The City of Alameda continues to implement Alameda Fire Department cost-cutting measures that began Jan. 26. The city informed the Alameda Firefighters Association that effective July 1 each shift could consist of 21 instead of 24 firefighters. This could make four fire engines, one fire truck and three ambulances available for service. The move on the city's part could put six fewer firefighters on duty than the historic high of 27 firefighters with five fire engines, two fire trucks and three ambulances...

As parade entrants are added up to the last minute, the Order of March is subject to change. Entrants not listed are not elegible for judging. 1. Color Guard. 2. Lincoln Middle School Marching Band. Under Dan Dooha-Chambers' direction, the Lincoln band has become one of the most successful junior high school bands in the Bay Area — if not California — and has played at Disneyland six of the last eight years, as well as two trips to DisneyWorld and one to Knott's Berry Farm. Retired in June, Mr. Chambers is leading the band in a final farewell performance in this year's Alameda's Fourth of July parade. 3. Mayor Beverley Johnson. This year, Mayor Johnson and her family are riding in the Wells Fargo stagecoach...

Preservation of America's history hardly results in a limitless fortune. Most Americans help younger generations learn about our past mostly through passion, self-motivation and a selfless desire to give back. Michael Scheiss of Alameda is just such a person — driven to help Americans appreciate one of their unique art forms: the pinball machine. He recently consolidated two significant collections of pinball machines in his warehouse on Alameda Point, and now it's nearly bursting at the seams with 240 new machines, most in exceptional condition, donated for posterity to Schiess's growing museum...