• Lisa Farbstein of the TSA tweeted "the cat's out of the bag" after an alert agent at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport noticed tufts of orange fur poking out of a slightly unzipped suitcase, giving him pause, and he rescued a feline stowaway later identified as Smells.
• Markus Blume, minister of science and arts in Bavaria, Germany, said "you don't simply march into a museum and take this treasure with you," as organized crime is suspected in the theft of hundreds of ancient gold coins from the Celtic and Roman Museum, a 9-minute caper that set off no alarms.
• Clecio Alves de Araujo, a federal judge in Brazil, said it's about "exploitation of economic activity within indigenous lands" as a N.J.-based fishing tourism company was ordered to leave the Amazon and prosecutors filed charges of operating without authorization and manipulating people.
• Nikki Fried, Florida commissioner of agriculture and consumer services, said the aim is to "make sure our laws don't allow this to happen to anyone else" as the operator of a 400-foot amusement-park ride from which a teen fell to his death was hit with a $250,000 fine and banned from the state.
• Glenn Hegar, Texas comptroller, asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to refrain from identifying critical habitats for endangered tricolored bats over concerns about how it could limit the state's ability to produce energy.
• Voni Chen of Taiwan, a fugitive from U.S. authorities for 20 years, appeared in court in Oakland, Calif., after being extradited from Singapore to face charges of working with her father to fake invoices and obtain $5 million in loans.
• Tony Teixeira, former top aide to New Jersey's Senate president, awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion charges stemming from inflated invoices for political consulting work.
• Ruixue "Serena" Shi of Arcadia, Calif., was sentenced to 20 years in prison for bilking investors in a hotel-condo project out of $26 million, with the judge citing "no acceptance of responsibility."