Alaska: Rare white black bear exempt from hunting

When hunting season opens Sept. 1, one special bear will be off limits: a rare white-colored black bear that a photographer spotted near Juneau and turned into a local celebrity.

A rare white-phase black bear walks through a stream in Juneau, Alaska. When hunting season opens Sept. 1, this bear will be off limits.

The Alaska Board of Game ordered an emergency closure on hunting of all “white phase” black bears in the Juneau area. Effectively, that covers only one known white bear, the one photographed earlier this month by Pat Costello.

“People recognize this is a unique animal,” Costello said. “They don’t want to see it just made into another rug.”

State biologists have known of the bear’s existence for a few years. It looks almost like a polar bear but has distinctive raccoon-like markings around the eyes. Experts say it likely is a variation of what biologists call a glacier bear genetically a black bear, but with a light coat that can run from cinnamon to blue-white.

Boston: Residents take tour of ‘Big Dig’ project

Officials opened a window into Boston’s underbelly Sunday, allowing hundreds of thousands of people to stroll along a segment of the huge underground tunnel dubbed the “Big Dig.”

The tour had the ambiance of a summer festival, as a massive line of visitors snaked past a jazz band, between pylons festooned with balloons and volunteers hawking commemorative mugs.

The endeavor, officially known as the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project, will sink two miles of Interstate 93 beneath the city at a cost of about $14.6 billion.

Intended to relieve congestion on Boston’s urban corridor, the project will tear down the existing elevated highway, open up valuable downtown property and reconnect the waterfront with downtown.

Florida: Legislators support child-welfare changes

Several state legislators are backing efforts by Florida’s child welfare agency to lift restrictions preventing it from going public with information about missing children.

The Department of Children & Families contends that existing law, intended to protect privacy, keeps it from seeking the public’s help when children run away or are abducted by relatives.

Many state representatives agree, and want to change the law on the grounds children’s welfare outweighs privacy considerations.

“The veil of secrecy needs to be dropped,” said state Rep. Sandra Murman, chairwoman of a committee investigating the DCF on negligence allegations.

State Sen. Burt Saunders, also a member of the committee, said making it easier to search for missing children will help the department overcome its failures.

“This is an agency that appears to be dysfunctional, and you’ve got a lot of vulnerable citizens who are being injured. That has to stop,” he said.

Massachusetts: MIT freshmen must live on campus

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge is assigning all freshmen to on-campus housing for the first time in its 137-year history. The move comes five years after a freshman drank himself to death at a fraternity initiation.

Since Scott Krueger’s 1997 death, MIT parents have called for more housing supervision.

Krueger joined Phi Gamma Delta to obtain housing, his parents said. After a hazing during which he drank large amounts of alcohol, he slipped into a coma and died three days later. MIT later reached a settlement, agreeing to pay the family $4.75 million and establish a $1.25 million scholarship fund in Krueger’s memory.

Philadelphia: Passenger arrested with .357 Magnum

A woman was in FBI custody Sunday after allegedly carrying a handgun on a US Airways flight from Atlanta to Philadelphia, authorities said.

Airport security stopped the woman at Philadelphia International Airport on her way to a connecting flight and found she was carrying a .357 Magnum handgun in her carry-on suitcase, Philadelphia police spokeswoman Officer Maria Ibrahim said.

She was taken into custody by the FBI.

“We are going to file charges tomorrow … as soon as a magistrate signs the warrant,” FBI spokeswoman Linda Vizi said Sunday. She would not discuss the charges.

The incident did not cause any delays or injuries, officials said.

Miami: Islamic group seeks bomb plot investigation

A Muslim group on Sunday asked Gov. Jeb Bush to provide leadership in the investigation of a doctor suspected of plotting to blow up dozens of mosques and an Islamic education center.

Altaf Ali, executive director of the state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, also asked that the state provide security at mosques until the threat of more attacks has passed.

Robert J. Goldstein, 37, was arrested Friday and charged with possession of a non-registered destructive device and attempting to use an explosive to damage and destroy Islamic centers. He was being held without bail Sunday.

When police searched his home, they found a cache of up to 40 weapons, including machine guns and sniper rifles. They also found more than 30 explosive devices.