Best Make Money

0

0

0

In an unusually strong attack on a judicial ruling, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris’ office is denouncing as “flawed” and “contrary to law” a court decision that blasted prosecutors’ actions in the police drug-lab scandal.

More News

1 step up, 1 step back: Spill may linger into fall 06.06.10

Dead, oiled birds reported for first time in Texas 06.06.10

AIDS ride attracts thousands 06.06.10

Police standoff ends with porn actor's deadly fall 06.06.10

Judge Anne-Christine Massullo of San Francisco Superior Court issued a harsh critique of Harris’ office last month, criticizing prosecutors for failing to pass along their concerns about a drug-lab technician to defense attorneys.

The technician, Deborah Madden, tested drug evidence and testified at trials, and is now the subject of a criminal investigation into whether she stole cocaine and other drugs from the lab.

Massullo said prosecutors “at the highest levels of the district attorney’s office knew that Madden was not a dependable witness at trial and there were serious concerns regarding the crime lab.” She found that prosecutors had hidden the information and violated defendants’ constitutional rights, but left it up to judges to decide whether to dismiss charges against the defendants.

Prosecutor John Ullom attacked Massullo’s findings as a collection of “misstatements of the law or the facts,” and said her ruling that defendants’ rights had been violated was “without weight.”

Massullo’s ruling focused on a Nov. 19 e-mail from the city’s top drug prosecutor, Sharon Woo, to her bosses. In it, Woo complained about Madden’s penchant for missing court dates and called the situation at the understaffed lab “ridiculous.”

Massullo found the Woo memo should have been disclosed promptly to defense attorneys and that the failure to do so violated defendants’ fair-trial rights.

Ullom argued that the memo was eventually turned over to defense lawyers, albeit belatedly, and disputed that it was of exculpatory value. He said it dealt only with Madden’s courtroom unreliability, not her work as a technician.

“The district attorney did not, therefore, fail to disclose exculpatory information actually in our possession,” Ullom concluded.

But Chris Gauger, a deputy public defender handling several drug cases before the courts, said state law requires potentially damaging information be given to defense attorneys at the preliminary hearing, long before trial. He also said Woo’s e-mail “showed the witness was unreliable.”

Ullom’s motion also attacked Massullo for her conclusion that Harris’ office lacked a policy to routinely disclose damaging material about police witnesses to the defense. The judge noted that prosecutors had not revealed Madden’s 2008 domestic violence conviction to defense attorneys. She pressed prosecutors on whether they had a policy to learn such information, but said the response reflected a “level of indifference.”

Ullom called Massullo’s finding “inaccurate and legally irrelevant. … The district attorney’s office had a policy, which was to follow the law, rely on the SFPD, and that inquiries were to be made on a case-by-case basis.”

Ullom acknowledged that the office had no written policy, but said that the law does not require one.

As for the supposed indifference, Ullom dismissed the accusation. “That the district attorney’s office declined to engage in a discussion with the court regarding internal procedures that fell outside the scope of the issue before the court does not constitute a basis for a finding of a deprivation of a substantial right,” he said.

Public Defender Jeff Adachi called the motion’s language “outrageous.”

“This is throwing a pie in the face of a judge who reviewed more than 4,000 pages of evidence and who ruled that the prosecution failed to provide evidence the defense was entitled to,” Adachi said.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said. “I’ve seen motions where the opposing parties have said things like this, but never directly to a judge.”

E-mail Jaxon Van Derbeken at jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com.

More Bay Area News

Toyota, Tesla teaming up in California, governor says 05.20.10

15 cats die in Berkeley animal shelter fire 05.20.10

Is Tonga Room tiki bar in S.F. worth saving? 05.20.10

Cats die, but dog saves woman in shelter fire 05.20.10

Oakland is considering mass layoffs of city workers to close a $42 million deficit, drastic cuts that could include nearly 200 police officers by July 1, city officials said Wednesday.

The possible police layoffs would eliminate investigators and specialized units, such as the gang unit, vice and child exploitation units, problem-solving officers and walking details in downtown, Chinatown, the Dimond district and Fruitvale, according to a police spokesperson.

The city is struggling to figure out how to close a projected deficit of $42 million in the fiscal year that starts July 1. One of the solutions the City Council is considering is placing two measures on the November ballot that would raise $20.6 million in tax revenues.

But the council is increasingly reluctant to rely on the assumption that those measures will pass, according to a memo to city department heads from City Administrator Dan Lindheim.

Lindheim wrote on May 5 that it was a “probably well founded” belief that unless the city made drastic cuts, voters would be unlikely to pass the measures. As a result, he asked department heads to submit proposals for 25 and 50 percent cuts to their discretionary budgets.

