NEW HEIGHTS: Amgen Inc., the big biotechnology...

NEW HEIGHTS: Amgen Inc., the big biotechnology company, has received thumbs up from Thousand Oaks to build its new headquarters in Newbury Park (B4) . . . Pleased with the firm’s expansion, officials loosened some building restrictions, allowing Amgen to construct research labs up to 75 feet tall, 40 feet higher than is usually allowed ... Imposing though they might be, those buildings will still be shorter than the 100-foot tower of the new Civic Arts Plaza.

TOWER TALK: Ojai Valley residents worried about getting cancer from a radar tower near their homes will argue their case today on the “Montel Williams Show�... Actor Larry Hagman, along with other residents and politicians, will face off against the National Weather Service, which built the tower ... Weather officials say concerns about cancer-causing radiation are unfounded, but residents are confident they made their points: “Watch them crumble under the absurdity of their own arguments,� said a message on the group’s phone hot line.

CULTURAL EVOLUTION: The days when a stuffed two-headed lamb was the main attraction at the Ventura County Museum of History and Art are long past (Ventura County Life, Page 24). . . The 80-year-old museum is coming into its own, recently winning a National Endowment for the Humanities grant . . . Officials, including new curator Tim Schiffer, are also considering an expansion of the private, nonprofit museum that could buff up its arts image.

COUNTRY TIME: Come Monday, soft rock is out and country is cool at Ventura-based radio station KKUR . . . The station will drop its “adult contemporary� format and begin billing itself as “Thunder Country,� said spokeswoman Lisa Sutherland . . . Officials at KHAY, Ventura County’s other country music station, said there’s room for both in the fast-growing format. “Anything that generates a bigger listening audience for country music is wonderful,� deejay Steve Carr said.