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Readers, wake up from your turkey and retail coma to catch up on local news:

Plans for a high-density senior housing complex in the heart of Torrance have resurfaced.  Again.

How did you spend Thanksgiving? Volunteers at Torrance church offered food, comfort and friendship to South Bay folks.

Bravo shoppers for bucking a dismal economy and flooding stores this morning in search of bargains. Our own business columnist Muhammed El-Hasan shares his Black Friday experience from last year.

And while you're out shopping, why not pick up an athletic ball to bring to the Breeze's annual holiday ball drive, which supports local youth-focused nonprofits?

A jury has found that William Sadowski was legally sane when he killed a Los Angeles International Airport police officer in 2005. Now, he's headed for a lifetime in parole, rather than a mental institution.

One Palos Verdes Estates young lady has reached what could be the highest echelon of academic honor, earning a prestigious Rhodes scholarship.

After more than a year of fighting for a dog park on The Hill, it looks like a Palos Verdes Estates couple is finally starting to see some success.

Thanksgiving is sooo yesterday. Bring on Christmas, and visits from Santa Claus throughout the South Bay.

Readers, let's roll:

A teenage boy was killed in San Pedro after a fight this weekend. Check out pictures of the scene afterward.

Nearly 30 years after buying some coastal land from its school district, Rancho Palos Verdes is finally getting ready to build a park that isn't sitting so well with neighbors.

South Bay unemployment rates stayed mostly stable in October, bucking a downward trend across the county and state. Poor Torrance was the only city in the area to see an increase in the statistics released last week.

Local nonprofits are gearing up for record holiday needs, beginning with a massive food drive that starts Tuesday. Meantime, one San Pedro-based group is working on its first effort to give Thanksgiving baskets to families who have lost children to violent crimes.

What's that stench coming from the Walteria Sump in Torrance?

Rancho Palos Verdes city officials ponder why its hotel tax increase failed at the polls earlier this month, and what the possible ramifications could be.

Three former Hermosa Beach surf buddies are busy brewing beer.

Readers, start your week off well-informed of local news:

The board that oversees Los Angeles International Airport is expected today to approve two contracts worth more than $1.1 billion to build nine new gates and add 1 million square feet to the airport's Tom Bradley International Terminal.

Did you see the Breeze's comprehensive look at the Marine Life Protection Act? Check out pictures of the South Bay marine area that has pitted environmentalists against anglers here and here.

Looming mid-year budget cuts for California State University, Dominguez Hills has students worried it'll take longer to graduate and faculty members concerned about job losses.

Loa Pele Faletogo is maintaining Samoan culture right here in the South Bay.

Hermosa is going old school in an attempt to save its Post Office branch.

Hey, did you know Torrance has a celebrity chef? Yeah, me neither.

Some Scottsdale Estates residents have collected enough signatures to take control of the board, until now under the control of a longtime board president.

Readers, let's hit it:

The non-profit South Bay Literacy Council, which has taught people to read for 28 years in the area and operates on $40,000 a year, could fold. Office rent has doubled for the agency and its 85-year-old fundraiser is retiring.

Centinela Valley Union High School District is facing a civil rights complaint alleging the agency unlawfully eliminated an English language learners program from Hawthorne High school.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has filed complaints against four companies operating at the Port of Los Angeles for alleged pollution.

Budget cuts have forced the Harbor-area animal shelter to pick up three more zip codes of coverage, further straining the San Pedro facility.

Between a massive expected recall and accusations of a patent violation, it's been a rocky year for former automobile golden child Toyota, whose U.S. marketing and sales arm is based in Torrance.

Readers, let's get this news party started:

Some Torrance residents are nearly croaking over the possibility of placing a whimsical frog statue recently donated to the city by a former mayor in a seaside park. Children might play on the bronze statue and hurt themselves!

Police are investigating a hit-and-run accident allegedly committed by an off-duty Torrance police officer over the weekend.

Los Angeles County is set to pay $305,000 to settle a medical malpractice lawsuit brought on by the family of a man who died at County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center near Torrance after a hang-gliding accident two years ago.

San Pedro's Salvation Army Family Store has closed. You know it's a bad economy when even thrift stores are shutting down.

Public hearings over a proposed new public transit plan that could relieve South Bay traffic begin this week.

After three appearences at CIF semifinals in as many years, Palos Verdes High's girls tennis team is aiming for a title this year. Check out pictures.