Council President Jane Brunner said laying off police officers by July 1 makes sense. She had previously been opposed to any layoffs in the Police Department.

But Brunner said she had seen two polls indicating that one of the proposed measures – an $18.2 million public safety parcel tax – would not meet the two-thirds threshold it requires. She also said voters would need to see the city cut spending in every direction for the measures to pass.

City subsidies for arts programs and Children’s Fairyland, for example, have been exempt from cuts, Brunner said.

“I think we have to get to bare bones,” she said.

Dellums silent

Mayor Ron Dellums, who has been largely silent on the city’s budget problems, did not respond to a request for comment.

Brunner said police layoffs would be inevitable if police and fire unions don’t give concessions, which city officials are in the midst of negotiating for. City leaders want officers to contribute the full employee portion of their pensions, which would save an estimated $8 million a year.

But neither the police nor fire unions have open contracts, a fact that gives them leverage.

“We’ll listen to anything they have to say – not negotiate,” said Sgt. Dom Arotzarena, the police union president.

Counting on the public safety parcel tax is perilous, Brunner said.

The city initially considered laying off officers only if voters rejected the public safety measure in November. The Police Department, which currently has 778 officers, takes up a large portion of the city’s general fund.

Even worse scenario

If the city continues employing 190 police officers between July 1 and November and the parcel tax does not pass, then the city would be even deeper in a budget hole and have to lay off 380 cops, Brunner and others said. That would be half the department.

“We’re not going to lay off 380 officers,” she said.

Oakland’s budget is constrained by a number of factors, from voter initiatives to the peculiarities of certain union contracts. After debt payments, an estimated 85 percent of the budget is devoted to police and firefighters.

One of the problems the police department faces is Measure Y, which provides funds for 63 officers. But those 63 are for positions above 739 police jobs. So, if the city lays off 63 officers, it will not save any money in the general fund. It would only lose Measure Y funding.

Firefighters have a clause in their contract requiring minimum staffing, so none of the current staff can be laid off.

“If we’re doing this for budget reasons and to save money, then we have to cut substantial number of cops,” Lindheim said in an interview Wednesday.

Lindheim said he presented the budget possibilities to the police command staff on Monday. He said he told them that “I didn’t see any alternatives less than 180, if we were going to cut any.”

Other parts of the budget are virtually untouchable.

Cuts have already been made to the library. If the city cuts any of the $9 million left for libraries, they would lose an additional $12 million in voter-approved funds. On top of that, another voter-approved measure requires the city to pay $27 million for children’s programs.

That means that only 7 percent of the budget is discretionary, Lindheim said.

“There is nobody who believes that reducing the number of police is a smart thing to do,” Lindheim said. “It’s very severe. It’s fiscal reality. The residents of Oakland need to understand that with the revenues we currently have, we cannot finance the public services we currently provide and that the residents deserve.”

E-mail Matthai Kuruvila at mkuruvila@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C – 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

0

0

0

(06-06) 13:32 PDT Pittsburg, Calif. (AP) –

Divers have found the body of an 11-year-old girl who fell into the water near the Pittsburg Marina.

More News

1 step forward, 1 step back: spill may go til fall 06.06.10

Video captures sought porn actor's deadly fall 06.06.10

Defiant Israel says activists prepared to fight 06.06.10

Divers recover body of girl who fell into water 06.06.10

A Pittsburg police spokesman says divers recovered the body about 11:30 a.m. Sunday about 50 yards from where she fell into the water Saturday evening.

Police say the girl was attending a birthday party when she slipped from some rocks and fell into the water around 7:30 p.m. Saturday. She did not know how to swim.

Though the incident is under investigation, Pittsburg police Lt. Brian Addington says there appeared to be adequate adult supervision at the party.

The name of the girl has not been released.

0

0

0

Video

View Larger Size

More News

BP says so far, Gulf well plug isn't working 05.29.10

Pressure rising on China to react to ship sinking 05.29.10

Whitman, Poizner change positions on drilling 05.29.10

Monterey Bay Aquarium sub on mission in gulf 05.29.10

(05-28) 04:00 PDT Washington – –

Describing the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as a “wake-up call,” President Obama on Thursday banned new drilling in deep coastal waters and ordered floating rigs to quickly stop work on 33 exploratory wells.

He also blocked planned drilling in Arctic waters this summer, and canceled the long-planned sale of leases in the western Gulf of Mexico and a tract 50 miles off Virginia’s coast.

At the same time, Obama lifted a ban on new drilling in shallow waters where generally less than 500 feet separate the seabed and surface.

