Nation briefs

CALIFORNIA

Pot seller named mayor

A medical marijuana dispensary owner has been named mayor of a small Northern California city in the heart of pot country. Sebastopol's City Council selected 36-year-old Robert Jacob as mayor earlier this week. Jacob runs two pot clinics in Sonoma County, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Americans for Safe Access, which advocates for safe and legal access to therapeutic cannabis, called Jacob's selection as mayor historic and unprecedented. He has worked to create statewide dispensary regulations.

MICHIGAN

A pledge to save artwork

A former Detroit university professor is pledging $5 million, hoping it will spark a wildfire of private financial support to protect valuable art from being sold to pay creditors in the city's bankruptcy. A. Paul Schaap said he wants to help the Detroit Institute of Arts as well as retirees whose pensions could be cut as part of the city's plan to eventually exit Chapter 9 bankruptcy. Art purchased over the years with city money could be pursued as assets that should be sold to pay off a portion of $18 billion in long-term debt.

COLORADO

Court: Baker discriminated

A baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex ceremony must serve gay couples despite his religious beliefs or face fines, a judge said yesterday. The order from administrative law judge Robert N. Spencer said Masterpiece Cakeshop in suburban Denver discriminated against a couple "because of their sexual orientation by refusing to sell them a wedding cake for their same-sex marriage." The order says the cake-maker must "cease and desist from discriminating" against gay couples. Although the judge did not impose fines in this case, the business will face penalties if it continues to turn away gay couples who want to buy cakes. Charlie Craig, 33, and David Mullins, 29, was married in Massachusetts and wanted a wedding cake to celebrate in Colorado.