In Iberia Parish, a man who tried to rob Econo Mart on Center Street in New Iberia ran when the clerk sounded the panic alarm.

It's September 10th, and that means we've reached the statistical mid-way point in the hurricane season.

U.S. Sen. David Vitter today sent a letter sharply criticizing the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research for the FDA’s failure to respond to Vitter’s repeated inquiries regarding the agency’s pending decision to take the drug Avastin “off-label” for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer.

A Texas woman was busted Thursday afternoon when Louisiana State Police stopped her for a traffic violation on I-20 in the Calhoun area.

Fifty-two-year-old Lee Roy Williams Junior was booked into the Calcasieu Parish Correctional Center this morning.

Former State Senator Ken Hollis of Metairie lost his battle with cancer Friday morning. 

>>Afghans Decry U.S. For Alleged Koran Desecration

(Kabul)  --  Hundreds of people staged an angry anti-American demonstration in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on Sunday.  They burned an effigy of President Obama, claiming American troops desecrated the Koran, Islam's holy book.  U.S. officials denied any desecration occurred and the protestors could not provide details of the alleged incident.  Afghan police fired shots in the air in an effort to quell the protest. 

>>President Obama Condemns Baghdad Bombings

(Washington, DC)  --  President Obama has condemned Sunday's twin car bombings in Baghdad that killed more than 130 people.  He called the blasts, quote, "outrageous attacks on the Iraqi people."  Another 500 people were wounded in the blasts at government buildings.  Obama said the bombings and other attempts to "derail Iraq's progress are no match for the courage and resilience of the Iraqi people." 

>>Authorities Probing Poisoned Coffee At Harvard

(Boston, MA)  --  Authorities are trying to determine how a lethal chemical got into coffee that people drank at Harvard University.  Six people were sickened after they drank coffee laced with sodium azide, a chemical used to inflate automobile air bags.  It's also used as a preservative and a biocide, and is commonly found in medical labs.  Authorities are trying to find out if the poisoning was intentional or accidental.  The half-dozen scientists and students were taken to a hospital after they fell ill after drinking the coffee at a Harvard Medical School lab.  One of them lost consciousness but none suffered lasting effects.  The incident occurred August 26th and was revealed in a letter to students, researchers and professors on Friday.

>>Gasoline Prices Are Rising

(New York, NY)  --  Motorists are paying more at the pump.  The nationwide Lundberg Survey finds a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline cost an average of two-dollars-66-cents last week.  That's up 18 cents over the past two weeks as crude oil prices shot higher.  The least expensive fuel in the country is found in Tucson, Arizona, where drivers are paying two-24 a gallon.  The highest in the lower 48 states is three-dollars-six-cents a gallon in San Francisco. 

>>Singer Morrissey Released From Hospital

(Swindon, UK)  --  Rocker Morrissey is out of the hospital after collapsing onstage.  According to E! Online, a spokesperson for Great Western Hospital in Swindon, England, confirmed the singer's release after an overnight stay for observation.  The former Smiths frontman collapsed during a Saturday night performance in southern England.  Onlookers saw the 50-year-old singer cut one of his sets short and then fall to his knees.  Fans booed when Morrissey collapsed. 
 

(Washington, DC)  --  The importance of small businesses to the nation's economy was President Obama's message Saturday during his weekly radio address.  But, he also linked the subject to healthcare reform, a more-than-frequent theme in the past several weeks.  The President said more than half of all Americans work in small business, or own a small business.  And, in his words, they "embody the spirit of possibility, the relentless work ethic and the hope for something better that is at the heart of the American Dream."  Obama said small businesses have been hit hard by the recession with hundreds of thousands of jobs lost.  He said the "crushing costs of healthcare" have forced too many small businesses to "cut benefits, shed jobs or shut their doors for good."  The President reviewed his Recovery Act and its impact on small businesses, saying "It's provided five-billion dollars worth of tax relief, as well as temporarily reducing or eliminating fees on SBA loans and guaranteeing some of these loans up to 90 percent, which has supported nearly 13-billion-dollars in new lending to more than 33 thousand businesses."

Obama said the health reform plan now being fine-tuned on Capitol Hill, will allow small businesses to buy insurance for their employees through an insurance exchange, which may offer better coverage at lower costs.  He said tax credits will be provided for those that choose to do that.  The President also said he has asked lawmakers to increase the maximum size of various SBA loans in order that more small business owners can "set up shop and grow their operations." 
 

(Washington, DC)  --  Two key Senate Finance Committee members are staking out different positions on recently-announced cuts to executive compensation at bailed-out companies.  Democrat Charles Schumer of New York told NBC's "Meet the Press" the cuts ordered by the Obama administration are meant to keep executives at the companies, but pay them less in salary and more in stock.  Schumer was careful to point out that the firms under the executive pay cut order are those that were in "real, real trouble and had to be bailed out by the government."  Republican John Cornyn of Texas called the reductions "probably less here than meets the eye."  Cornyn theorized the companies will find "alternative means" to compensate executives to get around the pay cuts ordered by the White House.  The Texas lawmaker cautioned that, quote, "I don't think we should for a minute think this substitutes for real regulatory reform."