■More than 500 people registered yesterday for the opening session of “Focus: Outdoors,” the fifth annual conference sponsored by the Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary and the Massachusetts Audubon Society. Those attending the three-day convention on the environment and natural resources came from as far away as Arizona, California, and Florida.
■Groundbreaking ceremonies were held Friday at the 4.5-acre Nonotuck Street site of the new $340,000 headquarters for the Occupational and Vocational Developmental Center for the Handicapped Inc. Officials attending the ceremonies included state Sen. John Barrus, state Reps. John Olver and Louis Morini and Samuel Yaeger of the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission.
■Smith College President Ruth J. Simmons’ first day back from a three-week vacation Tuesday was spent mostly in front of a TV camera and a microphone. The life and opinions of Simmons, 51, will be featured in a four-minute segment on tonight’s “NBC Nightly News.”
■In what appears to have been the largest online outage ever, 6.3 million America Online customers worldwide were left stranded when the system crashed for almost 19 hours. The technical glitch left furious customers without their email or access to the World Wide Web.
■A gray fox was killed after it invaded the kitchen of A-1 Pizza, bit a teenage boy and attacked at least two dogs in Williamsburg during the weekend. The fox was first spotted by staff of A-1 Pizza on Main Street when it came into the kitchen about 7 p.m. Saturday.
■Fresh fears that the global economy is headed toward a double-dip recession will serve as the backdrop when U.S. Sen. Scott Brown arrives Wednesday in Amherst to talk about job creation. The visit is one of eight stops on Brown’s three-week statewide jobs tour.