“I continue to believe that domestic oil production is important, but I also believe that we can’t do this stuff if we don’t have confidence that we can prevent crises like this from happening again,” Obama said during a rare White House news conference. “It’s going to take some time for the experts to make those determinations.”

Obama said the delays, of at least six months, would allow time for an independent commission’s review of what went wrong April 20, when natural gas surged uncontrollably from an underwater BP well and ignited, engulfing the Deepwater Horizon rig in flames and triggering the oil spill that has now dumped more than 19 million gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico.

The pause also will give federal regulators a chance to implement newly announced safeguards, including stiffer controls on wells, the recertification of critical safety devices known as blowout preventers and expanded training programs for rig workers. Some of the new restrictions will begin immediately after a 30-day review of industry practices.

Obama’s high-profile declarations came amid fresh criticism from environmentalists and usually supportive Democratic allies that the administration had ceded too much control to BP in trying to contain and clean up the crude in the Gulf.

“Make no mistake, BP is operating at our direction,” Obama said. “Every key decision and action they take must be approved by us in advance.”

He rejected as “simply not true” any “notion that somehow the federal government is sitting on the sidelines and for the last three or four or five weeks we’ve just been letting BP make a whole bunch of decisions.”

Obama will get his second close-up assessment of the spill and response efforts Friday when he flies to Louisiana.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said the White House was taking “crucial steps,” but the administration and Congress still needed to do more to clean up the embattled Minerals Management Service that oversees offshore drilling.

On Thursday, Elizabeth Birnbaum left her post at the helm of the MMS, becoming the second apparent casualty at the agency since the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Her departure follows that of the MMS associate director of offshore energy programs, who announced May 17 he would retire by the end of the month.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has begun breaking the agency up into three separate divisions, with one solely in charge of drilling safety, amid allegations of what Obama called a “scandalously close relationship between oil companies and the agency that regulates them.”

This article appeared on page A – 8 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Catherine H. Bigelow / The Chronicle

Supervisor Sean Elsbernd wants to change the city charter’s Muni pay provision.

More News

Tight budget keeps state parks on brink 05.13.10

State lawmakers discuss health care challenges 05.13.10

Proposition 16 changes rules on public power 05.13.10

Ballot allows candidates fast political makeover 05.13.10

(05-11) 16:01 PDT San Francisco — Muni could save at least $3 million a year by eliminating driver-friendly work rules and reining in overtime, according to an audit released Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors’ budget analyst.

An unusually high level of operator absenteeism is expensive and creates unreliable service at San Francisco’s financially flailing transit agency, the audit found.

Under the current rules, drivers have a financial incentive to call in sick and skip a regularly scheduled day because they can still work overtime and earn time and a half, even if they have not worked 40 hours that week, according to the audit.

The rate of unscheduled absenteeism for Muni operators is 15 percent, compared with 11 percent in Philadelphia, 6 percent in Los Angeles and 4 percent in Seattle, the audit found.

The audit comes three days after the agency cut service by 10 percent to save an estimated $29 million a year. The agency, with a proposed annual operating budget next year of $750 million, already has raised transit fares and parking fees to help balance the books.

New rules needed

Budget and legislative analyst Harvey Rose conducted the audit, which looked at the agency’s governing board and certain labor costs.

It recommends that when Muni management negotiates its next contract with the Transport Workers Union, it curb overtime costs by forcing operators to work 40-hour workweeks before they can earn overtime.

The audit also recommends that Muni stop paying the salaries of six of the seven operators who work full time on union duties, which costs $608,625 a year.

Muni management’s inability to use part-time drivers also caught the attention of auditors.

Because peak demand for service is during the morning and evening commutes, overtime is used to keep full-time operators on the clock to cover both rush-hour periods. Many drivers, meanwhile, are pulled off the road during off-peak hours and put on paid, nonproductive standby.

Standby time – which ranges from a few minutes to six hours – is built into 49 percent of Muni’s 1,278 regularly scheduled weekday runs.

The current contract expires June 30, 2011, and it’s unclear how much leverage management can wield to negotiate the recommended changes. Under a voter-mandated guarantee enacted more than 40 years ago, Muni operators have been at least the second-best paid in the nation.

With the issue of pay off the table, the union has little incentive to change overtime rules or allow part-time drivers to be used, Supervisor Sean Elsbernd said.

Asking voters for change

Elsbernd is gathering signatures for a proposed November ballot initiative that would remove the Muni pay provision from the City Charter and instead require transit workers to reach a pay deal through collective bargaining.

“You have the budget analyst all but saying, ‘Sign the petition,’ ” Elsbernd said.

