can have the discussion in the council—I mean we could, but what good would it be?” Councilmember Susan Wengraf said. “I would rather wait a little bit and make sure that we have all the important information before us.”

Finally, the council also unanimously approved the completion of United Nations treaty reports by the city’s Peace and Justice Commission, which would detail Berkeley’s compliance with the UN’s Treaty recommendations.

Copies of the reports will be available to residents of Berkeley, as well as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Ambassador Susan Rice.

“The city of Berkeley is providing an example on a small scale that we are going to respect these treaties as much as we can,” Councilmember Kriss Worthington said. “In our small little way, we are going forward with this small, profoundly positive, inspirational step that is very important and creative.”

—Sarah Springfield

UC Santa Cruz has received a National Leadership Grant of $615,175 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to help digitize the Grateful Dead Archive at the University Library.

UCSC is one of 51 U.S. institutions that received National Leadership Grants this year totaling nearly $18 million. IMLS-funded projects are designed to “advance the ability of museums and libraries to preserve culture, heritage, and knowledge while enhancing learning.”

The grant will enable the UCSC Library to digitize materials from its Grateful Dead Archive and make them available on a web site titled, “The Virtual Terrapin Station.” Scholars and fans will be able to add their input to the website archive as well.

The Grateful Dead donated their extensive band archive, including information about their devoted fan-corpse the Deadheads, to UC Santa Cruz in 2008. The collection documents the band’s creative activity and influence on the landscape of contemporary American music.

A study led by UC Berkeley researchers has identified critical biochemical pathways linked to the aging of human muscle. The researchers were able to reverse the aging of human muscle by manipulating these pathways, restoring the muscle’s ability to repair and rebuild itself.

The study will be featured in the Sept. 30 issue of the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine.

A daily roundup of the biggest headlines in Bay Area and national news.

Berkeley City Council members voted unanimously Tuesday to comply with United Nations human rights treaties. The city has volunteered to report to the U.N. on the city’s compliance with treaties on civil liberties, racial discrimination and torture. It will be the the first city in the country to submit compliance records.

Councilman Max Anderson says he wants Berkeley to be an inspiration to other communities. However, supporters say that due to the city’s struggles with homelessness, lagging primary and secondary school achievement and John Yoo – a UC Berkeley law professor who, as a Justice Department lawyer, co-wrote legal memos that critics say were used to justify the torture of suspected terrorists – it is possible that Berkeley does not meet U.N. standards.

The event, “99 Bottles of Beer: Global Brewing Traditions 2500 B.C.–Present,” runs from noon to 6 p.m. at the Hearst Museum and begins with an outdoor beer fair featuring tastings.

At the symposium, from 3 to 5 p.m., Fritz Maytag, president and brewmaster of Anchor Brewing Co., will discuss his role in the revival of micro-brewing in the Bay Area. He will be joined by Charles Bamforth, the Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences at UC Davis.

“For myriad reasons, beer has achieved a status often perceived as inferior to that of wine,” says Bamforth. “Thoroughly unjustified! My presentation will highlight how beer is vastly more complex, much harder to make, considerably more interesting and better for your health.”

(Click here to read more…)

A daily roundup of the biggest headlines in Bay Area and national news.

The Senate Finance Committee rejected a pair of amendments to add a public option to health care legislation. The amendments, which were both proposed by Democratic senators, were shot down after a half-day of debate on Tuesday afternoon. Several other bills containing a government-run plan are making the rounds through Congress. via NYTimes. (Click here to read more…)

UC Berkeley astronomy professor James R. Graham is currently developing a new optics system—called the Gemini Planet Imager—that will be used for taking pictures of planets in far-off solar systems, according to the College of Letters and Science’s ScienceMatters@Berkeley publication.

Graham, who is working on the system’s design with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory colleague Bruce Macintosh, began the project to solve distortion problems with current telescopic photos. Graham experienced such distortion firsthand after analyzing a 2004 Hubble Space Telescope photo, which contained streaks of distortion.

The distortion is caused by pockets of warm air in the atmosphere. Since light is conveyed faster through these pockets than the cold air around it, the resulting telescopic image becomes smeared. Graham’s design uses thin mirrors that bend and filter out the distortion caused by the atmosphere.

The system is being developed for the Gemini Observatory’s 8-meter telescopes, and will allow astronomers to take direct pictures of extrasolar planets. The project, which will cost $18 million, was started in 2003 and is scheduled to be operational by 2011.

–Michael Garcia

UC Berkeley’s NewsCenter issued a press release today about a new initiative to revamp breast cancer treatment. UC Berkeley is one of the six UC campuses participating in the effort, called the ATHENA Breast Health Network.

To kick off the initiative, approximately 150,000 women will be screened for breast cancer. The five UC medical centers will then track the women for multiple decades. According to the release, the study’s large size may significantly improve breast cancer prevention.

As part of the study, UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco researchers will collect data on physician preferences, treatment choices and clinical outcomes. UC Berkeley researchers at the School of Public Health are also developing an “evidence-based” system to manage patient care.

The project is funded by a $5.3 million grant from the University of California, as well as a $4.8 million grant from the Safeway Foundation. Several other organizations are collaborating with the university on the project, including the Northern California Cancer Center, the National Cancer Institute and the Center for Medical Technology Policy.

–Michael Garcia

UC Berkeley researchers released a report today that analyzes energy efficiency measures in the American Clean Energy and Security Act, according to the Sacramento Business Journal. The act, which has been passed by the House of Representatives, could create up to 1.9 million new jobs (Click here to read more…)