BP’s Gulf oil spill costs approach $50 billion

BP’s Gulf oil spill costs approach $50 billion
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — BP PLC estimated in 2010 that it faced about $40 billion in potential liabilities from the Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed 11 workers and spilled oil into the Gulf of Mexico for months. Now its shares are suffering as the total approaches $50 billion. Here’s where the company’s money is spilling:
— Damage Claims and Environmental Restoration: BP says it has paid more than $27 billion to restore the Gulf Coast and compensate victims in an uncapped settlement fund.
— Federal Fines: BP agreed in November 2012 to pay $4.5 billion in civil and criminal fines and pleaded guilty to felonies related to the rig workers’ deaths and lying to Congress.
— Pollution Penalties: U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier ruled this month that BP showed willful misconduct and gross negligence in the oil spill, exposing the company to as much as $18 billion in Clean Water Act fines, up to $4,300 per 42-gallon barrel of oil spilled.
— Bottom line: BP shares plummeted after the Sept. 4 ruling, reducing its market value by nearly $9 billion that day. Its stock price has yet to recover.

Ex-state auditor sentenced
BATON ROUGE (AP) — A former auditing director for the state Department of Children and Family Services was sentenced Wednesday to more than three years in federal prison after admitting to stealing more than $150,000 from the department.
U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick sentenced Delrice Augustus, 34, of Baton Rouge, to 37 months in prison and ordered him to pay $155,000 in restitution to DCFS and forfeit $150,000 to the federal government.
Augustus admitted stealing from the agency since 2010 by using an assistant’s state-issued credit card to buy personal items and also misused a state-issued travel card to buy hotel suites in New Orleans for Mardi Gras and the NBA All-Star Game.
Augustus was auditing director for DCFS since mid-2009. He resigned May 23.
Two other DCFS auditors — Kaneasha Goston, 38, and Corey S. Polk, 33, both of Baton Rouge — also have pleaded guilty to federal program fraud in the case involving Augustus. They are awaiting sentencing.

N.O. police officer fired
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A New Orleans police officer has been fired for alleged payroll fraud.
The department, in a news release Wednesday, said Officer Jayson Germann reported working a paid detail while simultaneously performing his regular duties on three separate occasions between July and August 2013. Additionally, an investigation by the department’s Public Integrity Bureau found that he admitted to working a paid detail 63 times between March 9, 2013 and Aug. 31, 2013, without notifying the department’s command desk as required by department policy.
Germann was terminated following a disciplinary hearing held Wednesday. Interim Superintendent Michael Harrison says the department has a zero tolerance policy for fraud on any level.
Germann was a 15-year veteran of the department, most recently assigned to the NOPD Gang Intelligence Unit.

Death penalty cost examined
BATON ROUGE (AP) — A New Orleans state senator is trying to determine how much Louisiana agencies spend on the death penalty.
Sen. J.P. Morrell, a Democrat, is leading a new study commission looking at capital punishment. The panel held its first meeting Wednesday.
Morrell, a former public defender, said he wants to find ways to streamline the process for dealing with capital cases, litigation that can span decades. He said having reliable data is critical to decision-making.
“We’ve had an ongoing debate over years regarding what the potential costs or repercussions are of having capital punishment in the state of Louisiana,” Morrell said. “State resources continue to dry up. Decisions have to be made on how we prioritize funding.”
But tensions were obvious at the opening meeting of the commission, which includes people who support and oppose the death penalty. Those present included lawmakers, budget analysts as well as officials from the legislative auditor’s office and the corrections department.

Orleans DA re-elected
when challenger disqualified
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Louisiana Supreme Court has disqualified the only candidate running to unseat Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro, securing a second term for the incumbent.
The state’s high court, reversing decisions from two lower courts, ruled Wednesday that Lionel “Lon” Burns cannot run for the position because he could not prove that he had filed his tax returns for the last four years — a requirement for all candidates.
Cannizzaro, in a statement, said that Burns, a former prosecutor, called him after the ruling to congratulate him on winning another six-year term.

Baton Rouge-area home sales drop in August
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Home sales in metro Baton Rouge dropped by 5.7 percent in August, breaking a four-month streak of transactions outperforming 2013 numbers.
According to figures released Wednesday by the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors, there were 851 home sales that closed in August in the nine-parish area. That compares with 902 closed sales in August 2013.
Tiffany Palmer, secretary treasurer of the realtor board of directors, said the August sales figures are in line with the normal ebb and flow, when home sales peak at the start of summer and drop off as back-to-school approaches.
August was the best month for home sales in the metro area during 2013. In contrast, May was the biggest month for sales so far in 2014.

2 killed in head-on
Lafourche Parish collision
LEROSE (AP) — State police say two men died when a pickup truck crashed head-on into a tractor trailer and then was hit by a dump truck in Lafourche Parish.
Trooper Evan Harrell identified the victims as 38-year-old Murphy Callais Jr., of Cut Off, and 62-year-old Lloyd Coleman, of Thibodaux.
Harrell says Callais was driving east on the La. 24 around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday when he tried to pass a dump truck, and struck a westbound 18-wheeler driven by Coleman.
After the impact, Harrell says the pickup rotated counter clockwise into the eastbound lane where it was struck by the dump truck.
Troopers say Callais and Coleman, who were wearing seat belts, were pronounced dead at the scene by a Lafourche Coroner’s Office representative.
From The Associated Press.