Louisiana

Bengal tiger loose at Army base

A Bengal tiger on the loose in the thick brush surrounding an Army base was winning a game of hide-and-seek for the second day Wednesday.

About 100 soldiers and sheriff’s deputies searched the woods in Fort Polk for the cat, believed to be about a year old and 100 pounds.

Soldiers set up nets with raw chicken and used helicopters in the search.

It was unclear where the animal came from, but it’s likely a pet that escaped or was set free, said Leslie Whitt, director of the Alexandria Zoo, which assisted in the search.

The Army more than doubled the size of the search team, which began with 40 deputies and soldiers on Tuesday. The searchers will try to capture the animal in a trap or with a tranquilizer dart, but will kill it if it attacks, said Maj. Ron Elliott, a Fort Polk spokesman.

Ohio

Suspect in shootings enters insanity plea

A man charged in a deadly string of highway shootings in Ohio pleaded innocent by reason of insanity Wednesday.

Charles A. McCoy Jr., 29, suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, according to court documents and his attorneys. They said psychiatrists found evidence McCoy did not understand right from wrong when the shootings took place.

McCoy has had the illness, which is characterized by delusions and hallucinations, for at least 10 years, defense attorney Mark Collins said.

McCoy previously pleaded innocent. On Tuesday, a judge ruled he was competent to stand trial.

McCoy could be sentenced to death if convicted of murder in the slaying of a 62-year-old woman in November. She was the only person hit in the more than 20 shootings that occurred mostly around the Interstate 270 beltway on the city’s south side from October through February.

His trial is set for Jan. 7.

New York City

Trade center families rally for ‘proper burial’

Relatives of some of the World Trade Center victims rallied at ground zero Wednesday to urge the city to remove the ashen remains of their loved ones from a landfill where debris was sorted after the terrorist attack.

WTC Families for Proper Burial was formed after the city announced plans to develop Staten Island’s Fresh Kills landfill, where trade center debris was taken, into a park.

The group has collected 47,000 signatures to press for what its members call a more dignified resting place for the remains. It wants the city to remove the fine-dust remains of the victims, which are mingled with concrete dust and other debris, from the landfill and bring them back to the trade center site to be part of a memorial there.

The administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg has repeatedly opposed the idea. The city has cited the enormous cost of removing more than a million tons of the material and insists that all identifiable human remains have already been removed.

Washington, D.C.

Pepper spray scare blamed on horseplay

Members of a visiting youth group accidentally released pepper spray inside a building near the White House, authorities said, and terrorism-wary officials responded with two dozen ambulances and a triage center in a nearby park.

In the end, five people were treated for eye irritations and one was taken to a hospital with complications from asthma. About 130 people were assessed at the scene.

The incident occurred in an office building near the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which are under heightened alert as possible al-Qaida targets.

But Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey blamed youthful horseplay, not terrorism.

A girl in the youth group was wearing a small container of tear gas on a chain around her neck, Ramsey said, and when a boy grabbed for the chain, he touched the container and triggered the spray.

Pennsylvania

Bogus $200 bill deceives store clerk

State police aren’t laughing about the person who allegedly passed some funny money — a $200 bill with President Bush’s picture on it — at a women’s clothing store.

Police on Wednesday charged Deborah Trautwine, 51, with theft by deception, for allegedly passing a bogus $200 bill on Aug. 22 at the Fashion Bug store in Greensburg. There is no such denomination, even without Bush’s picture on it.

Police said they didn’t know how the clerk was taken in by the ruse, even though several other things about the bill should have been a dead giveaway.

Among other things, the bill had a hokey serial number — DUBYA4U2001 — and was “signed” by Ronald Reagan, whose title was “Political Mentor” and by Bush’s father, who is listed as “Campaign Advisor and Mentor.”

The back of the bill was even goofier. It depicted the White House with several signs erected on the lawn, including those reading “We Like Broccoli” and “USA Deserves A Tax Cut.”