• The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Wednesday that the commercial Dungeness crab fishing season can begin December 29 for Zone 3 — which covers waters from Pescadero up to the Mendocino-Sonoma County line. The season has been delayed since early November in order to give time for humpback whales to migrate south and not get caught in crab pot lines. [Press Democrat]
• There is apparently some hope for getting out of the drought next spring, as reservoirs are starting to rebound — but we need more atmospheric rivers to hit in January and February and create a lot more snow in the Sierra. [Chronicle]
• The San Jose City Council has approved a redistricting plan, after a "messy" and "painful" re-mapping process. [Mercury News]
• Once again, officials are debating poisoning the mice that have come to overrun the Farallones. [Bay City News]
• Santa Clara County supervisors today voted to limit residential development in Coyote Valley — an unincorporated area between San Jose and Morgan Hill — in order to preserve land for farm use. [CBS SF]
• Two of Joe Biden's appointees to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, both of them Asian American women, have been confirmed by the Senate in the last three days. [Chronicle]
• Berkeley's Golden Bear Hotel might become 44 units of affordable housing for the homeless. [Berkeleyside]
• There have been about a dozen COVID-related cancellations of Broadway show performances in the last week. [New York Times]

Photo: Claude Potts