Union representatives were not available for comment Tuesday. Nathaniel Ford, executive director of the Municipal Transportation Agency, has not taken a public position on the proposed charter change but said he is hampered “by some of the work rules that limit Muni’s ability to be more effective and efficient.” Elsbernd’s proposal does not have the endorsement of any other supervisor or Mayor Gavin Newsom. The audit also is silent on the proposed charter change. The audit, however, is being used by Supervisors David Campos, Ross Mirkarimi and David Chiu, in an attempt to weaken the mayor’s control over the agency’s governing board.

Seeking independent control

They are contemplating a November ballot measure to give supervisors a portion of the appointments and retain their ability to have final say over the mayor’s picks. Now, supervisors have the ability only to reject the mayor’s nominees.

To further their cause, they point to audit findings that say the Municipal Transportation Agency governing board should provide more oversight over agency finances, conduct more regular audits to assess the performance of the agency, and more clearly define its own governance role.

“Is the board of directors of the MTA providing the kind of independent, proactive oversight of the agency? It seems the answer is no,” said Campos, who requested the audit.

Tom Nolan, who chairs the transportation board, defended the board’s work and said directors closely track the agency’s budget, ask hard questions and respond to public opinion as they set policy.

“We’re doing our job,” he said.

E-mail Rachel Gordon at rgordon@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A – 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

0

0

0

Lisa Poole / AP

FILE – In this file photo made Oct. 20, 2009, people walk through the Northshore Mall beyond near an AT&T kiosk, in Peabody, Mass. AT&T Inc. will stop letting new customers sign up for its unlimited Internet data plan for smart phones and iPads, hoping to ease congestion on its network by charging the people who use the most data more.

Video

View Larger Size

Get Quote

Symbol Lookup

More Business

Finance chief Kan seen as Japan's likely next PM 06.02.10

Oil rises to near $74 as US crude supplies drop 06.02.10

Retail data: consumers cut back spending in May 06.02.10

Nuclear Security officials discuss contracts 06.02.10

(06-02) 15:22 PDT NEW YORK, (AP) –

Just in time for the release of a new iPhone, AT&T will stop letting new customers sign up for its unlimited Internet data plan for smart phones and iPads and charge more for users who hog the most bandwidth.

AT&T hopes to ease congestion on its network, which has drawn complaints, particularly in big cities. But the approach could confuse customers unfamiliar with how much data it takes to watch a YouTube video or fire up a favorite app.

Current subscribers will be able to keep their $30-per-month unlimited plans, even if they renew their contracts. But starting Monday, new customers will have to choose one of two new data plans for all smart phones, including iPhones and BlackBerrys.

Subscribers who use little data — like those who may get dozens of e-mails a day but don’t watch much video — will pay slightly less every month than they do now, while heavy users will be dinged with higher bills.

The move takes effect in time for the expected unveiling of Apple’s new iPhone next week. Analysts said they expect other phone companies to follow. With no caps on consumption, data use could swamp wireless networks while revenue for the operators remains flat.

Verizon Wireless, the largest wireless carrier and AT&T’s chief rival, had no immediate comment on AT&T’s move. There has been much speculation about Verizon getting to sell its own version of the iPhone, but that prospect still appears distant.

One of the new AT&T plans will cost $25 per month and offer two gigabytes of data per month, which AT&T says will be enough for 98 percent of its smart phone customers. Additional gigabytes will cost $10 each.

A second plan will cost $15 per month for 200 megabytes of data, which AT&T says is enough for 65 percent of its smart phone customers. If they go over, they’ll pay another $15 for 200 more megabytes.

A gigabyte is enough for hundreds of e-mails and Web pages, but it’s quickly eaten up by Internet video and videoconferencing. The 200 megabytes offered under the $15 plan is enough for more than 1,000 e-mails, hundreds of Web pages and about 20 minutes of streaming video, AT&T says.

With the smaller plan and voice service, a smart phone could cost as little as $55 per month before taxes and add-on fees, down from $70 now. Ralph de la Vega, head of AT&T’s consumer business, said smart phones would become accessible to more people.

“Customers are getting a good deal, and if they can understand their usage, they can save some money,” de la Vega said in an interview.

Figuring out which plan to choose may not be easy, because many people have only a hazy notion of the size of a gigabyte and how many they use now. By contrast, a minute spent talking on the phone is easy to understand, and many people have learned roughly how many minutes they use every month.

The limits will apply only on AT&T’s cellular networks. Data usage over Wi-Fi networks, including AT&T’s public Wi-Fi “hot spots,” will not count toward the limits.

