INTERNATIONAL
 
Iranian opposition lawyer on hunger strike while in prison
 
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has gone on a hunger strike to protest her detention in solitary confinement on suspicion of spreading propaganda against the ruling system, her husband said Wednesday.
 
Surprise tiger born to supposedly infertile mother in Frankfurt zoo
 
BERLIN (AP) — Surprise! A Sumatra tiger cub born to a mother previously thought to be infertile is in good health at the Frankfurt Zoo in Germany.
 
Zoo Director Manfred Niekisch says the female cub was born weighing just over two pounds on Sept. 10 but has gained almost nine pounds from a steady milk diet.
 
Niekisch said the zoo keepers dubbed the baby Daseep and have been raising her by hand after her mother rejected her at birth.
 
NATIONAL
 
Naked Cowboy briefs New Yorkers on his presidential bid
 
NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s “Naked Cowboy” is looking for some new exposure as a presidential candidate.
 
Robert Burck is familiar to any Times Square tourist as the man standing in the heart of the “Crossroads of the World,” playing a guitar and wearing only tighty-whiteys, boots and a cowboy hat.
 
But he wore a suit and tie Wednesday as he announced his intention to run for president in 2012 as a member of the conservative tea party movement.
 
Four tornadoes tear across Northern Arizona, damage homes
 
BELLEMONT, Ariz. (AP) — A rare swarm of tornadoes shoved semis off highways and destroyed homes in the pre-dawn darkness Wednesday, leaving startled residents wondering if they were in Arizona anymore or had woken up in the twister-prone Midwest.
 
After one tornado rumbled through Bellemont around 5:30 with wind speeds of up to 110 miles per hour, residents armed with flashlights emerged from their homes to check on the damage.
 
They found a house splintered, windows smashed, garage doors twisted, but no major injuries.
 
Oregon woman pleads guilty to killing pregnant woman
 
HILLSBORO, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon woman obsessed with having a baby pleaded guilty Wednesday to the murder of a pregnant woman whose unborn child was cut from her abdomen after she was bludgeoned to death.
 
Korena Roberts, 29, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
 
Her plea means she won’t face trial and a possible death sentence.
 
STATE/LOCAL
 
Baton Rouge development returning hurricane GO Zone bonds
 
(AP) — A financially troubled commercial and residential development in Baton Rouge has agreed to return $144 million in special hurricane recovery borrowing to the state.
 
A lawyer for the Perkins Rowe development, Fred Chevalier, told the State Bond Commission on Tuesday that the Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds would be forfeited.
 
GO Zone bonds are special low-interest, tax-free borrowing that Congress approved after hurricanes Katrina and Rita to spur post-storm economic rebuilding.
 
The program ends at the end of the year and about $700 million in projects are competing for the remaining $230 million in bonds.
 
Bond Commission director Whit Kling told The Advocate that the project has used about $5 million in bonds so far.
 
Judge postpones trial in Gulf oil spill cases to February
 
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge agreed Wednesday to postpone a trial designed to assign percentages of fault to the companies sued over the massive Gulf oil spill.
 
U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier rescheduled the start of the trial for Feb. 27, 2012, about four months later than the original trial date.
 
ACLU investigates NOPD’s records on identification checks
 
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The ACLU of Louisiana says complaints from residents spurred a request for New Orleans Police Department records on a practice of stopping and getting identification from people not accused of doing anything wrong.
 
A news release Wednesday says the ACLU has been told that police stop people, ask for identification, record it and let people go.