Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. Faced with a severe housing shortage, UC Berkeley students are crowding into “mini-dorms” — single-family homes that have been turned into multi-unit buildings for student housing, the Chron reports. But the city council has decided to crack down on the mini-dorms, banning them in residential, single-family-home neighborhoods because of residents’ complaints about the lack of parking and too much noise. The crackdown also calls for more student housing to be built near campus.
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2. The widespread practice of injecting cattle with antibiotics in factory farms is causing as many as 23,000 human deaths a year nationwide, the Chron reports, citing a new study from the Centers for Disease Control. The massive number of deaths each year are caused by antibiotic-resistant superbugs. The deadly bacteria come from cattle that have been shot up with low doses of antibiotics so they won’t get sick in overcrowded conditions in factory farms.
3. In an attempt to deal with the problem of mattress-dumping in Oakland and other cities, the state legislature approved a bill last week co-sponsored by state Senator Loni Hancock that would place a surcharge on mattress sales, the Trib reports. The surcharge would help pay for the removal of mattresses from city streets. The legislation also requires mattress retailers to pick up old mattresses for free when they deliver new ones to customers.
4. Governor Jerry Brown signed another bill by Hancock that would allow juveniles who committed serious crimes and were tried as adults to seek early release from prison after serving at least fifteen years behind bars, the LA Times$ reports.
5. And Brown submitted a new prison-overcrowding plan to a federal appellate panel, requesting a three-year delay so that the state can have more time to reduce the inmate population, the LA Times$ reports.
