Around the Nation

NEW YORK

Man stands in ice for 72 minutes

NEW YORK — A man who calls himself a tantric master broke his own world record by standing engulfed in ice for 72 minutes.

Wim Hof, 48, stood on a Manhattan street in a clear container filled with ice for an hour and 12 minutes Saturday.

Mr. Hof said he survives by controlling his body temperature through tantric meditation. Tantra is an Eastern tradition of ritual and meditation said to bring followers closer to their chosen deities.

Mr. Hof set the world record for full-body ice contact endurance in 2004, when he immersed himself in ice for an hour and eight minutes.

Mr. Hof’s feat kicked off Brainwave, a five-month series of events in New York exploring how art, music and meditation affect the brain.

PENNSYLVANIA

5-legged cat to undergo surgery

EIGHTY-FOUR — Cats may have nine lives, but one unique feline has five legs — for now.

The cat, named Babygirl, will undergo surgery to remove the extra leg and another crippled leg, though the operation has not been scheduled.

The surgery is expected to leave the cat with three legs and improve her quality of life, according to the Washington Area Humane Society, where the cat will live until a home is found for her.

Chrystin Rice, a kennel associate, said a woman brought Babygirl to the shelter Jan. 19. The woman had first seen the stray animal as a kitten about a year ago in Canonsburg, south of Pittsburgh.

Babygirl appears to be in good health, Miss Rice said.

Miss Rice said some people have expressed interest in the cat, but no one has applied to adopt her.

ARIZONA

Mexican tot found abandoned in cold

TUCSON — A shivering, scared 5-year-old girl from Mexico spent a terrifying night in dark, mountainous terrain, first with a smuggler and then alone, before authorities found her safe Friday morning.

Candy Gabriela Barranco Gonzalez had crossed into Arizona with her stepfather, but they were separated and she was later abandoned by their smuggler. Candy will be reunited with her mother in Mexico, authorities said.

A Border Patrol ground search team that worked through the night found the girl in a tree-covered area known as “The Orchard” at an elevation of 7,000 feet in Miller Canyon south of Sierra Vista — about eight miles north of the Mexican border.

“They heard her crying and managed to locate her,” Cochise County sheriff’s spokeswoman Carol Capas said.

Candy will be turned over to Mexican officials and placed temporarily with Mexican child protective services in Agua Prieta, Mexico, until she and her mother can be reunited, authorities said.

CALIFORNIA

Day-Lewis, Christie win SAG awards

LOS ANGELES — Past Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis of “There Will Be Blood” and Julie Christie of “Away From Her” won the lead-acting honors at last night’s Screen Actors Guild Awards, which may stand as the highlight of Hollywood’s film-honors season if the writers strike undermines the Oscars.

“No Country for Old Men” solidified its Academy Awards prospects as Javier Bardem won as supporting-actor and the film was honored for overall cast. Ruby Dee won supporting actress for “American Gangster.”

“The Sopranos” grabbed all three TV drama categories, with James Gandolfini and Edie Falco taking both lead-acting prizes and the entire ensemble joining them to accept the award for overall cast performance.

For comedy series, Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey were the lead-acting winners for “30 Rock,” while “The Office” won for best ensemble.

The guild presented its life-achievement award to Charles Durning, whose credits include “The Sting,” “Tootsie” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

The guild’s first-ever prizes for best stunt ensemble went to “The Bourne Ultimatum” for films and “24” for TV before the ceremony began.

The SAG Awards could end up being the biggest celebration this awards season: The Golden Globes ceremony was canceled because of a strike by the Writers Guild of America, which refused to let its members work on the show, and the fate of the Academy Awards on Feb. 24 is in question because of the same labor quarrel.

The actors union has been steadfast in support of striking writers, who in turn gave their blessing to the SAG ceremony.

Instead of the debacle for the Globes, which were curtailed to a star-free press conference after actors and filmmakers made it clear they would not cross writers’ picket lines, the SAG ceremony came off with a full complement of Hollywood A-listers last night.

