Boston Globe -- Education

• John Kernochan, top copyright law professor
  John M. Kernochan - a leading professor of copyright law and the founder of the Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts at Columbia University - died Oct. 29 at his home in Jamaica Plain. He was 88.


• Panel likely to back student loan changes
  WASHINGTON - The $85 billion student loan industry and the sprawling US college aid system it serves are in for another round of changes under legislation expected to win easy approval today from a congressional panel.


• Northeastern president tops pay list
  The $2.3 million exit package Richard Freeland received upon stepping down as president of Northeastern University last year earned him the distinction of apparently being the country's highest-paid private college president. But several specialists on college presidents' contracts and compensation said yesterday that the top ranking was misleading because it reflected a decade of deferred benefits paid out in a ...


• Player called to coaching
  A few years ago, Jim Unis was a football player, not just a player, but a star.


• UMass-Amherst students plan to strike
  Student government leaders are urging University of Massachusetts at Amherst students to skip classes Thursday and Friday to protest a range of grievances they say university administrators have consistently ignored.


• A lesson for the ages
  Jim St. Clair has been teaching kindergarten for 32 years, mostly at the Amigos School in Cambridge.


• New ruling tests schools under desegregation orders
  NEW YORK - Officials in Shelby County, Tenn., say they will have to spend millions to satisfy a federal judge's "arbitrary" desegregation order. It will mean busing minority students up to an hour away and replacing hundreds of white teachers with black ones, they say.


• Dean sees Wharton as a force for change
  PHILADELPHIA - Wharton School's new dean, Thomas Robertson, is the antithesis of one of the business school's most famous graduates, Donald Trump.


• Rural Miss. elementary school falls behind
  COMO, Miss. - Of all the nation's elementary schools, the one serving this poor, rural crossroads is at the bottom of the heap.


• Va. teen's antiabortion club a reality
  WASHINGTON - For Stephanie Hoffmeier, it came down to believing in a power higher than a school system.

Boston.com -- Connecticut news

• GE Aviation buys Czech turboprop engine maker
  General Electric Co.'s aviation business is entering the fast-growing market for small twin-engine turboprop aircraft, the company announced Thursday.


• Hedge fund scammer tells NY judge he tried suicide
  The hedge fund cheat who faked his own death before going on the lam told a Manhattan judge Thursday that he tried to overdose on drugs before he surrendered in Massachusetts.


• State offering $50K reward in Milford homicide
  A $50,000 reward has been authorized for information to determine who beat and strangled a pregnant Milford woman seven years ago.


• Foxwoods dealers call for contract negotiations
  Dealers at the Foxwoods Resort Casino called on management Friday to begin contract negotiations after the National Labor Relations Board certified their union.


• Fuel prices grounding private pilots
  Increasing fuel costs are grounding many of Connecticut's private pilots and forcing some airports to boost the fees for lessons and hangar space.

Boston Globe -- Health and Science

• Contagious cancers
  The almond-shaped lump on Brian Hill's throat didn't make sense to him. The doctor said it was a symptom of advanced oral cancer, but Hill had never smoked a cigarette or chewed a plug of tobacco, considered the main causes of the disease when he was diagnosed in 1997. So why was it there?


• Amid groups of friends, he looks for keys to health
  "Obesity can spread like a contagious disease," William Shatner's character says on the preview clip for tomorrow's episode of "Boston Legal."


• A tale of pigs, people, and a shared germ
  The past couple of decades have yielded repeated - and lethal - reminders of how animals can make people sick. Think apes and AIDS, mosquitoes and West Nile virus.


• With artificial cornea, he restores gift of sight
  Dr. Claes Dohlman, considered the "founder of modern corneal science," recently received the Laureate Recognition Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology for his contributions in restoring sight worldwide. And he won the Global Leadership Award from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, where he was chairman of the ophthalmology department. He was also chairman of the department at Harvard ...


• Prostate cancer and weight
  Excerpts from the Globe's blog on the Boston-area medical community.


• I'm a working mother; how can I maximize my 3 workouts per week?
  Since you're presumably young, you should use almost all of your limited time getting aerobic exercise like running, biking, or brisk walking, said William J. Evans, director of the Nutrition, Metabolism, and Exercise Laboratory at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. That's because "regular aerobic exercise increases life expectancy by decreasing the risk of a host of chronic diseases," ...


• Could the space shuttle return to earth slowly and skip heat shields?
  This is an interesting idea, but to see why it's a problem to implement we need to look at a little physics.


• Health/Science Calendar
  MONDAY, NOV. 12 Infectious cancers Harvard Medical School students continue their "Science in the News" seminar with a lecture about contagious cancers. At 6 p.m. in the Mildred Avenue Community Center in Mattapan. Repeated Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Armenise Amphitheater at the medical school. Tuesday, Nov. 13 Green history The Massachusetts Historical Society will sponsor a discussion about ...