De la Vega noted that AT&T lets customers track their usage online. The iPhone also has a built-in usage tracking tool. And the carrier will also text subscribers to let them know they’re getting close to their limits.

Jason Prance, an iPhone 3G user in Atlanta, said his first reaction to the end of unlimited usage was to be “ticked off.”

“If you’re taking the ability to go unlimited away from people, you immediately get defensive,” he said.

But then he checked his data consumption on his iPhone for the first time and found he had never used more than 200 megabytes in a month. That surprised him, he said, because he sends and receives a lot of e-mail and watches online video now and then.

Now he figures he can save $30 per month by switching himself and his wife to the $15 plan.

For the iPad, the tablet computer Apple released a few months ago, the new $25-per-month plan will replace the $30 unlimited plan. IPad owners can keep the old unlimited plan as long as they keep paying $30 per month, AT&T said.

AT&T, based in Dallas, said the new plans shouldn’t materially affect its profits this year. Its stock rose 34 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $24.67 in Wednesday afternoon trading.

Customers have rebelled against the idea of data usage caps on broadband Internet at home, at least when limits are set low enough to make online video expensive. Time Warner Cable Inc. was forced to back away from trials of data caps last year after protests and threats of legislative action.

On wireless networks, where there’s less data capacity to go around, usage caps have been more common. Most wireless carriers, for instance, limit data cards for laptops to 5 gigabytes per month.

With competition for smart phone users intense, phone companies have been reluctant to impose data caps on those devices, although Sprint Nextel Corp. reserves the right to slow down or disconnect users who exceed 5 gigabytes per month.

Carriers have also started to lift limits on other use, selling plans with unlimited calling and text messaging. That’s not a big gamble because not many people have the time to talk on the phone for eight hours a day or spend every waking minute sending text messages. Smart phones, on the other hand, can draw a lot of data, depending on where and how they’re used.

___

Online:

AT&T’s data calculator, for consumption estimates:

www.att.com/standalone/data-calculator/index.html

0

0

0

Gerald Herbert / AP

Plaquemines Parish coastal zone director P.J. Hahn lifts an oil-covered pelican which was stuck in oil at Queen Bess Island in Barataria Bay, just off the Gulf of Mexico in Plaquemines Parish, La., Saturday, June 5, 2010.

More News

Containment cap offers hope even as oil spews on 06.06.10

BP chief won't quit over Gulf of Mexico spill 06.06.10

Israel says activists prepared for fight on ship 06.06.10

Does over-sharing on Web inhibit socializing? 06.06.10

Oil Spill’s Wildlife Victims

Oil from the Deepwater Horizon has affected wildlife throughout the Gulf of Mexico.

0

0

0

Michael Spooneybarger / AP

A crew picks up oil that washed up along Pensacola Beach, Fla., Friday, June 4, 2010. Waves of gooey tar blobs were washing ashore in growing numbers on the white sand of the Florida Panhandle Friday as a slick from the BP spill drifted closer to shore.

Video

View Larger Size

More News

Despite pressure, Israeli PM firm on Gaza blockade 06.05.10

Cap collects some oil even as slick taints beaches 06.05.10

Suspect in hit-and-run attacks identified 06.05.10

Ladies and gentleman, Elvis is on the Minn. ballot 06.05.10

(06-05) 11:37 PDT PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. (AP) –

Beachgoers gawked at tar balls, discolored seashells and orange foam that washed up on the Gulf Coast’s once-pristine white sand shores Saturday, the crude from a busted oil well deep underwater appearing in greater quantities and farther east.

A cap over the gusher was believed to be collecting anywhere from about a quarter to half of the leaking oil, even as the slick stained beaches with a waxy mess that nonetheless appeared to deter few tourists — and attracted the curious.

An aerial tour of the Alabama coast revealed long red tendrils extending into the green water off Gulf Shores, Ala., where oil from beachgoers’ feet spotted boardwalks and some condominiums provided solvents for guests smeared with the brown goo. A reddish streak miles long marked the surf line in front of high-rise condominiums.

“I feel like I’ve gone from owning a piece of paradise to owning a toxic waste dump,” said Erin Tamber, who resettled in the area after surviving Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

Six weeks after an April 20 oil rig explosion killed 11 workers, oil giant BP PLC has failed to significantly stem the worst spill in U.S. history. The government’s point man for the crisis, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, said at a news briefing Saturday that the cap collected about 252,000 gallons of oil Friday, its first full day of use.

That amount is about a half-percent to 1 percent of the total oil that, according to government estimates, has already leaked from the sea floor.

