Rachel Maddow To Speak At Smith; Students Celebrate • Florida State Group Opposes Lesbian Adoption

• A 528-pound woman gave birth via c-section to her first child on Thursday at a special hospital in Romania for the obese. “The baby is the fruit of the love between me and my future husband who is slimmer, weighing just 70 kilograms (154 pounds),” said Victoria Lacatus. “I wanted this child with all my heart, whatever the sacrifice.” Lacatus says she is planning to marry her slender fiance soon. • An experiment on crickets has lead scientists to believe that it may be possible to develop a fear of spiders while still in the womb. A group of pregnant crickets were put in a tank with a tarantula, while a control group were raised without any such experience. They found that the babies of the scared crickets behaved differently after birth than their unafraid peers. • Donna Rayment recently sued the British Ministry of Defense for damages for harassment she suffered while serving as a soldier in the Honourable Artillery Company. She announced that she plans to give the entire sum to charity. • A Florida state agency is fighting a court’s decision to allow Vanessa Alenier to adopt an infant relative living in foster care. Alenier is a lesbian, and the Department of Children & Families cites current legislation which bars gay parents from adopting. “I was hoping that this was a signal that (DCF) Secretary George Sheldon might do the right thing in our case, but I can now see that I was mistaken,” remarked Alenier. • The first woman appointed to the rank of major general in the U.S. air force passed away Monday. R.I.P. Jeanne M. Holm. • Two Afghan women were publicly flogged after they fled their homes in an attempt to get away from their violent husbands. Each woman received 45 lashes at the hands of warlord and jihadi commander Fazl Ahad. Local police say Fazl Ahad has been involved in many similar illegal incidnets. • For years, doctors have recommended that any woman who undergoes a c-section must also give birth to all following children via the same route. However, a new study suggests that vaginal birth may be just as safe – if not safer – than multiple c-sections. •