Latest local news, weather and high school sports for Northern Michigan

Thursday, April 21, 2011  Lengthy court battle looms over oil spill disaster; BP, rig owner, others look to lay blame

Friday, August 06, 2010  The wreckage — including the failed blowout preventer and the blackened, twisted remnants of the drilling platform that exploded, burned and sank in mile-deep water in the Gulf in April — may be Exhibit A.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010  BP on Wednesday launched its latest bid to plug the gushing well in the Gulf of Mexico by force-feeding it heavy drilling mud, a maneuver known as a "top kill" that has never before been tried 5,000 feet underwater.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010  The leader of botched containment efforts in the critical hours after the Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground wasn't Exxon Mobil Corp. It was BP PLC, the same firm now fighting to plug the Gulf leak.

Monday, May 24, 2010  The gooey oil washing into the maze of marshes along the Gulf Coast could prove impossible to remove, leaving a toxic stew lethal to fish and wildlife, government officials and independent scientists said.

Friday, May 21, 2010  Even as national Republican officials seek ways to limit damage from Rand Paul's unorthodox remarks, the Kentucky Senate nominee raised more eyebrows Friday by defending the oil company blamed for the Gulf oil spill.

Friday, May 21, 2010  UPDATED with AP video. Thick, sticky oil crept deeper into delicate marshes of the Mississippi Delta, an arrival dreaded for a month since the crude started spewing into the Gulf.

Thursday, May 20, 2010  BP conceded Thursday that more oil than it estimated is gushing into the Gulf of Mexico as heavy crude washed into Louisiana's wetlands for the first time, feeding worries and uncertainty about the massive monthlong spill.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010  Scientists are anxiously awaiting signals about where a massive oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico may be heading, while containment of the looming environmental catastrophe proves elusive.

Monday, May 17, 2010  UPDATED 9:15 a.m. CDT. BP said Monday it was siphoning more than one-fifth of the oil spewing into the Gulf, as worries escalated that the ooze may reach a major ocean current that could carry it through the Florida Keys and up the East Coast.

Friday, May 14, 2010  President Obama angrily decried the "ridiculous spectacle" of oil industry officials pointing fingers of blame for the catastrophic spill in the Gulf of Mexico and pledged on Friday to end a "cozy relationship" between the oil industry and federal regulators.

Friday, May 14, 2010  BP is trying to thread the needle to reduce the amount of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Undersea robots are trying to insert a small tube into the jagged pipe the oil is escaping from.

Thursday, May 13, 2010  The first firm evidence of what likely caused the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil blowout — a devastating sequence of equipment failures — drives home a central unsettling point about America's oil industry: key safety features at thousands of U.S. offshore wells are barely regulated.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010  A key safety device known as the blowout preventer used in the BP oil rig in the Gulf had a hydraulic leak and other problems that likely prevented it from working as designed, congressional investigators said Wednesday.