Readers, let's get to it:

Police are investigating a double homicide in Wilmington last night.

Proposed state legislation would limit how employers can use credit checks to screen potential hires, like one Hawthorne woman who believes she was passed over for two jobs because of bad credit.

Several South Bay survivors of drunk driving victims are participating in this weekend's Mothers Against Drunk Driving fundraiser.

A new extradition law means means an ex-con wanted in Washington and found in Gardena goes free.

Manhattan Beach residents tonight can give their two cents about how parking restrictions might help ease Sand Dune Park use.

A Rancho Palos Verdes landowner can't use his extensive property for parties or weddings, city planners have ruled.

South Bay residents now has two more places to spend money they don't have: Kohl's opens Sunday at the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach, and Howard's, an electronics chain, took the space vacated by Circuit City in Torrance.

Readers, we are chockablock with news today:

Signs indicate the recession might be ending, but food pantries have seen a 34 percent increase in need compared to the same time last year.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn has formed a committee to explore the possibility of her running for lieutenant governor in 2010.

Meanwhile, political consultant Mattie Fein is preparing to run against Jane Harman as a Republican in the 36th Congressional District.

John Bogert's son is learning to drive!

The ruckus over how South Bay Botanic Garden board members spent a surprise donation has apparently settled down.

El Segundo has given its school board an extra $150,000 cash payment, but the high school still wants more lucrative filming time.

Three more South Bay post offices, including Hermosa's and another in Redondo Beach and Torrance, have been added to the list of possible branches set for closure in an effort to cut United State Postal Service costs.

Cal-OSHA has levied nearly $33,000 in fines upon Exxon-Mobil over the April death of a worker at its Torrance refinery.

A Manhattan Beach man will take the helm of Northrop Grumman once its current CEO steps down Dec. 31.

Palos Verdes High School's boys water polo team apparently has a got shot at a title this season.

Readers, without further ado:

Like much of the state, South Bay school districts improved on test scores and many exceeded goals, according to figures released Tuesday by the California Department of Education.

Speaking of which, Gardena's 156th Street Elementary School was one of 25 schools statewide to receive honors for their students' standardized test performance.

Prosecutors presented closing arguments Tuesday in the murder re-trial case of Cameron Brown, who is accused of killing his 4-year-old daughter by throwing her over a Rancho Palos Verdes cliff nine years ago.

Though he agrees that President Obama was lying in his health care speech last week, South Bay Congressman Dana Rohrabacher said Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst was wrong. Rohrabacher was one of seven republicans who voted Tuesday to censure Wilson.

The Los Angeles County Health Services Department, an already indebted agency that oversees several South Bay clinics as well as Habor-UCLA Medical Center, will see a $71 million reduction in state funding this fiscal year.

Finally some good economy news: August showed the smallest decline in shipments passing through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach this year, figures released Tuesday show.

Readers, here ya go:

Gardena City Councilman Steve Bradford has won the 51st Assembly seat in Tuesday's special election, avoiding a run-off by earning about 53 percent of the vote in a field of six candidates.

Two Rancho Palos Verdes teens home alone while their parents vacationed in Spain are among those who shared their stories with the Breeze about surviving last week's brush fire.

Check out pictures of the fire's aftermath.

Scary stuff: A doctor at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center near Torrance details in a new book details of the recent increase in drug-resistant bacteria.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn is pushing for the Knoll Hill land swap, though state officials appear ready to reject the plan for San Pedro.

Local car manufacturers Toyota and Honda saw a boost from the federal government's rebate plan.

Gardena and Palos Verdes high schools are both getting new football coaches this fall.

Readers, without further ado:

Harbor-area police are investigating two shootings just blocks apart Monday night in San Pedro.

A judge has blocked construction of a Hermosa Beach house whose basement's unique construction is alleged by a neighbor to have damaged her house next door.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants parents and community stakeholders to choose what kind of schools get built in thier neighborhoods -- a plan set for a Los Angeles Unified School District board vote today that the teachers union opposes.

Two women arrested for shoplifting cell phone accessories from a Hermosa Beach store could be linked to many other crimes in the South Bay.

Meanwhile, three men and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in four street robberies in Hawthorne.

News columnist John Bogert weighs in on the recession and school supplies.

Torrance's All-Star baseball team has advanced to the next round in in the Babe Ruth World Series.