William Jefferson, the former U.S. congressman from Louisiana who was convicted of corruption after federal agents found $90,000 in his freezer, has filed for bankruptcy. A chapter 7 liquidation petition filed last week by Jefferson and his wife, Andrea, reveals that the couple owes between $1 million and $10 million to about 50 creditors. The petition also lists their estimated assets as being worth between $10 and $50 million. When someone files for chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation, their assets are sold and the cash goes to creditors. Some property may be exempt from sale. In early August, Jefferson was convicted of peddling his congressional influence to land his wife and children lucrative contracts in Africa. In addition to guilty verdicts for bribery, racketeering, and money laundering, the jury ruled that Jefferson, who was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and several key congressional committees, must relinquish about $470,000 in bribery receipts. When he was elected nearly two decades ago, Jefferson became the first Black congressman from Louisiana since Reconstruction. In 2005, the FBI raided his Capitol Hill home and found the $90,000 in bribe money wrapped in foil and stashed in frozen-food boxes. Prosecutors told jurors that the money was to secure the vice president of Nigeria’s help with a telecommunications venture.

Troubled Rep. Jefferson loses his House seat. Embattled Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson lost his bid to hold onto his congressional seat when New Orleans voters over the weekend decided they wanted someone else to represent them. On Saturdays, NOLA voters elected Vietnamese lawyer Anh “Joseph” Cao, thus denying Jefferson a 10th term after Republicans made a mad push to unseat Jefferson, 61. Cao, 41, appears to have won Louisiana’s majority-Black 2nd Congressional District, which covers much of New Orleans, in an election with light voter turnout, reports The Los Angeles Times. While voters reelected Jackson even after news of a bribery scandal broke in 2006, his popularity was invariably damaged after federal agents charged the congressmen with hiding $90,000 in cash in a freezer. Cao will become the nation’s first Vietnamese American congressmen once voting results are certified. The election was one of two in Louisiana postponed because of Hurricane Gustav.

Baby Obama named in Florida. A Florida couple became among the country’s first to bestow the name Obama on their child, even before most news outlets had declared the Illinois senator the president-elect. Sanjae Obama Fisher was born at 8 p.m. (ET) at Hollywood’s Memorial Regional Hospital to Patrick and Sasha Hall Fisher. A hospital spokeswoman says it was the father’s idea. But mom still got to watch the election, after 14 hours at the hospital. Sanjae has two siblings, 8-year-old sister Shaniah and 4-year-old brother Shane. Read where else parents paid tribute to Obama’s family this way here.

Indicted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson wins re-election battle. Embattled congressman hopes to ride out storm. Indicted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson is breathing a sigh of relieve as he cruised to victory in the Democratic runoff for his 2nd Congressional District seat even as his trial on federal corruption charges looms and questions dog him about his effectiveness in Congress. Jefferson, 61, who became Louisiana’s first Black congressman since Reconstruction when he was elected in 1991, won 56 percent of the vote Tuesday compared to 42 percent for his opponent Helena Moreno, a former television reporter who had argued that scandal had obliterated the influence Jefferson built during his 18 years in Congress. Jefferson has pleaded innocent in the corruption case. Despite his loss of the Ways and Means post, he has insisted that he remains influential.

The most foreigners in a century become U.S. citizens.  More than 1 million people took the Oath of Allegiance and became U.S. citizens during fiscal 2008, the largest number in the 100 years that the government has been keeping records, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Last year’s spike was prompted by Hispanic media and grass-roots organizations that encouraged eligible residents to apply for citizenship during the heated debate on granting citizenship to undocumented residents. It also was the result of the government clearing a backlog of requests after increasing staff this year. The number of naturalization applications doubled from 730,000 in 2006 to almost 1.4 million in 2007. The surge led to a 16- to 18-month delay in processing naturalization applications, said Jonathan Scharfen, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services acting director. But, the agency has reduced processing times to no more than 10 months and is on track to reduce the wait to five months by next summer, he said. A fee increase enabled the agency to hire 1,600 adjudication officers and pay for employee overtime during fiscal 2008, he said. Additionally, the agency has worked with the FBI to speed name checks, reducing a backlog of 350,000 checks to 33,000, Scharfen said. “We had people waiting five years for an FBI name check,” he said, but now every case is cleared within a year.