INTERNATIONAL
Spanish legislators who banned bullfights allow flaming horns
 
MADRID (AP) — Run with the bulls, let them tumble into the sea during the chase, even stick fireworks or flaming wax to their horns — but don’t kill them. That’s the line legislators in northeastern Spain drew Wednesday between protecting animals and upholding cherished national traditions.
 
CIA running an Afghanistan paramilitary force hunting militants
 
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A U.S. official in Washington confirmed reports that the CIA is running an all-Afghan paramilitary group in Afghanistan that has been hunting al-Qaida, Taliban, and other militant targets for the agency.
 
A security professional in Kabul familiar with the operation said the 3,000-strong force was set up in 2002 to capture targets for CIA interrogation.
NATIONAL
 
Court affirms immediate overturn of Florida’s gay adoption ban
 
MIAMI (AP) — Florida will immediately stop enforcing its ban on adoptions by gay people following a decision by a state appeals court that the three-decade-old law is unconstitutional, Gov. Charlie Crist said Wednesday.
 
Crist announced the decision after the 3rd District Court of Appeal upheld a 2008 ruling by a Miami-Dade judge, who found “no rational basis” for the ban when she approved the adoption of two young brothers by Martin Gill and his male partner.
 
Two Ohio real estate agents killed; another robbed within a week
 
KENT, Ohio (AP) — Two real estate agents were killed in vacant homes for sale and another was robbed all within a week, prompting frightened agents in northeast Ohio to cancel open houses and avoid meeting prospective buyers alone.
 
Two brothers were arrested Tuesday in the Sept. 15 robbery of a real estate agent who showed them an apartment in Boardman Township. Police were investigating whether the robbery is related to the first homicide in nearby Youngstown, but authorities said the investigation into the second death was focused on a person who is not one of the brothers.
 
 
Friend says Chicago bomb suspect not terrorist, wanted quick fame
 
CHICAGO (AP) — A 22-year-old Lebanese immigrant accused of placing a backpack he thought contained a bomb near Chicago’s Wrigley Field was no terrorist, just someone seeking quick fortune and fame in America, his attorney and a friend said Wednesday.
 
But a federal judge denied bail for Sami Samir Hassoun, determining he is dangerous and a flight risk.
 
STATE/LOCAL
 
Ex-cop sentenced to 3 years for Hurricane Katrina bridge shootings
 
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A former New Orleans detective who admitted he helped cover up deadly shootings of unarmed residents on a bridge after Hurricane Katrina was sentenced on Wednesday to three years in prison.
 
U.S. District Judge Lance Africk lashed out at Jeffrey Lehrmann, one of five former officers who have pleaded guilty in the Justice Department’s probe of the Danziger Bridge shootings, saying he was exceeding the six-month federal sentencing guideline because he was particularly disturbed by a sworn law officer ignoring the rule of law.
 
“This entire post-Katrina episode is a disgrace of enormous proportions,” Africk said. “In a time of need citizens must be able to rely on police for protection. Instead we needed protection from you.”
 
Watchdog group seeks Senate probe of David Vitter and aide
 
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A watchdog group asked the Senate ethics committee on Wednesday to investigate allegations that Sen. David Vitter lied about duties of an aide who resigned after he was charged with attacking a girlfriend.
 
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington’s complaint also said the aide twice traveled to Louisiana, at taxpayer expense.
 
Ex-cop pleads ‘no contest’ on charge of malfeasance and battery
 
OPELOUSAS (AP) — Rather than face trial for malfeasance in office, a former Eunice Police officer has entered a plea of no contest.
 
Micah C.Z. Arceneaux, 28, had been scheduled to go on trial later this week on charges of malfeasance and aggravated battery. His recent no contest plea, while not an admission of guilt, is legally considered the same as pleading guilty.