FIRST OFF . . .

Huey Lewis & the News have found that it’s hip to be givers. The rock group has donated $225,000 to fund a University of California, San Francisco program to train doctors to deal with AIDS patients, the university announced Thursday. The program--to be called the HLN Physicians AIDS Training Center--was urgently needed, the announcement said, because most physicians completed their medical training before the AIDS epidemic began and have had little experience treating such patients. “This is a disease that affects the whole country, not just a single element of the population, and Huey and the band wanted to start helping here at home,” said Bob Brown, manager of the rock group, whose members live in nearby Marin County. Not all the money will be used for the training program. Officials said about $60,000 will be divided among four community service programs that provide support services for AIDS victims.