Nation briefs

NATIONWIDE

Gov't to hand over ICANN

The U.S. government is relinquishing its control of the Internet's address system in a shift that may raise questions about the future direction of online innovation and communications. The decision announced yesterday begins a long-planned transition affecting the stewardship of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN. That's a not-for-profit agency launched in 1998 by the U.S. Commerce Department to govern the system that assigns website addresses and directs Internet traffic. Although other countries have had a say in how the Internet is run, the U.S. government retained veto power over ICANN. The Commerce Department hopes to end its ICANN oversight by the time its contract expires in September 2015. Proposals for a new ICANN stewardship will be accepted beginning next week at a conference in Singapore.

MASSACHUSETTS

Brewer cuts parade ties

The maker of Sam Adams beer announced yesterday that it is withdrawing its sponsorship of Boston's St. Patrick's Day parade because organizers exclude gay groups. Boston Beer Co.'s decision came a day after a bar in Boston's South End said it would no longer serve Sam Adams beer because of the brewer's affiliation with the parade, which is scheduled for tomorrow. Mayor Martin Walsh and U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch have been trying to broker a deal that would have allowed a gay group to march, but those negotiations broke down. A Boston Beer Co. spokeswoman did not immediately return a call. The parade organizers' phone went unanswered yesterday. The Irish-American mayor said he would not march in the parade unless gay groups were allowed to march.

CONNECTICUT

No charges for teacher

A popular fifth-grade teacher will not face prosecution for fatally shooting a knife-wielding prowler in a ski mask who turned out to be his 15-year-old son, a prosecutor announced yesterday. Jeffrey Giuliano reasonably believed the masked person "presented him with the threat of imminent death or great bodily harm" and that he needed to use deadly force to defend himself, State's Attorney Stephen Sedensky III wrote. Investigators were unable to determine why the boy, Tyler Giuliano, was outside after midnight wearing a ski mask and carrying a flip-style knife with the blade open and a roll of duct tape under his arm. Giuliano's attorney, Gene Zingaro, said he did not expect Giuliano to be charged.