The device resembles an upside-down funnel and was lowered over the blown-out well a mile beneath the sea to try to capture most of the oil and direct it to a ship on the surface. BP officials are trying to strike a delicate balance by capturing as much oil as possible without creating too much pressure or allowing the build-up of a slushy mixture that can clog pipes and thwarted an earlier containment effort.

Allen compared the process to stopping the flow of water from a garden hose with a finger, saying, “You don’t want to put your finger down too quickly, or let it off too quickly.”

The goal is to gradually raise the amount of the oil being captured, Allen said. The device’s daily capacity is 630,000 gallons, and officials estimate about a half-million to a million gallons a day are gushing out. The well has leaked about 23 million to more than 46 million gallons since the crisis began, according to government estimates.

President Barack Obama pledged Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address to fight the spill with the people of the Gulf Coast. His words for BP were stern: “We will make sure they pay every single dime owed to the people along the Gulf coast.”

CEO Tony Hayward reiterated Saturday on a company Twitter account that the company would pay all “legitimate” claims. The company estimated this week that it would spend about $84 million through June to compensate for lost wages and profits.

The oil has reached the shores of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. It has turned marshlands into death zones for wildlife and stained beaches rust and crimson. Some said it brought to mind the plagues and punishments of the Bible.

“In Revelations it says the water will turn to blood,” said P.J. Hahn, director of coastal zone management for Louisiana’s Plaquemines Parish. “That’s what it looks like out here — like the Gulf is bleeding. This is going to choke the life out of everything.”

Longtime friends Rancho Moore, of Warner Robins, Ga., and Kirk Darby of Navarre, Fla., drank beer from plastic cups at the Pensacola Beach fishing pier as they watched Gov. Charlie Crist and musician Jimmy Buffett, a son of the Gulf Coast whose songs famously extol beachgoing pleasures, caucus with tourists.

“A way of life is ending here,” Darby said.

Still, thousands of people were on the beach and hundreds were in the water.

Health officials said that people should stay away from the mess but that swallowing a little oil-tainted water or getting slimed by a tar ball was no reason for alarm — for humans, at least.

More than 500 birds have been found dead from Texas to Florida since the start of the leak, according to a federal tally released Friday, though their exact cause of death was not clear. More than 200 sea turtles have also been found dead.

Allen planned to meet Saturday with Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, who has criticized Coast Guard decisions to send oil-containing boom from Alabama to Louisiana. Oil hit Alabama before the boom could be returned.

“It’s like a battle; you have to move your resources,” Allen said in an interview. “You don’t always get it back in time, but you do your best.”

BP CEO Tony Hayward assured investors that the company had “considerable firepower” to cope with the severe costs. Hayward and other senior BP executives struck a penitent note in their first comprehensive update to shareholders since the explosion, promising to meet its obligations related to the spill.

___

Contributing to this report Associated Press writers Greg Bluestein in Grand Isle, La.; Eileen Sullivan in Washington; Paul J. Weber in Houston; Ray Henry in New Orleans; and Jay Reeves in Theodore, Ala.

Share

Carolyn Kaster / AP

President Barack Obama, escorted by Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer, waves as he arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 25, 2010, to meet with Senate Republicans behind closed doors for talks ranging from jobs to the massive Gulf oil spill and prospects for strengthening border security this election year.

Video

View Larger Size

More News

Assembly Dems: Let's borrow cash to save welfare 05.25.10

5 weeks of gushing oil: 'Top kill' plug readied 05.25.10

Obama gets an earful in clash with GOP senators 05.25.10

Consumer confidence rises in May 05.25.10

(05-25) 15:29 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) –

Marking five disastrous weeks, BP readied yet another attempt to slow the oil gushing into the Gulf on Tuesday as a federal report alleged drilling regulators have been so close to oil and gas companies they’ve been accepting gifts and even negotiating to go work for them.

President Barack Obama prepared to head to the Gulf on Friday to review efforts to halt the millions of gallons of contaminating crude, while scientists said underwater video of the leak showed the plume growing significantly darker, suggesting heavier, more-polluting oil is spewing out.

BP’s next effort to stop the damaged oil well, perhaps Wednesday, will be to force-feed heavy drilling mud and cement into the well to plug it up. The tactic, called a “top kill,” has never been tried a mile beneath the sea, and company executives estimate its chances of success at 60 to 70 percent.

Also on Tuesday, in Jackson, Miss., 11 men who died in the April 20 rig explosion were honored at a somber memorial service with tributes from country music stars and drilling company executives.

“This is the one of the most difficult days for many of us here. But for the families of our 11 lost colleagues, this is just another of many difficult days,” said Steven Newman, CEO of Transocean Ltd., the Swiss-based owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig.

