More time is being wasted over in Berkeley over those damn oak trees. This time the Berkeley City Council voted last night that they it "will not seek a stay of a judge's order allowing UC Berkeley's athletic center project to proceed," according to CBS 5. Good. Also, many of the protesters, who awesomely are starting to view themselves as Christ-like figures as of late, held a small rally outside Berkeley City Hall last......

After a judge ruled that the University of California can cut down those cumbersome old oak trees, the kids still stuck up in the grove aren't coming down. What else is new, right? But in the end, the protesters have no one to blame but themselves. The twee aesthetics the sitters used to save said trees turned off any fence sitters, and "Dumpster Muffin"'s dilettante-ish and affected temper tantrum earlier this month made some supporters......

While police have tried to starve and cutoff supplies to the few remaining protesters up in the UCB oak grove, another tree-sitter was arrested yesterday afternoon at around 5 p.m. Performing yoga exercises on the median strip on Piedmont Avenue in front of the grove of trees, it seems, police arrested someone going by the moniker "Redwood." According to university spokesperson Dan Mogulof, the protester came along "very quietly." Yesterday, as you may recall,......

UCB's plans to mow down an oak grove and put up a sports training facility were put on hold. It seems a judge halted the plans until "the university can prove the project would not violate state earthquake-safety laws, a judge ruled Wednesday," says the Gate. The university, though, thinks it's a rule in their favor, keeping "their plan alive, arguing that the center would not violate state law because it would not touch......

The battle to save an oak grove on the UC-Berkeley campus turned even uglier yesterday. Protesters sang bizarre Native American-ish sounding songs (seriously, check this out) and threw buckets of urine at police and arborists (where "an acrid tang hung in the air afterward." Ew.) One female tree-sitter was forcibly and understandably removed and placed into custody after she bit an arborist. Millipede, as she now goes by, was arrested and might possible be......

Five remaining tree climbers over at the University of California at Berkeley -- you know, the ones who have been protesting the school's plan to tear down the Memorial Oak Grove to put in a shiny new ball-throwing stadium -- are being threatened to come down via 25 police officers and a cherry picker. According to UCB officials, the tree protesters might have to come down as early as today, Tuesday, or be removed......

Cris takes some time off the Bonds case to support her lady. No one pulled out a bitch's clump of hair. That's the big news. Oh, and some other stuff happened, ahem: The Club's membership voted tonight on the February 2008 ballot and the June 2008 State Senate primary, and the endorsements are... Prop 92 (Community College Funding) - Yes Props 94 - 97 (Gaming Compacts) - No Prop A (Neighborhood Parks Bond) -......

Filled with a combustible mix of conceit and twink rage, Leigh Wolf, hot piece of ass and President of the College Republicans at SFSU, interrupted Sean Penn's Dennis Kucinich-endorsement speech on Friday. Basically, he quietly held up a sign that (incorrectly) whined about Sean "supporting the moral majority's America's Enemies, " or something inane like that. Meaning to impress someone more than make an important or clear statement, Wolf's protest... oh, who knows? But......

Saturday is what is known around these here parts as "the Big Game," a kinda cute nickname for a game usually not of any importance to anyone other to us NorCal folks. This game, in particular, doesn't have much going for it as Stanford, with the exception of the 'SC upset, hasn't been very good and Cal has been more disappointing than Fred Thompson's candidacy. Nevertheless, the game is always pretty exciting and full of tradition-- all the things that makes college football what it is. ...

SFist interviews Brian Regan...

BeyondChron's Paul Hogarth dares to go where many fear to tread: all up in Elisa Stephens' grill. Again. Hogarth writes about the Academy of Art College's plan to swallow up even more of San Francisco's prime real estate. TenderNob/downtown buildings such as the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, the St. Brigid Church, and perhaps the building you're in this very second, have been gobbled up by l'Academy of Art College. Preferring the taste of rent-controlled apartments......

-- Cinewhores Present Midnight Cowboy (1970): Although tame by today's smut-filled standards -- oh, you heard right! -- Midnight Cowboy has the distinction of being the only X-rated film to have ever snagged the Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The film -- about the friendship between Joe, a rookie New York City hustler, and Ratso, a terminally-ill New Yorker -- is prefaced by a reading by queer author Kirk Read. (Oh, and Sylvia......

It's kind of an interesting Presidential Race in that two of the leading Republican contenders, Romney and Guiliani, are basing their campaigns on bashing the liberal bastions they governed. The obvious reason is to throw some red meat at conservatives by saying not only are they not actually liberal, but that they based most of their governance on beating back gays, Jews, and dark skinned people liberals. So Rudy just put a commercial out saying that he tamed "America's Most Liberal City." This didn't sit well with New Yawkers, however, and Douglas A. Muzzio, a professor of public affairs at Baruch College, fought back and said, “Blame San Francisco. We’re not No. 1.” ...

There is actually one team in the area that is playing well and that is your San Jose Sharks. For that, we turn to Sharks' correspondant Ian to get the latest...

-- Unspeakable (2007): Documentary about the life of Satanic Priest Steven Johnson Leyba, "ordained by Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey, is known in the underground art world as the 'Father of Sexpressionism.'" (Chortle) Screens tonight at 7:45 p.m., 9:05 at the Roxie New College Film Center; $6. -- The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Local comedian's show, it seems, is "designed to end racism...in about an hour." Praise Jesus. This night o' comedy will......

