"Pizza" is a popular type of restaurant. "Brunch" is a popular type of meal. For this reason, some pizza restaurants believe that they can serve brunch. Not true.

The much-discussed bill in California requiring public school textbooks to teach lessons gay and lesbian contributions to the state's history has been signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown. Every child in the state public school system will be automatically gay by midnight.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors might ban sales of all pets, including fish, reptiles, rats, birds, dogs and cats. Selling live animals to kill and eat would still be legal. Naturally.

Good news for non-smoking New Yorkers who occasionally catch a whiff of cigarette smoke for a half-second while they're walking outdoors: Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a law today making sure this never happens again! No promises, though.

If Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney gets her way, the next season of Jersey Shore could be a lot less colorful. Government-imposed limits on how many minutes someone can spend on a tanning bed? God help us all. [NBC via Stylelist]

"The New Jersey Legislature approved a measure on Monday that would make the state the first in the region and the 14th in the nation to legalize the use of marijuana for medical reasons." [NYT]

You were aware that taxi drivers aren't supposed to drive with one hand on the steering wheel and a cellphone in the other. But cabbies aren't allowed to talk on hands-free headsets either—or even wear them, even if they're not actually talking to anyone—and yesterday the Taxi and Limousine Commission approved stricter penalties for drivers who don't comply. Drivers can now lose their licenses after three violations, since research shows that drivers who talk on cellphones are four times as likely to cause a crash. And because even under perfectly ideal circumstances, sitting in the backseat of a cab is still probably the most dangerous thing you'll do all day. [NYT]

It was embarrassing enough that the New York State Senate voted down a bill to legalize gay marriage last week. Now it looks like a similar bill in New Jersey may end up passing before the end of the year, which would make it the sixth state to do so, not to mention remind us all that the land of Tony Soprano is officially more progressive and open-minded than its neighbor on the other side of the Hudson. [NYT, previously]

The mayor and city council have devised an ingenious (albeit inadvertent) way to reduce the number of hillbilly tourists flowing into the city. The city council approved a ban on flavored tobacco products yesterday, making NYC the first major city to do so. [WNYC, VV]