News digest News digest (May 06, 2005)

Weekly's new sister paper launched in Danville

The Danville Weekly, the fifth "sister paper" of the Palo Alto Weekly under the Embarcadero Publishing Co., published its first issue today to serve Danville and nearby communities.

The publication has been planned for many months, Weekly Publisher Bill Johnson said, adding it will be competing with two other new weeklies in that area -- one backed by the Knight Ridder chain's Contra Costa Times and the other an independent weekly.

Last year, the Pacific Sun -- a longtime weekly serving communities in Marin County -- was added to the Embarcadero group, joining the Weekly, the Almanac in south San Mateo County, the Mountain View Voice and the Pleasanton Weekly.

Dolores Ciardelli, formerly the managing editor of the Pleasanton Weekly, has been named editor of the Danville Weekly.

Lytton 'Egg' delayed

Due to weather and other factors, the installation of the now-legendary egg-shaped sculpture planned for Palo Alto's Lytton Plaza did not debut on Wednesday.

Arts Center Director Linda Craighead said the city hoped Digital DNA would be installed on Friday.

"It's going to be any day," she said. "They're working on it now."

If it's not installed on Friday, Craighead said, it will be Monday or Tuesday of next week.

The piece, designed by San Francisco artists Adriana Varella and Nilton Maltz, is 7-feet tall and is made from recycled computer parts. It's meant to honor the Palo Alto's role as the birthplace of Silicon Valley.

If it's not installed on Friday, Craighead said, it will be Monday or Tuesday of next week.

It's the project's second draft. An original version burned down last May in a warehouse.

Stanford honors community efforts

Two individuals and three organizations were honored Wednesday by Stanford University for their dedication to serving the communities in Stanford's Midpeninsula neighborhood.

The individual awards -- the Miriam Aaron Roland Volunteer Service Prize -- went to Albert M. Camarillo, professor of history, and Marilyn A. Winkleby, an associate professor of medicine.

Camarillo, who teaches a course on "Poverty and Homelessness in America," was cited for helping create a model in 1989-90 that integrates academic course work and research with student-led programs that directly benefit the less advantaged communities and individuals, and changes the lives of the students who get involved.

Winkleby was cited for found the Stanford Medical Youth Science program that addresses a "critical lack of diversity in the health professions." Under the program, hundreds of undergraduate and medical students have served as teachers and mentors to disadvantaged high-school students.

The group awards, presented by Stanford's Office of Public Affairs, went to the Community Working Group in Palo Alto, which has sponsored the Opportunity Center now under construction on Encina Way off El Camino Real; the United Students for Veterans' Health, a Stanford program that in 1994 pioneered a national network of putting students in visiting contact with veterans to ease loneliness; and Youth Engaged in Leadership and Learning (YELL), a program that guides young persons in Redwood City into direct efforts to improve their schools and community.

The awards luncheon was held Wednesday at the Garden Court Hotel in Palo Alto.

Apartments declared unfit to live in

A 36-unit apartment building in East Palo Alto was red-tagged as unfit for human habitation by the city's building inspector earlier this week. The 12 families living in the building at 466 East O'Keefe St. thought they had to find a new place to live, but a compromise was reached late Wednesday that will allow them to remain while renovation work is done, a city official said.

A March 18 hearing revealed that the problems at the building ranged from a roach infestation to raw sewage to flooded carports.

The tenants will be located on one floor of the building while work is done on the other floors. -- Don Kazak

E-mail a friend a link to this story.