COLORADO

Parolee arrested in student’s killing

BOULDER — A Wyoming prison parolee has been arrested in the 1997 rape and beating death of a University of Colorado senior after he was linked to the case by a DNA match and other evidence, police said yesterday.

Diego Olmos-Alcalde, 38, was being held on $5 million bail on charges of first-degree murder, second-degree kidnapping and first-degree assault for the rape and killing of Susannah Chase of Stamford, Conn., police said.

“The department is ecstatic over this,” police Chief Mark Beckner said.

Miss Chase, 23, was walking home alone early Dec. 21 after an argument with her boyfriend when she was beaten with a baseball bat and left for dead in an alley a block from her home. Police think the intended motive of the attack was sexual assault.

INDIANA

Boys stick tongues to frozen flagpole

CHESTERTON — Two fourth-grade boys mimicking a scene from the movie “A Christmas Story” wound up with their tongues stuck to a frozen flagpole.

Gavin Dempsey and James Alexander were serving on flag duty at Jackson Elementary School Friday morning, with the job of raising and lowering the school’s flags. They decided to see if their tongues really would stick to the cold metal.

“I decided to try it because I thought all of the TV shows were lies, but turns out I was wrong,” Gavin said.

Karen Alexander, James’ mother, said her son told her he got the idea from the movie, which is based on stories about a boy growing up in the northwest Indiana community of Hammond in the 1940s.

James said he plans to eat a lot of ice cream to help nurse his wound.

Billie Dempsey, Gavin’s mother, said a nurse called them to tell them the boys’ tongues were bleeding.

“The nurse asked them, ’OK, who double-dog dared who?’ ” Mrs. Dempsey said, a reference to a phrase that a character in the movie used.

NEVADA

Missing student case linked to attack

RENO — Police said yesterday that a DNA link between the disappearance of a 19-year-old woman and the December sexual assault of a college student leads them to think that a sole attacker was responsible for both cases.

DNA taken from the scene where Brianna Denison was last seen Jan. 20 matches DNA gathered after the Dec. 16 sexual assault of a University of Nevada-Reno student who lived several blocks away, police Cmdr. Ron Holladay said.

Police think a white man in his 30s is responsible for Miss Denison’s disappearance and the attack, Cmdr. Holladay said.

TEXAS

Tarantula among 200 rescued animals

MARSHALL — An animal protection group on Friday rescued more than 200 animals, including 26 hissing cockroaches and two bearded dragons, from an eastern Texas home.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it was acting under the authority of the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department and had gone to the property on a warrant regarding medical neglect.

Besides the cockroaches and bearded dragons, the animals included 68 dogs, 16 rabbits, 15 guinea pigs, 13 gerbils, seven doves, two dwarf hamsters, two hedgehogs, an opossum and a pink toe tarantula.

The SPCA said some animals were found in outdoor pens while others were in sheds scattered across the property. Some were in a double-wide trailer living in filth.

The SPCA said many of the dogs were thin and appeared to be suffering from eye and ear infections. One dead frog and a dead guinea pig were found. The saved animals were to be taken to an animal care center.

A sheriff’s department spokesman said he didn’t know whether any arrests were made.

VERMONT

Lawmaker takes comedy seriously

MONTPELIER — How many politicians does it take to draw a laugh?

At least one in Vermont, where state Rep. Jason Lorber does stand-up gigs, produces comedy shows and runs improv workshops when he is not making laws.

“When I first came here, people said, ’You’re the first comedian to come to the Statehouse.’ I say, ’I’m the first professional comedian to come to the Statehouse,’ ” he said.

He said legislating and performing are both passions for him.

“Politics is about changing society and trying to make the world a better place. And performing makes me feel so alive. I love the creative aspect of it,” he said.

Mr. Lorber grew up in California, making him a “flatlander” or nonnative to Vermonters. That gives him an outsider’s view on things New Englanders take for granted, such as coping with winters.

“I have a regimen for keeping warm: I get up, I put on a tank top, T-shirt, flannel shirt, sweater, jacket and scarf. Then if it dips below 50, I put on more clothes.”

From wire dispatches and staff reports