INTERNATIONAL
 
Captains of both vessels to blame in whaler-protest boat crash
 
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Investigators looking into a collision between a Japanese whaler and a protest boat on the high seas off Antarctica earlier this year said Thursday that the captains of both vessels were to blame.
 
Guinea in state of emergency after riots post-presidential elections
 
CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Guinea’s military declared a state of emergency Wednesday, further restricting civilian movement and giving the army permission to deploy in civilian areas as security forces continued to target members of the Peul ethnic group following a tense presidential election.
 
The decree read by the head of the country’s armed forces said the law would be in effect until Guinea’s Supreme Court rules on whether to validate the provisional results from the election.
 
NATIONAL
 
Calif. student body president revealed to be illegal immigrant
 
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — The popular student body president at California State University, Fresno has publicly revealed what he had long sought to keep a secret: He’s an illegal immigrant.
 
Pedro Ramirez, 23, previously told campus administrators in confidence that he had been concerned about going public about his status.
 
But that changed Tuesday after The Collegian, a campus newspaper, disclosed his status after receiving an anonymous e-mail.
 
Experts report BP ignored warning signs and risks on doomed well
 
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new report from an independent scientific panel says BP and its contractors missed and ignored key warning signs and failed to fully recognize important risks in the days and hours leading up to the massive Gulf of Mexico oil well blowout.
 
Some of the panel’s conclusions appear more critical of BP, the owner of the well, than preliminary findings issued last week by the presidential oil spill commission.
 
The National Academy of Engineering, which issued the latest report, said BP and others involved in the disaster failed to manage risks and didn’t even have a system in place to weigh safety against costs.
 
Feds: woman indicted for billing $600,000 in false Medicaid claims
 
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a North Carolina woman submitted more than $600,000 in false Medicaid claims and used the money to buy a Bentley, a Hummer and spa services.
 
Sarah Lavonne Willis of Charlotte was indicted Wednesday on allegations that she billed a state medical assistance program for behavioral therapy services she didn’t provide.
 
STATE/LOCAL
 
Jindal adviser calls treasurer’s budget solution unrealistic, faulty
 
(AP) — Gov. Bobby Jindal’s top financial adviser said Wednesday that a 16-point plan touted by Treasurer John Kennedy as a way to eliminate the state’s budget shortfall is unrealistic and based on faulty figures.
 
Kennedy has been traveling the state touting the ideas, which include cutting 5,000 vacant state jobs annually and eliminating 1,600 consulting contracts.
 
Kennedy says his proposals would save $2.6 billion a year if fully enacted and would avoid damaging cuts to higher education and health care services.
 
Higher education and health care are the two areas most vulnerable to budget reductions.
 
“All this comes down to political courage,” Kennedy told the Baton Rouge Rotary Club. “We ought to have the political courage to make changes. The jury’s out on whether we will.”
 
Lafayette police searching for suspect in ULL death and beatings
 
LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — Lafayette police are still interviewing people as part of an investigation into the death of a Louisiana-Lafayette student and the severe beating of that student’s roommate.
 
Twenty-year-old Kenneth Donnelly Jr. was found beaten to death in his home Oct. 28.
 
A roommate was badly beaten and remains hospitalized, although his condition is improving.
 
Cpl. Paul Mouton, spokesman for the Lafayette Police Department, said no suspects have been named.
 
The Advertiser reports investigators have a general idea about the possible motive for the crime, but are not ready to publicly release that information.
 
Police are still declining to release the surviving victim’s name for his own safety, but Mouton said he is doing well.
 
 
 
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