In Washington, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he has been laboring to root out problems at the agency that regulates offshore drilling. And the Justice Department said it will take all appropriate steps to ensure that those responsible for the disastrous blowout and oil spill are held accountable.

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers continued feuding over a law that caps oil spill liability at $75 million for economic damages beyond direct cleanup costs. Democrats have tried to pass a bill raising the limit to $10 billion but have been blocked by Republicans.

A new report from the Interior Department’s acting inspector general found that an inspector for the Minerals Management Service, which oversees drilling, admitted using crystal methamphetamine and said he might have been under the influence of the drug at work.

The report cited a variety of violations of federal regulations and ethics rules at the agency’s Louisiana office. Previous inspector general investigations have focused on inappropriate behavior by the royalty-collection staff in the agency’s Denver office.

The report adds to the climate of frustration and criticism facing the Obama administration, although it covers actions before the spill. Millions of gallons of oil are gushing into the Gulf, endangering wildlife and the livelihoods of fishermen, as scrutiny intensifies on a lax regulatory climate.

In a letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich said he could not confirm or deny a criminal investigation was under way, but he said a team of investigators has been in the Gulf for three weeks. Justice lawyers have been meeting state officials and federal prosecutors to assure a coordinated effort, Weich said.

The Interior Department’s acting inspector general, Mary Kendall, said her report began as a routine investigation.

“Unfortunately, given the events of April 20 of this year, this report had become anything but routine, and I feel compelled to release it now,” she said.

Her biggest concern is the ease with which minerals agency employees move between industry and government, Kendall said. While no specifics were included in the report, “we discovered that the individuals involved in the fraternizing and gift exchange — both government and industry — have often known one another since childhood,” Kendall said.

Relationships took precedence over their jobs, Kendall said.

The report follows a 2008 report by then-Inspector General Earl Devaney that decried a “culture of ethical failure” and conflicts of interest at the minerals agency, which is part of the Interior Department.

Salazar called the latest report “deeply disturbing” and said it highlights the need for changes he has proposed, including a plan to abolish the minerals agency and replace it with three new entities.

The report “is further evidence of the cozy relationship between some elements of MMS and the oil and gas industry,” Salazar said. Several employees cited in the report have resigned, were fired or were referred for prosecution, he said, and actions may be taken against others as warranted.

The report covers activities between 2000 and 2008. Salazar said he has asked Kendall to expand her investigation to look into agency actions since he took office in January 2009.

Members of Congress and President Obama have criticized what they call the cozy relationship between regulators and oil companies and have vowed to reform MMS, which both regulates the industry and collects billions in royalties from it.

The report said that employees from the Lake Charles, La., MMS office had repeatedly accepted gifts, including hunting and fishing trips from the Island Operating Company, an oil and gas company working on oil platforms regulated by the Interior Department.

Taking such gifts “appears to have been a generally accepted practice,” the report said.

Two employees at the Lake Charles office admitted using illegal drugs, and many inspectors had e-mails that contained inappropriate humor and pornography on their government computers, the report said.

Kendall recommended a series of steps to improve ethical standards, including a two-year waiting period for agency employees to join the oil or gas industry.

One MMS inspector conducted four inspections of Island Operating platforms while negotiating and later accepting employment with the company, the report said.

A spokeswoman for Island Operating Company could not be reached for comment. The Louisiana-based company says on it website that it has “an impeccable safety record” and cites Safety Awards for Excellence from the MMS in 1999 and 2002. The company was a finalist in other years.

“Island knows how to get the job done safely and compliantly,” the website says.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., called the report “yet another black eye for the Minerals Management Service. Once again, MMS employees have been found culpable of performing shoddy oversight of offshore drilling. The report reveals an overly cozy culture between MMS regulators and the oil industry.”

Feinstein, who chairs a Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Interior Department, said she will hold a hearing next month on Salazar’s plan to restructure the agency.

The oil industry and its allies say a higher liability limit would make it difficult for them to get insured and would especially hinder smaller independent drillers. But Democrats said such companies should be capable of paying for whatever damages they cause or taxpayers will get stuck with the tab.

“An independent is not a mom and pop. We are talking about major size corporations,” said Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. “If they cause the damage, why should they not be responsible?”

___

Associated Press Writers Ben Evans and Ben Feller in Washington, Holbrook Mohr in Jackson, Miss., and Greg Bluestein in Covington, La., contributed to this story.

(This version CORRECTS spelling of assistant attorney general, Weich not Welch. )

Share

Saul Loeb / AP

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, greets dignitaries upon arrival at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, China, Sunday, May 23, 2010. Clinton visited Beijing for high-level economic and strategic talks with Chinese leaders that will be dominated by efforts to win China’s support to punish North Korea for the sinking of a South Korean warship.

