Your resting space in between holiday hangovers.

[December 27th, 2006] When dozens of investors sued longtime Oregon venture capitalist and Republican Party money man Craig Berkman for fraud in late 2005, one name conspicuously missing from the list of defendants was Berkman's law firm, Ball Janik (see "The Talented Mr. Berkman," WW, Jan. 25, 2006). Murmurs hears now that the plaintiffs who sued Berkman have reached an out-of-court settlement with Ball Janik for the princely sum of $14.5 million . The lawyers involved aren't talking. "Any settlement we might have reached would be confidential," says Steve English, the attorney representing the Berkman plaintiffs. Ball Janik declined comment.

Former Oregon Gov. Barbara Roberts got a surprise present for her 70th birthday on Dec. 21 from longtime friend and prominent local gay-rights activist Terry Bean. The ex-guv received a shiny new champagne-colored Toyota Prius, which retails for $22,175. So, why the largesse? Bean remembered a conversation he overheard between Roberts and Al Gore when the former veep was in town this fall and Gore was gently chiding Roberts about not driving something more enviro-friendly than her 10-year-old Honda Accord. But Bean says he made the gift just as much because he loves Roberts, who was known for her strong record on the environment and gay rights when she was governor from 1991-1995.

On the second anniversary last week of their son's death, Patrick Kibler's parents filed a lawsuit seeking more than $20 million against Cory Sause , the 26-year-old drunken driver who killed him. (See WW's "Two Crimes, Two Punishments," Nov. 29, 2006.) The suit filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court also names Sause's mother, Heidi Sause, and two insurance companies. Cory Sause pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide earlier this year and was sentenced to up to five years in prison. The suit alleges Sause was uninsured or underinsured and seeks to recover medical expenses and non-economic damages. The December 2004 crash also left 21-year-old Patrick's younger brother Scott with continuing neurological problems.

Add City Commissioner Erik Sten's voice to those challenging the license renewal of all four Portland commercial TV stations. Sten filed an affidavit in support of the Money in Action Research Action Project's petition with the Federal Communications Commission. The petition contends that the stations have failed to meet the public interest requirement they agreed to in exchange for broadcast rights. Specifically, MIPRAP says in 2004, local stations took in $27 million worth of political ads but devoted less than 5 percent of news coverage to election stories. "Voters rely on television to get a lot of their information, and what they are getting is not adequate," Sten wrote. The deadline for everybody's comments to the FCC is Jan. 2.

Some holiday stories you can't make up. Take the recent tale of the accused thief of 10 Christmas trees and six wreaths from McKenzie Farms in Estacada. The 33-year-old suspect in the Clackamas County tree farm burglary: Forest Green. (Green's first name also appears as "Forrest" in court records.)

Goalpost-moving alert for Give!Guide. Readers have donated so generously to the 37 charities we profiled in our annual holiday guide of nonprofits that we've smashed our original goal of $100,000 in fund-raising with $157,000-plus as of Tuesday. So, here's the new challenge: Please go to giveguide.wweek.com and help us raise $100,000 more than the $78,000 we raised last year. Translation: We're aiming for another $21,000 before the deadline of midnight, Dec. 31.