.Thursday Must Reads: Bay Area Regulators Ban Wood-Burning Stoves; UC Vows to Admit More California Students

Stories you shouldn’t miss:

1. Bay Area regulators have banned all wood-burning heating devices — including wood-burning stoves — in new homes in an attempt to reduce air pollution in the region, the CoCo Times$ reports. The move by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which takes effect in November 2016, is the first of its kind in the nation. The district previously banned all fireplaces in new home construction. The district had proposed to also require home sellers to replace fireplaces with cleaner heating devices, but instead agreed to a watered-down plan that requires sellers to issue health warnings about the dangers of wood burning.

2. UC President Janet Napolitano is vowing to boost enrollment of California students next year at all UC campuses, including its most impacted schools, Cal and UCLA, the LA Times$ reports. Napolitano plans to provide full details of her proposal next month. The UC system has come under increasing criticism for denying access to California residents in favor of out-of-state and international students who pay much higher tuition. The legislature has offered a $25 million funding bonus if the UC system increases its enrollment of in-state students by 5,000 next year.

3. The Oakland City Council adopted a watered-down plan to help tenants fight unlawful evictions in the city, the Chron reports. The original plan called for spending $1 million on beefed up enforcement on landlord scofflaws, but the council rejected that proposal and instead approved paying $340,000 to nonprofits to help educate tenants about the protections they have — but only if the city’s administration can find the money to do it.


[jump] 4. Kaiser mental healthcare workers have voted to authorize a strike, the CoCo Times$ reports. Mental health workers — and patients — have long complained about the lack of resources at Kaiser.

5. And artists unveiled a giant mural beneath Interstate 580 in West Oakland — at the site where an artist who was working on mural the was gunned down last month, the Bay Area News Group$ reports.

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