The search continues for a rare collection of Abraham Lincoln artifacts that went missing after a visit to Connecticut College in New London, including a letter written days after the president’s assassination.

Sameer Somal, a Lincoln enthusiast, said the artifacts disappeared Tuesday after he accidentally left the folder containing them on top of his car and drove away following interviews with fellow Lincoln scholars at Connecticut College.

“The plan was to interview them, and I was going to show them some of these artifacts,” Somal said.

Somal said he has spent years assembling the collection, which included portraits of Lincoln, original Civil War-era newspapers, and an original invitation to Lincoln’s 1864 inaugural ball.

Among the items was a document Somal described as especially significant.

“There was a letter, which is particularly precious, written on April 17th, 1865, from General William Tecumseh Sherman about the assassination of Mr. Lincoln,” Somal said.

After realizing the folder was missing, Somal contacted campus security. He said he was initially told the folder had been recovered, but later learned security had mistaken it for a book that had fallen from his car.

“I proceeded to look in the dark in my state of disappointment and trauma,” Somal said.

The next day, Somal made the five-hour trip back to New London and checked with the police. He believes the folder likely fell on or near the Connecticut College campus, but it has not been turned in.

Somal said the loss goes beyond the monetary value of the artifacts, as the collection was intended to serve as a centerpiece for a future museum dedicated to Lincoln in Illinois.

Now he is asking whoever found the folder to return it.

“I will do anything to get these items back and anything to help someone else in life if I can just get them back,” Somal said.

PRESQUE ISLE (WGME) — The first successful trans-Atlantic balloon launched from Presque Isle in 1978.

Early Thursday morning, a group of pilots took flight with the goal of crossing the Atlantic Ocean and landing in Europe.

The Atlantic Explorer 2026 is a gas balloon that uses hydrogen.

If successful, this balloon team would be the first to cross the Atlantic using hydrogen as the lifting gas. All others used helium.

“They can vent hydrogen to go down, although they try to avoid doing that. They have expendable weight in the form of sand ballast,” Atlantic Explorer 2026 Press Officer Kim Vesley said.

The hydrogen balloon in the air on its way to Europe. (Courtesy: Bert Padelt)

They can offload the weight to make the balloon go up, or keep it from coming down.

And there are three pilots inside.

“They work in shifts, and they have everything they need: food, clothing, water, a little port-a-potty type bucket,” Vesley said.

The hydrogen balloon in the air on its way to Europe. (Courtesy: Bert Padelt)

“The trajectory and the winds that they have available to them determine where they will come into Europe. It could be probably 3,100 to 3,500 miles, in that vicinity. They expect to be aloft four to six days,” Vesley said.

They have survival equipment, including a life raft, survival suit and more in case of an emergency, but they’re all optimistic.

The hydrogen balloon in the air on its way to Europe. (Courtesy: Bert Padelt)

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“These are all friends with a common goal. That is to do something very special and very rare. The other thing is they may also set a couple of world records during this for the size and type of balloon they are flying,” Vesley said.

To track where the balloon is and the flight path it’s taken, you can visit their website.

The legislation, first filed by state Representative Carole A. Fiola, would enable — but not require — bars and restaurants with liquor licenses to sell alcohol an additional hour past current closing times, starting Monday through July 31, albeit with the blessing of local licensing boards.

House lawmakers scaled the language back from the original bill, which had proposed allowing the later last call through Aug. 31.

“Summer 2026 presents a unique opportunity for Massachusetts,” Fiola, a Fall River Democrat, told lawmakers ahead of their vote Thursday. “While we may refer to it as soccer, football is the world’s most popular sport. . . . This bill will help capture economic opportunity.”

Pushing back last call has gained a drumbeat of support in recent weeks among leaders, including Mayor Michelle Wu, Governor Maura Healey, and state Senate President Karen Spilka, who have said the bill would help local businesses benefit from an expected surge of visitors for the World Cup matches at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

In Rhode Island, whose border is less than 30 miles from the stadium, Governor Daniel J. McKee signed a similar bill into law last week. Kansas, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington — states either hosting World Cup matches or geographically adjacent to those hosting the tournament — have also approved measures to extend alcohol sales hours.

Wu has said city officials have been preparing for late-night crowds regardless of whether the bill passes, noting that some World Cup matches and related festivities are expected to run late into the evening. The city is, for example, allowing businesses that are licensed to close at 1 a.m. to apply for temporary permits to extend their hours to 2 a.m.

“The question isn’t whether it will cause people to be out and about,” Wu said. “It’s whether people will have something fun to do that also supports our local economy.”

The support marks a notable shift among legislators who have long been resistant to boozy measures. A repeated proposal to end a 40-year ban on happy hours has faced an uphill battle on Beacon Hill.

“Massachusetts has a persistent fun problem,” said state Senator Julian Cyr, a Provincetown Democrat who has proposed lifting the ban on happy hours in the last two legislative sessions.

“We’re an outlier in how restrictive we are with alcohol consumption,” he added. “In Massachusetts, you can gamble to your heart’s desire and buy cannabis legally. Why can’t we have happy hour or later last call?”

The Massachusetts Restaurant Association, which represents about 1,800 restaurants, said the short trial period for the later last call allows bar operators to try something new, according to the association’s president Steve Clark.

“Why not?” he said. “Rarely do you get the opportunity to pilot things.”

Among those excited to test the waters is Oran McGonagle, who can see the FIFA Fan Festival at Boston City Hall from his perch at the Dubliner, which the Irish native owns and operates.

McGonagle said the Dubliner has already added a back patio to expand capacity, complete with 15 brand-new televisions, food, and bar service. Fans coming from other countries will expect later service, he said, and he is excited to welcome visitors.

“Anything that is pro-bar, pro-getting people energetic, I’m all about,” McGonagle said. “And anything positive toward bars and nightlife might open the door for something to happen in the future.”

George Aboujaoude, owner of Committee in the Seaport and Eva on Newbury Street, is a 30-year nightclub industry veteran who also ran Bijou Nightclub and HUE Boston.

He said the industry has, for years, asked for later last call. He recalled being told that the city doesn’t have the infrastructure to support it, even when Boston hosted the Democratic National Convention in 2004.

Aboujaoude said he would consider pursuing the later license at Eva, but not at Committee, which is already open until 2 a.m.

“Extending hours can create additional revenue and opportunities,” he said. “I’d love Boston to become more open to business.”

Aboujaoude and others, however, are approaching the idea with caution. They note the liabilities that come with serving people who have been out drinking all day. MBTA service also ends around 1 a.m., leaving employees and patrons alike to find alternative ways home late at night.

Bartenders around Boston have also lamented the possibility of their shifts dragging deeper into the night.

“When you are serving drinks after midnight or 1 a.m., you are serving the people who have more than they should have had already. You open yourself up to liability,” said Chris Lute, owner of the bar, Miracle of Science, in Cambridge.

He said that while he supports an operator’s right to decide how late they stay open, a 3 a.m. last call “is not appealing to me.”

Nick Stoico of the Globe staff contributed to this report.

Samantha J. Gross can be reached at samantha.gross@globe.com. Follow her @samanthajgross.