Back to School: “I wasn’t going to...

Back to School: “I wasn’t going to sit back and do nothing,” is the way former U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, 84, explained his temporary role as a teacher at the University of Miami School of Law in Coral Gables, Fla. As to the students in his two-month seminar, Brennan said : “I’m not sure they’re going to love me. . . . I’ve worked their heads off.”

Back to Work: Cardinal Edmund Szoka, 63, who underwent surgery earlier this month to remove a cancerous nodule from his right lung, was released from a Detroit hospital Saturday “anxious to resume his regular duties,” according to a Detroit archdiocese spokeswoman. Szoka, who currently heads the Vatican’s Prefecture for Economic Affairs in Rome, led the 1.5-million member Detroit archdiocese from 1981 to 1990.

Solid Backing: After only a few weeks on the job, Prime Minister John Major is the most popular leader in some 30 years, according to a survey. Major received a good rating from 74% of the people polled by the Independent newspaper and the BBC. That marked a 26% increase in approval since the Gulf War. The last leader to receive as much public esteem was Harold Macmillan in 1960, at the height of the Cold War.

Back to the Wall: Until the Fargo, N.D., police arrived, Terry Joe Grieger, 23, must have thought he had put to rest the old line that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Grieger had won a fast-food meal with disk jockey T.J. Randell of WDAY-FM radio. “He had a few twisty fries,” said Randell,” “when a couple of officers came in and took him.” Seems there was a warrant out for alleged nonpayment of a $120 fine for driving without a license or insurance. Municipal Court Judge Tom Davies sentenced Grieger to work five days at the city garbage department.