A U.S. Supreme Court ruling barred the Oakland Cannabis Buyer’s Cooperative from distributing marijuana for medical use on Tuesday, voting 7-1 to endorse an emergency request from the Clinton Administration. The ruling, aimed narrowly at the Oakland clinic, however, does not overturn the legality Proposition 215, nor does it effectively end the distribution of marijuana to patients throughout the state, according to Dale Gierenger, California coordinator for NORMAL – the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws. -more-

Saturday, Sept. 2

If there’s one thing Coleen Doucette has seen enough of, it’s wild birds that have swallowed fishhooks or fish line. -more-

Kindergartners at Malcolm X Elementary aren’t puzzled when they’re put into classes called yellow, green or blue on the first day of school. -more-

When school opened Wednesday, Berkeley High School students who did not bring their lunch, still had to head for downtown – just as they have for the last decade. -more-

Though West Berkeley residents have known for years that trains run through Berkeley – late night blasts that bring to mind Coltrane in his least lucid moments – very few know that it stopped here. -more-

Friday, Sept. 1

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Mention the name Deltha O’Neal to just about any football fan and you’ll get a response. 1999 All-American, Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year, first-round NFL pick. O’Neal regularly made highlight films last season, picking off passes for touchdowns, returning kicks for touchdowns, and generally being spectacular on Saturdays. -more-

A few obscure cassette tapes and compact discs by easily forgotten artists like “Katrina and the Waves” and “Poco,” along with a handful of old books and magazines – some circa 1979 – dotted the dusty bookshelves at Half Price Books at 2525 Telegraph Ave. about 5 p.m. Thursday afternoon. -more-

After practicing psychotherapy in the historic building at 1942 University Ave. for more than a dozen years, Karen Rose will be out on the street. -more-

A teary-eyed Kaiza Robinson, 5, sat by the door of Jeannie Gee’s kindergarten class about 8:15 a.m. Wednesday morning at Le Conte Elementary School, tugging on her pigtails and wondering just where her mother left her, and when is she coming back. -more-

Thursday, August 31

Correcting the record -more-

Some might call Willie Phillips a dreamer. He walks along a city block dominated by dot-commerce e-tailer lofts and gets visions of a funky, ethnic street mercado. He considers the Fourth Street boutiques and cafes and imagines some of the millions in yearly sales returning to the Oceanview community that surrounds it. -more-

The little guys won and Berkeley led the way. -more-

UC Berkeley, backed by local fire agencies, is set to begin a $400,000 fire abatement program Sept. 5 that will thin trees and remove overgrown brush in lands owned by the university in the Panoramic Hill area in hopes of avoiding a repeat of the devastating 1991 Oakland Hills fire that destroyed more than 3,200 homes and caused 25 deaths. -more-

WBNDC Fifth Street proposal not a farmers’ market -more-

Amid the jungle gyms of Totland, May Chao looks at a 5-year-old Chinese-American girl playing with her long black hair and thinks, “Laos was not this easy.” -more-

Wednesday, Aug. 30

Meet Niles Xi ‘An Liechtenstein, the freshly sworn-in student director for the Berkeley Unified School District. -more-

Tuesday, Aug. 29

Much work still needed to ease traffic -more-

Museums -more-

The class of 2003 at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Law School has finally enrolled. Minority numbers, which plummeted after the UC Board of Regents banned affirmative action from admission decisions in 1997, rose slightly from 22 percent to 29 percent. The small increase was due primarily to a rise in students of Asian and Pacific Islander descent. -more-

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You can’t have too much good karma. -more-

Monday, Aug. 28

Kudos to city -more-

When Mark Covington applied for a clerical position at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory eight years ago, he unknowingly underwent a battery of genetic tests. -more-

Few images are cozier than that of friends and family snuggled around the hearth on a rainy winter’s eve. -more-

Following extensive discussions about health impacts from wood burning, the Community Environmental Advisory Commission concluded that exposure to wood-smoke particles may result in acute and chronic health problems. -more-

by John Angell Grant -more-