In rapid-fire, back-to-back actions Thursday afternoon, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced he was restoring the lost Vehicle License Fund (VLF) fees to California’s cities and counties, and Berkeley City Council immediately authorized joining a lawsuit in order to make sure the governor keeps his promise. -more-

FRIDAY, DEC. 19 -more-

Elton John wrote a song called Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word, He, of course, was referring to human relationships. The quagmire in the Middle-East, though certainly not romantic in nature, surely could benefit from the application of such a maxim. There is plenty of “sorry” to go around there, and it cannot be confined to the Israelis, despite George Bishrat’s implications to the contrary, in his recent commentary for the Berkeley Daily Planet. -more-

Do you hate wasting the few sunlit hours at this time of year on indoor shopping trips? Berkeley offers great outdoor shopping, and it’s even environmentally friendly. -more-

FRIDAY, DEC. 19 -more-

The Berkeley Unified School District will consider tearing up its former high school tennis courts to put up a better parking lot—and maybe more. -more-

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of two articles on the Mayor’s Task Force on Permitting and Development. This article addresses the final Task Force report. -more-

Our family is big on greens—chard, kale, rapini, greens of all kinds, fresh organic greens that are simmered slowly in a big cast iron skillet with lots of garlic. The basic recipe I learned from my mother, who learned from hers. Neither ever cooked from a book. Over time several cooks in our family have come up with a few special touches for birthdays and holidays. -more-

The Berkeley Unified School District has found the legal champion they hope can beat back a lawsuit that threatens to end racial balance in its elementary schools. -more-

CURB CUTS -more-

When Christopher Edley Jr. won the post of dean of Boalt Hall law school last week, those in the know hailed the appointment as a major coup for UC Berkeley. -more-

The neighbors of Berkeley’s “floating cottage” won a significant victory Tuesday night when City Council voted 7-0 to deny owner Christina Sun’s appeal, sending the 3045 Shattuck Ave. project back into the hands of the Zoning Adjustment Board (ZAB), and into an uncertain future. -more-

We reprinted Professor George Bisharat’s essay (Daily Planet, Dec. 9-11) on Palestinians’ desire to return to the homes they left after 1948 at the request of a Jewish friend, who believed that it was a moving and temperate piece of personal history and opinion. She feared, however, that it would provoke some angry letters from her fellow Jews, and she was right—it did. We’ve reprinted many of them, leaving out a few which were scatological or ungrammatical, and we’ll probably print more. Painful though it is, we believe that letting everyone express their point of view in an open venue is a crucial first step to resolving conflicts. -more-