Washington, D.C.: New programs aid disabled air travelers

Security screeners at airports no longer will separate a blind passenger from a guide dog and then unharness the animal. They will ask passengers in wheelchairs whether they would like to move to a private area before they search the traveler by hand.

Such procedures have become part of screener training, Transportation Security Administration officials said Tuesday.

The training program was designed with the help of groups representing people with disabilities and lists guidelines that all screeners must follow. For example, screeners will talk to blind passengers, helping them to empty their pockets of metal and making sure they reclaim their items at the other end of the X-ray machine. They will keep the guide dog’s harness on as the animal goes through the metal detector, then pat down the dog by hand.

Michigan: Earth Liberation Front says it burned houses

The radical environmental group Earth Liberation Front is claiming responsibility for fires that destroyed two houses near Ann Arbor in March.

The slogan “ELF, no sprawl” was spray painted on the garage door of a house next to one of those burned March 21 in the Mystic Forest subdivision. On its Web site, the group claims responsibility for the fires, which it says caused $400,000 in damage.

The group also takes responsibility for burning luxury homes being built near Philadelphia late last year. A picture of a burning home is featured on the Web site, along with instructions on how to start fires.

The FBI has said it considers the Earth Liberation Front one of the nation’s most prolific domestic terrorist organizations. The group has claimed responsibility for a series of antigrowth attacks in the past six years.

Boston: Old North Church to get federal grant

The Old North Church, where two lanterns were hung to signal Paul Revere that the British were coming, will receive federal grant money for a fix-up under a change in government policy on church and state.

Old North is still an active church, and up to now, historically significant structures that were also used for religious purposes have been ineligible for federal historic preservation grants because of concerns about the separation of church and state.

But Interior Secretary Gale Norton said Tuesday that under a new policy, all nationally significant historic structures can get grants.

“This new policy will bring balance to our historic preservation program and end a discriminatory double-standard that has been applied against religious properties,” Norton said in a statement.

The $317,000 grant has been approved to repair and restore windows in the building and make it more accessible to the public.

Chicago: Mayor adds beehives to City Hall garden

The buzz around City Hall has nothing to do with politics, money or influence. It is the sound of thousands of honeybees.

The city called in beekeepers to install hives on the roof this spring to help pollinate flowers in the building’s rooftop garden.

Mayor Richard Daley had the garden planted three years ago after seeing similar ones in Germany and deciding it would be a good way to absorb storm runoff, purify the air and insulate the building.

As for the addition of bees, “it fits into what a garden should have,” explained Barry Burton, a city planner whose job is to help carry out the mayor’s environmental agenda. “In this case we have lots of flowers and we want to get them pollinated, and the bees are a perfect answer for that.”