New England in brief
NEEDHAM
Police said they were searching for a 17-year-old Needham girl, described as missing and possibly endangered. Mikayla Bennett was described in a press release as 4-foot-9 and 150 pounds, with dark hair and olive skin. She was last seen at 8:30 p.m. Friday at an MBTA bus stop in Malden; she was wearing blue jeans, a brown V-neck shirt, red and white sneakers, and a black backpack. She was on her way to Lynn, the statement said. She was on a weekend pass from a residential program of the Department of Children and Family Services and may be in need of medical attention. Anyone with information is asked to contact Needham police detectives at 781-455-7570.BROOKLINE
Passenger’s snake discomfits trolley riders
It was only one snake, and it was a train, not a plane. But a Green Line train was stopped in Brookline for a short time early yesterday afternoon after riders reported a man carrying a snake around his neck, MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said. Police responded to the D Line around 12:30 p.m. at Brookline Village station, but the man had already left the scene, Pesaturo said. Police held the set of trolley cars for about nine minutes, slightly backing up D Line service, until shortly before 1 p.m., he said.NEWTON
Atrium Mall reopens after gas line leak
The Atrium Mall in Newton was evacuated, and Route 9 eastbound was shut down yesterday after a contractor doing work outside the mall hit a gas pipe, fire officials said. The line began to seep gas about 11:30 a.m., and the gas was sucked into the mall’s air-conditioning system, Newton Fire Chief Joe LaCroix said. No one was injured. LaCroix said the gas company plugged the leak, and air readings for gas were negative. The mall and roadway reopened by 12:20 p.m., a mall spokeswoman said.BURLINGTON
Pakistani programmer is free on bail
Three months after he was arrested on immigration charges during the investigation of the attempted car bombing in Times Square, a 33-year-old computer programmer was freed on bail yesterday and will return to his home in Maine to fight deportation. Mohammad Shafiq Rahman, a Pakistani native who had been living in South Portland, was released from the US Bureau of Customs and Immigration Enforcement processing center in Burlington after his family posted $10,000 cash bail, according to the agency.WENHAM
President of Gordon College to retire
The president of Gordon College announced yesterday that he will retire after 35 years at the Wenham college. Robert Judson Carlberg, the college’s seventh president, will step down from the position he has held for 19 years on June 30, 2011. Carlberg, 69, said in a statement released by the school that although he will miss the college, he believes that it is a “season of transition.’’ The college will begin searching for a replacement in September.DENNIS
4 rescued from pond after canoe tips over
Two women and two children were rescued from a Cape Cod pond after their canoe capsized, leaving them floating in the water for about an hour, fire officials said. Firefighters responded to a call from a house overlooking Swan Pond in Dennis at 7:31 p.m. Wednesday. A boat was launched to rescue the women, who were 38 and 35 years old, and the children, 12 and 5. All were wearing life jackets.SOMERSET
Prankster lures crowd with fake shark fin
Police say about 50 people were drawn to Fox Hill Cove Wednesday night after someone reported seeing a shark fin. Police told The Herald News of Fall River that several 911 calls came in to Somerset and Swansea police. Responding officers soon realized the “shark’’ was just a piece of Styrofoam cut into a fin shape, wrapped in gray duct tape, and weighted down. (AP)
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