If there's anybody in the city taking more heat than Mike Nolan, it's his quarterback, Alex Smith. Smith stands accused by the Faithful of not very being good. The evidence? Overthrowing Receivers. Underthrowing Receivers. Not seeing open Receivers. The numbers back up the evidence-- he has a preposterously low QB rating (57.2) and completion percentage (48.7). He is also 11-19 as a starting QB. In the games we've watched, Smith looked like the same QB he was when he first started-- skittish and inaccurate-- so much so, the Faithful are muttering that Smith, as a #1 draft pick, has been a bust of Lucy Pinder-like proportions (sort of NSFW-y). ...

If you're a fan of "Project Runway" you probably know that season four premieres tonight on Bravo at 10 p.m. (And if you're not a fan, what is wrong with you!) We'd be watching not matter what, but we are doubly excited about this season because there are two--TWO!--designers from San Francisco competing this time around. First off is Chris March who once worked on "Beach Blanket Babylon" as their "wig master," and now works......

A manhunt is underway right now at Contra Costa College, searching for a man who shot a Contra Costa College student police cadet three times at close range a little before 1 p.m. today. "The victim was in critical condition when he was taken to John Muir Medical Center...[and] has since been stabilized and has gone into surgery," according to CBS 5. As of now, a whopping 50 police officers from five different police......

-- Cabaret for Humanity: Cabaret isn't just about getting drunk while telling self-centered stories about your life. Sometimes they give back. One of the city's best venues is getting all benefitt-y on our asses. This evening (and tomorrow night) they host an all-star lineup of local talent including, Tony Koester Kim Kuzma, Irene Soderberg, Veronica Klaus, Paul Elia, Basic Black & the Rob Evans Quartet, Joe Collins, Meg Mackay, Ethyl Merman, Mark Miller, Mercedez......

-- King Corn (2007): Sounds like a tasty breakfast cereal, doesn't it? But in fact, it's a documentary about two college buddies who "plant and grow a bumper crop of America's most-productive, most-subsidized grain [corn] on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat--and how we farm." Screens tonight at 7:15 p.m. and......

A hurrah and a huzzah goes out to Raider Nation for not selling out Sunday's Raiders game. As a result, football fans throughout the area will be allowed to watch The. Biggest. Game. Ever. from the vicinity of their couch. ...

-- Eraserhead (1977): More than just a t-shirt you saw all the art majors sport in college, it's one of David Lynch's first films. And it's sort of spooky in that David Lynch sort-of-but-not-exactly-creepy kind of way. Screens tonight at 7 p.m. and 8:50 at the Castro Theatre; $6-9. -- The Haunted Laundromat: A Pre-Halloween Spooktacular: SOMA's cafe, laundromat, and intimate venue of choice is have a scary bash, complete with candy and costumes.......

Back in high school, we had an English teacher who really drilled the Transcendentalists into our brains, especially that one Thoreau Emerson quote: "Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." What can we say? It still makes us think. Like about restaurants that have hardly changed in at least 20 years (the amount we can vouch for, since that's when we moved here from Southern California) if not 35 -- Juan's Place, in Berkeley. We......

-- The Pogues: Like most music-taste education, our college roommate got us listening to these guys. And they're one of the few acts that we still dig after all these Britney-influenced years. Kudos, Pogues! Starts tonight at 8 p.m. at the Fillmore; $65. -- Ratatouille (2007): Animated flick about a gastronomic rat (voiced by the awesome, the spectacular, the hilarious Patton Oswalt!) Screens tonight at 7 p.m. and 9:20 at the Red Vic; $5-8.50.......

Quintin Mecke's long odds on becoming Mayor this year, per the "Xam...

LAist began the month with a new food series exploring the popular and unknown late night eats around town. If a Top Chef winner opened up a late night spot in Los Angeles, denizens would flock it, yet the LA Times and other media might be wary. Turning to sports, the Dodger season was quite memorable in the way that it imploded and the LA County Sheriff's Department made some games of their own such......

101, the highway of doom! There was a drunk driving death near Willow Road Wednesday morning, along with all those random shootings the day before. The cops, for what it's worth, say none of those random shootings are connected -- but still: we'll take 280 this week, thanks. A student at Merritt College in Oakland was attacked and acid was thrown in her face in a college parking lot a few weeks ago. The police......

And by "van-burners," we don't mean the variety that park by Ocean Beach in their VW van toking while watching the sunset. Or maybe we do… Authorities think a UC Berkeley campus security van torching that happened in the wee hours of the morning might be related to a citation and an arrest made earlier in the evening. The torched van was discovered at 6 a.m. this morning. The vandalism occurred after two tree-sitters, or......

Charles Hurth, city attorney for the tiny town of New Haven, Mo., is one of the main men behind the push to make California Electoral College votes more Republican-y, a confusing ploy that would split the votes by congressional districts. But Hurth also has another claim to fame: Charles "Chep" Hurth III was best known for a headline-grabbing incident a decade ago in which he bit a young female law student on the butt in......

You know we usually try to hoard up all the crime-type news for the Tuesday and Friday blotters, but there was enough vaguely unsettling news this weekend to warrant a post a little early, we thought. To wit: --Fernando Gonzalez, an 18-year-old Redwood City man, died after he fell into a vat of sulfuric acid. Gonzalez was working the early-morning shift at Coastal Circuits Factory this weekend, without a protective face mask, when he appeared......