• More acidic oceans could profoundly affect plankton
  Climate Change Microscopic ocean plants and animals may consume increasing amounts of carbon as oceans become more acidic, a new experiment carried out in the narrow fjords of Norway suggests. Scientists know that the world's oceans are becoming more acidic from the absorption of carbon dioxide from power plants, factories, and vehicles. Experiments have already shown that acidity could eat ...

Boston Globe -- National News

• O'Malley draws line with Democrats
  BALTIMORE - Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley of Boston, saying the Democratic Party has been persistently hostile to opponents of abortion rights, asserted yesterday that the support of many Catholics for Democratic candidates "borders on scandal."


• A dark diagnosis reaffirmed a commitment
  The fifth in a series of occasional articles examining the 2008 candidates for president. CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - On the cold Boston afternoon following the 2004 election, vice presidential candidate John Edwards took center stage at Faneuil Hall. With his wife , Elizabeth, by his side, the man who had become the flag-bearer of Democratic optimism spoke of the heartache ...


• Cloning of monkey embryos a step
  Researchers in Oregon say they have cracked the "primate barrier," reporting yesterday that they had cloned monkey embryos and extracted stem cells - an advance other scientists said offered the strongest proof yet that the same feat can eventually be carried out with human cells.


• Congress approves Head Start measure
  Congress yesterday approved a five-year Head Start bill minus the provision sought by the Bush administration to allow religious groups participating in the preschool program to hire and fire staff members based on religious affiliation. The bill, championed by Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, would expand Head Start to more low-income families, improve teacher qualifications, and take steps to ...

Boston Globe -- World News

• General says troops have left Georgia
  MOSCOW - A top Russian general said today that Russia has completed withdrawal of troops that had been based in Georgia since the Soviet collapse, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. The presence of Russian troops in the former Soviet republic was one of the longtime irritants between Georgia and its neighbor. "There are no more Russian troops in Georgia; ...


• Earthquake hits Chile; damage is widespread
  MARIA ELENA, Chile - A major earthquake crushed cars, damaged thousands of houses, blocked roads, and terrified people for hundreds of miles yesterday. Officials reported at least two deaths and more than 100 injuries.


• Iraqis raid Sunni headquarters
  BAGHDAD - Iraqi authorities seized the headquarters of the country's most influential Sunni clerical group yesterday, sealing off its west Baghdad compound and accusing the organization of supporting Al Qaeda in Iraq.


• Pakistan opposition begins to unite against Musharraf
  LAHORE, Pakistan - Leaders of this country's fractured political opposition began taking the first steps yesterday toward uniting against President Pervez Musharraf, who is facing widespread dissent after more than a week of emergency rule.


• Britain unveils security crackdown
  LONDON - Travelers face new delays and disruption on trips to Britain under government plans unveiled yesterday to tighten defenses against terrorism at airports, rail stations, and major public spaces.


• Sarkozy urges talks to end transit strikes
  PARIS - Transport workers shut down most trains yesterday, testing the patience of Parisians forced to walk, bike, or skate to work with a strike aimed at derailing President Nicolas Sarkozy's plan to strip away labor protections he says hurt France's competitiveness.


• Far-right bloc axed after row on words
  BRUSSELS - A group of extreme-right members of the European Parliament was dissolved yesterday after its outraged Romanian contingent walked out in an argument over racism.

Boston.com -- Latest news

Breaking local news, nation news, politics and world news from The Boston Globe and Boston.com.

• Feuding Iraqis reach agreement
  WASHINGTON - Nearly two dozen leaders from Iraq's feuding factions who were brought together under the aegis of a University of Massachusetts at Boston professor are slated to unveil an agreement tomorrow aimed at healing the ethnic and sectarian rifts in their country.


• Churches champion immigrants' plight
  At Sunday services and spaghetti suppers, churches and other religious groups across Massachusetts are fueling a growing movement to defend immigrants' rights, from raising money for detainees to lobbying lawmakers to overhaul immigration laws.


• He captures 4th, and all else
  Black shoes squared, John Manson stands straight and true, as though out of respect to the history he has recounted for 30 years. His uniform, forest green and gray, is pressed and relatively unadorned: a small nametag over one chest pocket, a gold badge over the other.


• Hospital tells of surgery on wrong side
  An experienced surgeon at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center operated on the wrong side of a patient this week, a serious medical mistake disclosed in an e-mail that hospital administrators sent to staff members yesterday.


• Pop goes the traditional music lesson
  WEYMOUTH - In a second-floor recording studio on a steamy afternoon, drums crash, guitar chords blare, and rock lyrics spew forth at a higher-than-usual pitch. Nine-year-old Nick Bell, his 10-year-old brother Jake, and their 11-year-old friend Andrew McElman are playing "Highway to Hell."


