Despite objections from several students, faculty and the Albany City Council, a University of California committee Wednesday approved UC Berkeley’s plan to demolish some of its most affordable housing and uproot one of the area’s last vestiges of farmland. -more-

Longs Drugs is apparently coming to downtown Berkeley and checking its beer and wine selection at the door. -more-

The Fine Arts Cinema is officially dead, and Patrick Kennedy, the owner of the massive apartment and commercial complex rising on its former site, doesn’t hold out much hope for a new theater on the site—spelling the end of repertory cinema in the city t hat first raised it to an art form. -more-

Summit Health, the parent company for Alta Bates Summit medical center, was the target of a lawsuit filed in Federal court Wednesday that alleges the company overcharges uninsured patients and does not fulfill its obligations as a non-profit entity under U.S. tax law. -more-

Nothing can stop a group of determined Berkeley volunteers this summer, not even engine failure, monsoon season, or long hours in the hot, humid, sun. Not when the election is on the line. -more-

Pair Strongarms Victim’s Cash -more-

Berkeley Police expect 40,000 spectators for the city’s annual Fourth of July fireworks extravaganza on the Berkeley Marina this weekend, according to police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies. -more-

The media chatter about Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 comes down to three basic issues: -more-

The Berkeley Unified School District passed a $46 million budget for its general fund Wednesday, its first balanced budget in three years. -more-

Alameda County’s almost 1,500 General Assistance welfare recipients were issued a temporary reprieve, at least for this year, after the County Board of Supervisors voted last Friday to maintain the program even in the face of severe budget cuts. -more-

Imagine lunch hour at a Berkeley middle school: Eighth graders tossing salad side by side with cafeteria workers, seventh graders eating the chard they grew in the school garden while receiving a geography lesson, sixth graders sorting seeds to plant for the next harvest. -more-

BERLIN—In electric transition, the multicultural capital of Germany is now home to a gay mayor, almost as much sushi as strudel, and more Jews than anyone has seen since Adolph Hitler. -more-

Since drama in real life does not come with a sound track—nor promos to get you in the proper frame of mind to interpret what is to come—its true import is often lost on us in the fleeting moments of the actual experience. That is even more true in these days of Internet blogs and 24-hour cable, where a gaggle of honkers following the parade rushes to interpret—the latecomers helpfully providing interpretations of the initial interpretation—so that we come away with our common sense numbed, all remnants of our own initial impressions irretrievably lost. -more-

As the “energy crisis” rolls on and the environmentally oblivious continue to waste gas on SUVs, Hummers and RVs, the most critical dissent one hears in the broader public forum is a mild protest with respect to the price at the pump (Democrats love to jump on this bandwagon). What a revolutionary cry! As if releasing federal reserves and reigning in the power of the oil corporations slightly were enough to bring back the good ol’ days of American prosperity and that nostalgic heyday of the car culture. Meanwhile, the American public is carefully guarded from knowledge about the real costs of petroleum (economic, political, social, medical, environmental, military, etc.) and the indisputable geological truth of the finiteness of a resource we continue to splurge as if there were no tomorrow. And the inevitable consequences this will have to our geopolitical status are woefully ignored and swept under the rug by all quadrants of the political spectrum. -more-

Berkeley can eliminate its budget deficit and provide better governance by shifting some of the government functions to community associations. A voluntary civic association would be formed in each council district. The association would be able to raise revenue for civic services without being bound by state laws that have put local governments in straitjackets. -more-

Editors, Daily Planet: -more-

A FEW POINTS -more-

For three hours on midday Tuesday, a seemingly endless chain of book-clutching fans threaded their way up Haste Street toward Telegraph Avenue in hopes of receiving an ink scrawl and a handshake from the man on the second floor of Cody’s Books. -more-

I had dinner with Bill Clinton this week, a good friend for the last 36 years—though he’s always been better than me about keeping in touch. -more-

Does anybody know a nice sophisticated term to substitute for “Wow!”? Aurora Theatre’s current production of Harold Pinter’s play Betrayal deserves the best: the very best. The most frequently performed of all the famous British playwright’s works, it’s hard to imagine a more effective presentation than the one we have right here in Berkeley. -more-

FRIDAY, JULY 2. -more-

Buckwheat is not a cereal. The word cereal comes from the name of the goddess of wheat, Ceres. Buckwheat is not related to wheat. Edible buckwheat, Fagopyrum esculentum, is not in the family of grasses, Graminae, from which spring all our cereals, including corn, rye and barley. It is not even in the same order, Poales. Rather, it is part of the rhubarb and sorrel family, Polygonaceae, order Polygonales, as is the wild buckwheat, genus Eriogonum, whose flowers ornament our gardens. -more-

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FRIDAY, JULY 2 -more-