Only in America

last updated 8 January 2015

*Residents of a gay retirement community in New Mexico are organizing to prevent an influx of heterosexuals. The 13-acre RainbowVision community outside Santa Fe has historically been about 80 percent homosexual, but with half of the 120 units currently vacant, a resident council is lobbying management not to allow in too many straight tenants. “It does not matter how friendly they are,” said Roger Bergstrom, 77, who shares a condo with partner Barry Baltzley. “It’s not what we came here for.”

*The City Council of Belmont, Calif., has voted to ban residents from smoking in their own apartments. Many of the state’s apartment complexes already have no-smoking policies, but Belmont is the first city to pass legislation making it a crime to light up at home. The city of Calabasas may be next. “The time has come,” said Councilman Barry Groveman, sponsor of the Calabasas no-smoking bill, who acknowledged the public reaction has not been wholly positive. “I’ve gotten threats like you wouldn’t believe.”