FARR-OFF ISLAND… The 47-year-old trade embargo is still on, but with the urging of our own Rep. Sam Farr, the Obama administration announced April 13 a loosening of long-standing restrictions on Cuba. El lucho sigue, according to Farr, who is leading a charge to take bigger steps to warm up to our island neighbor. He and 45 other members of Congress signed a letter to Obama calling for a 10-step plan to normalize relations, which he planned to deliver to the Prez on their shared flight to the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago a few days later. See the Weekly’s April 13 coverage at www.montereycountyweekly.com. [KA]

MORE STARVING ARTISTS… In the ongoing battle of Recession versus Local Business, Recession wins again as two Carmel-area galleries shutter their doors for good. After 38 years in business, Carmel’s Highlands Sculpture Galley is closing: “We have really appreciated and enjoyed working with you all these many, many years,” says Owner/Director Diana Davidson and her staff in a press release that still manages to put a customer-friendly spin on the dire economic times: “For the first time in our history, all artwork in the gallery is on sale.” Customers who cannot visit the gallery on Dolores, between Fifth and Sixth, by appointment by April 19 can view remaining artwork online, www.highlands-gallery.com/default.cfm. Additionally, Jody Royee Gallery, at the Mid Valley Center, will close at the end of May according to a “letter of gratitude and change” from Royee. “I’m grateful for the friendships created and deepened, they will last well past the life of any business venture,” she writes. “No matter what the economy does, we’ll always create beauty and art.” And, says Royee, a gallery website is in the works. [JL]

BEAT TO THE ALTAR… If it weren’t for last November’s Proposition 8, California would have taken silver after Massachusetts in the state-by-state race to sanction gay marriage. But now, as we reported online, the best we can hope for is fifth. Connecticut legalized it in October 2008, a month before state voters undid California’s gay marriage rights. Iowa took the bronze April 3, with a unanimous Supreme Court ruling.Four days later the Vermont Legislature narrowly overrode the governor’s veto of a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, becoming the first state to OK gay “I do’s” legislatively. Cali, meanwhile, awaits the state Supreme Court’s decision. [KA]