Latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Midlands

Thursday, September 02, 2010  UPDATED 4:05 p.m. CDT. The Coast Guard is backing off its earlier report that an oil sheen about a mile long was spreading following a platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

Monday, May 24, 2010  An Associated Press investigation has found government reports about dozens of offshore oil wells where cementing failed, as it may have in the Gulf of Mexico disaster.

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.

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.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010  Most of Virginia's coastal waters the government wants to use for oil and gas exploration would interfere significantly with military operations, the Defense Department said in yet another major road block for offshore drilling.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010  Grilled by skeptical lawmakers, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday acknowledged his agency had been lax in overseeing offshore drilling activities and that may have contributed to the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010  On Tuesday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and other federal officials will come under questioning for what the government did — or did not do — to prevent the oil spill, and how they have responded since oil started streaming into the Gulf last month.

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.

Saturday, May 08, 2010  Story updated with video from ITN News.

Wednesday, May 05, 2010  The best short-term solution for bottling up the oil spill threatening sealife and livelihoods along the Gulf Coast should be arriving today.

Tuesday, May 04, 2010  Anxiety is high among residents and business owners along the Gulf Coast as oil from an exploded BP oil rig inches toward shore. Meanwhile, engineers are using a range of tactics to stop the leak. Read on for more about the Gulf Coast oil spill.