(05-24) 13:37 PDT SEOUL, South Korea (AP) –

South Korea won U.S. support Monday for slashing trade to North Korea and vowed to haul its communist neighbor before the U.N. Security Council for a torpedo attack that sank a South Korean warship and killed 46 sailors.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he expects the Security Council to take action against North Korea, calling the evidence that the North was responsible “overwhelming and deeply troubling.”

The U.S. and South Korea are planning two major military exercises off the Korean Peninsula in a display of force intended “to deter future aggression” by North Korea, the White House said.

President Lee Myung-bak laid out the economic and diplomatic measures aimed at striking back at the impoverished North, including halting some trade and taking the regime before the Security Council.

International investigators concluded last week that a torpedo from a North Korean submarine tore apart the warship Cheonan on March 26 in the Yellow Sea off the west coast in one of South Korea’s worst military disasters since the 1950-53 Korean War.

Lee said it was another example of “incessant” provocation by North Korea, including a 1983 attack in Myanmar on a South Korean presidential delegation that killed 21 people, and the bombing of an airliner in 1987 that claimed 115 lives.

“We have always tolerated North Korea’s brutality, time and again. We did so because we have always had a genuine longing for peace on the Korean peninsula,” Lee said in a solemn speech at the War Memorial.

“But now things are different. North Korea will pay a price corresponding to its provocative acts,” he said, calling it a “critical turning point” on the tense Korean peninsula, still technically in a state of war because the fighting ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

The truce prohibits South Korea from waging a unilateral military attack, so Seoul sought to strike at Pyongyang’s faltering economy.

Despite their rivalry, South Korea has been Pyongyang’s No. 2 trading partner with $1.68 billion in trade in 2009, or about 33 percent of the North’s total, according to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. China is North Korea’s biggest trading partner, with $2.68 billion in commerce last year, the agency said.

South Korea buys shellfish, seafood products, zinc, sand, coal and other products from the North, but those imports will be halted, and North Korean cargo ships will be denied permission to pass through South Korean waters, Unification Minister Hyun In-taek said.

Those measures will cost North Korea about $200 million a year, said Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at South Korea’s Kyungnam University.

But the biggest source of trade — a joint factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong where 110 South Korean firms employ about 42,000 North Koreans — will stay open, Hyun said.

The Obama administration endorsed Lee’s demand that “North Korea immediately apologize and punish those responsible for the attack, and, most importantly, stop its belligerent and threatening behavior.” Seoul can continue to count on the full backing of the United States, it said.

“U.S. support for South Korea’s defense is unequivocal, and the president has directed his military commanders to coordinate closely with their Republic of Korea counterparts to ensure readiness and to deter future aggression,” the White House said.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman did not give a date for the exercises but said they will be in the “near future.”

The U.S. has 28,500 troops in South Korea — a major sore point for the North — as well as 47,000 troops in Japan.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was in Beijing conferring with China on a coordinated response. She would not say whether that might include new international sanctions against the North.

“We are working hard to avoid an escalation of belligerence and provocation,” Clinton said. “This is a highly precarious situation that the North Koreans have caused in the region.”

North Korea has steadfastly denied any role in the ship’s sinking. On May 20, naval spokesman Col. Pak In Ho told broadcaster APTN in Pyongyang that any punishment would mean “all-out war.”

On Monday, the powerful National Defense Commission criticized Lee’s speech as a “clumsy farce,” North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said.

At the U.N., Ban — a former South Korean foreign minister — said he shares in the international outrage over the sinking of the Cheonan.

“The evidence laid out in the joint international investigation report is overwhelming and deeply troubling. I fully share the widespread condemnation of the incident,” Ban told reporters. “I am confident that the council … will take measures appropriate to the gravity of the situation.”

China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the U.S. have been trying to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons in talks that Pyongyang quit last year, and Ban said it was “particularly deplorable” the attack occurred while those negotiations are stalled.

Pyongyang disputes the maritime border drawn by U.N. forces at the close of the war, and the Koreas have fought three skirmishes there, most recently in November.

South Korea’s military will resume blaring anti-North Korean propaganda back over the border, a sensitive practice suspended in 2004 amid warming ties.

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama suggested the heightened tension between the Koreas helped shape his decision to break a campaign promise and keep a key U.S. Marine base in Okinawa, where about half the U.S. troops are stationed.

___

Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim, Sangwon Yoon and Kelly Olsen in Seoul, John Heilprin at the United Nations, Matthew Lee in Beijing, and Ron Powers and Julie Pace in Washington contributed to this report.