OHIO POLICE FIND, TOW BIG PIG IN ABANDONED VEHICLE: YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — Police responding to a report of an abandoned vehicle in northeast Ohio say they found an unexpected passenger in the back seat: a 250-pound potbellied pig named Penelope.

The Vindicator in Youngstown reports the vehicle apparently was stolen while the Pennsylvania woman who owns the pig was visiting a friend in town. On Monday afternoon, officers found the pig sitting in the vehicle, which appeared to have crashed. It had two flat tires and heavy front end damage, and the air bags had deployed.

A police report indicated officers had the vehicle towed with the swine still inside, and an agent from an animal protection organization was contacted.

Police were looking for suspects in the vehicle theft.

9 MAINE STUDENTS SUSPENDED OVER POT-LACED COOKIES: CAPE ELIZABETH, Maine (AP) — Marijuana-laced cookies taken by a student to a Maine high school on a day ethics and values were being discussed have sickened some classmates.

Nine students have been suspended, and police are investigating.

Cape Elizabeth schools superintendent Meredith Nadeau says it's unclear if all the students who ate the cookies were aware they contained marijuana. Some of them felt ill and went to the nurse's office.

The Portland Press Herald reported Monday the episode unfolded Friday during a daylong event featuring speakers addressing the school district's guiding values of "Community, Academics, Passion and Ethics."

School policy calls for a student who distributes or sells drugs to be suspended for 10 days and face possible expulsion, an action requiring a hearing before the School Board.

DUTCHMAN LAUNCHES LIFE-SIZED REPLICA OF NOAH'S ARK: DORDRECHT, Netherlands (AP) — Just as the first storms of winter roll in, Dutchman Johan Huibers has finished his 20-year quest to build a full-scale, functioning model of Noah's Ark — an undertaking of, well, biblical proportions.

Huibers, a Christian, used books 6-9 of Genesis as his inspiration, following the instructions God gives Noah down to the last cubit.

Translating to modern measurements, Huibers came up with a vessel that works out to a whopping 427 feet (130 meters) long, 95 feet (29 meters) across and 75 feet (23 meters) high. Perhaps not big enough to fit every species on Earth, two by two, as described in the Bible, but plenty of space, for instance, for a pair elephants to dance a tango.

Johan's Ark towers across the flat Dutch landscape and is easily visible from a nearby highway where it lies moored in the city of Dordrecht, just south of Rotterdam.

Gazing across the ark's main hold, a huge space of stalls supported by a forest of pine trees, visitors gaze upon an array of stuffed and plastic animals, such as buffalo, zebra, gorillas, lions, tigers, bears, you name it. Elsewhere on the ark is a petting zoo with actual live animals that are less dangerous or easier to care for — such as ponies, dogs, sheep, and rabbits — and an impressive aviary of exotic birds.