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WASHINGTON — After two court rulings against its six-month moratorium on deepwater oil and gas drilling, the Obama administration on Monday announced a revised ban that it described as essential and appropriate. The Interior Department said the revised ban incorporates "new evidence regarding safety concerns" as well as new procedures to gather industry feedback. Moreover, the revision suspends drilling not based on water depth, it said, "but on the basis of the drilling configurations and technologies."

Govt: Obama Drilling Ban to Cut Supply Sharply Thursday, 08 Jul 2010 09:42 AM The Obama administration's contested moratorium on deepwater drilling will take a larger portion out of U.S. oil production next year than previously thought, the government's energy forecasting agency said on Wednesday. Oil production next year is expected to be cut by 82,000 barrels per day, or almost 30 million barrels total, due to delayed or canceled drilling caused by the moratorium, the Energy Information Administration said. That is 17 percent more from the 70,000 bpd in lost output the agency predicted just last month. Monthly production...

The professor who is accused of killing three colleagues at the University of Alabama on Friday was a suspect in the attempted mail bombing of a Harvard Medical School professor in 1993, a law enforcement official said today. Bishop surfaced as a suspect because she was allegedly concerned that she was going to receive a negative evaluation from Rosenberg on her doctorate work, the official said. The official said investigators believed she had a motive to target Rosenberg and were concerned that she had a history of violence, given that she had shot her brother to death in 1986.

US Representative William Delahunt said yesterday that he is considering retiring from his congressional seat representing the South Shore and Cape Cod, although he portrayed his deliberations as routine and said they are not related to challenges from Republicans who are energized by Scott Brown’s upset victory in last month’s special Senate election. Discuss COMMENTS (150) Related Photos Kennedys in public life Pondering a Congress without Kennedys McGrory: With iconic father gone, son seeks his own path Colleagues ponder Kennedy’s future, praise work ethic Rep. Kennedy lacked ‘fire’ for another race Kennedy out, R.I. voters say change is in the...