On the bench: A federal judge in New Orleans has recused herself from the criminal case against a former BP engineer charged with deleting text messages about the company’s response to the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. U.S District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo didn’t specify in today’s order why she is recusing herself, but she did cite a law that says judges should disqualify themselves if their “impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” The case against 50-year-old Kurt Mix, of Katy, Texas, has been reassigned to Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. Mix pleaded not guilty on May 3 to two counts of obstruction of justice. An indictment accuses him of deleting text messages to a supervisor and a contractor to prevent them from being used in a grand jury probe of the spill.
The changing face of America: For the first time, racial and ethnic minorities make up more than half the children born in the United States, capping decades of heady immigration growth that is now slowing. New 2011 census estimates highlight sweeping changes in the nation’s racial makeup and the prolonged impact of a weak economy, which is now resulting in fewer Hispanics entering the United States. “This is an important landmark,” says Roderick Harrison, a former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau who is now a sociologist at Howard University. “This generation is growing up much more accustomed to diversity than its elders.” The report comes as the Supreme Court prepares to rule on the legality of Arizona’s controversial immigration law, with many states weighing similar get-tough measures. Read the full story by The Associated Press here for specific statistics and more analysis of what they mean.
Stacking up the applications: The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits was unchanged last week, suggesting modest but steady gains in the job market. The Labor Department reports today that weekly unemployment aid applications stayed at a seasonally adjusted 370,000, the same level as the previous week. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell from roughly 380,000 to 375,000. Applications for benefits surged in April to a five-month high of 392,000. They have fallen back since then and are near the lowest levels in four years. The decline suggests hiring could pick up in May after slumping in the previous two months. When applications drop below 375,000 a week, it generally suggests hiring is strong enough to lower the unemployment rate.
