Rick Outzen is publisher and editor of Independent News, the alternative newsweekly for Northwest Florida.
BP oil rig engineer Blair Manuel was not even supposed to be working when he and 10 co-workers were killed in the Gulf of Mexico explosion a year ago. His daughter tells Rick Outzen the anniversary is about honoring her father, not lawsuits or pointing fingers.
One year after the BP oil disaster, marine life is thriving in the Gulf of Mexico and fishermen and state officials are optimistic about the summer season. But locals still battling health problems are angry at the oil giant's failure to meet its commitments, Rick Outzen reports.
Could Congress have prevented the BP mess? A report reveals that a law enacted after the Exxon Valdez to avoid future oil spills was deprived of cash by lawmakers.
Locals thought it was hard getting money out of the oil giant—until they had to deal with the government. Rick Outzen on the Gulf’s cash flow crisis—and anger with the federal “claims czar.”
While officials claim most of the oil from America's worst-ever spill has disappeared, fishermen hired by BP are still finding tar balls—and being instructed to hide their discoveries.
Across the weary Gulf Coast, BP’s dismissal of Tony Hayward failed to garner any goodwill. The Daily Beast’s Rick Outzen on how four months of spin, lies, and delays have jaded a region.
The Florida seaport town of Pensacola has seen BP’s efforts to cap the well fail before. Will this one work? Rick Outzen talks to anxious residents about whether an end to the nightmare is near.
Watching President Obama’s Oval Office speech on the Gulf Coast with oil spill claimants, Rick Outzen found support for the rhetoric—and cynicism over whether action will follow words.
As Gulf fishermen suffer, a BP program to hire cleanup boats has resulted in windfalls for rich pleasure-craft owners, a Daily Beast investigation reveals. Rick Outzen on a growing outrage.
A document obtained by The Daily Beast shows that BP, in a previous fatal disaster, increased worker risk to save money. Are there parallels with the Gulf explosion?