• While Hub is set to sparkle ... fiscal gloom spoils towns' fun
  ABINGTON - The telephone rang at Nancy Hurst's desk in Abington Town Hall one morning this week, and Hurst had her reply ready.


• At heart of Boston's 4th, a team
  In the Charles River, beyond the midday sunbathers, obscured from view by a slender island of trees, floats a network of sand-covered, metal barges filled with 16,000 pounds of explosives.


• The return of Buddy
  PROVIDENCE - In Bristol, R.I., residents are as high as the American flag recently raised over the town common for the Fourth of July. The parade is coming.


• Labor issue halts show in Randolph
  This Fourth of July weekend will mark a historic event for residents of Randolph: the first Independence Day without fireworks in more than a decade.


• What's closed, open on Independence Day
  Holiday observed: Tomorrow. Retail stores: Open. Liquor stores: Open. Supermarkets: Open. Convenience stores: Open. Taverns, bars: Open. Banks: Closed. Stock market: Closed. Municipal, state, federal offices: Closed. Libraries: Closed. Mail: Post offices closed; express delivery only. Trash/recycling collection: Regular collections in Boston proper, Roxbury, and Charlestown. All other districts deferred one day.

Boston.com -- Massachusetts news

• Mass. man pleads guilty to DWI crash
  A Massachusetts National Guard sergeant has agreed to plead guilty to a drunken driving crash that injured two bicyclists in Concord, New Hampshire, last summer.


• Boston celebrates July 4 with concert, fireworks
  The city of Boston is geared for a day of patriotic celebrations, culminating with the traditional July Fourth Boston Pops concert and fireworks display on the banks of the Charles River.


• Hospital tells of surgery on wrong side
  An experienced surgeon at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center operated on the wrong side of a patient this week, a serious medical mistake disclosed in an e-mail that hospital administrators sent to staff members yesterday.


• Marathoner missing, may have gone overboard
  The Coast Guard was searching late last night for a 60-year-old Quincy man who had run in the Boston Marathon this year but was missing after he apparently fell off a boat en route to the Winthrop Yacht Club last night, officials said.


• What's closed, open on Independence Day
  Holiday observed: Today Retail stores: Open.


• Mental health bill costs to be minimal, study says
  Mental health advocates are praising a state report as validation that a bill expanding mental health care and substance abuse treatment will not be too costly, a chief concern of business and insurance groups.


• Pop goes the traditional music lesson
  WEYMOUTH - In a second-floor recording studio on a steamy afternoon, drums crash, guitar chords blare, and rock lyrics spew forth at a higher-than-usual pitch. Nine-year-old Nick Bell, his 10-year-old brother Jake, and their 11-year-old friend Andrew McElman are playing "Highway to Hell."


• Reversing Jeep hits, kills pedestrian
  A 47-year-old woman crossing Newbury Street was hit and killed yesterday by a Jeep Cherokee being driven in reverse, police and witnesses said.


• He captures 4th, and all else
  Black shoes squared, John Manson stands straight and true, as though out of respect to the history he has recounted for 30 years. His uniform, forest green and gray, is pressed and relatively unadorned: a small nametag over one chest pocket, a gold badge over the other.


• Rare turtle washes up on Cape Cod
  Cape Cod had an unusual visitor from the open ocean Wednesday night. A dead leatherback sea turtle weighing several hundred pounds washed ashore at Popponesset Beach in Mashpee, a spokesman for the New England Aquarium said.

Boston.com -- Vermont news

• Mortgage broker pleads guilty to federal charge
  The owner of a defunct South Burlington mortgage brokerage is facing up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to a federal wire fraud charge.


• Middlebury to go to four day week
  The Middlebury Town Clerk's office is shifting to a four-day week as a way to save energy.


• Weak economy increasing home foreclosures
  A state banking official says the weak economy is to blame for the rising home foreclosure rate throughout Vermont.


• Governor hit by pie during parade
  A Northfield man is facing simple assault charges that he hit Gov. Jim Douglas in the face with a cream pie while the governor was marching in the Montpelier Independence Day parade on Thursday evening.


• Flooded state building to reopen Monday
  A state building that's been closed for two weeks due to flood damage will reopen next week.


• Shingles clinics canceled
  The Vermont Department of Health is canceling immunization clinics for shingles because of a shortage of doses and a delay in shipment of the vaccine.


• Pick 3, Pick 4 numbers
  Here are the winning numbers selected Thursday in both drawings of the daily New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine lotteries: EVENING DRAWING


• Uncle could face death penalty in Vermont girl's kidnapping
  Prosecutors said the Vermont man charged with kidnapping his 12-year-old niece -- who was found dead near his home -- could face the death penalty.


• Vermont hiker dies after falling down mine shaft
  Vermont police say the death of a man who fell down a mine shaft was accidental.


• Prosecutors say death penalty possible in Vermont sex-ring kidnapping case.