On tap: A federal judge in New Orleans has scheduled a Feb. 14 hearing to decide whether to accept the Justice Department’s criminal settlement with Transocean Ltd. over the company’s role in the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Transocean, which owned the rig that sank after an explosion killed 11 workers and spawned the spill, agreed on Thursday to pay $400 million in criminal penalties and plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of violating the Clean Water Act. The Switzerland-based company also agreed to pay $1 billion in civil penalties.
Throw on the dirt: Louisiana Republicans jumped all over a comment made by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., in which he said the misery and damage caused by Hurricane Katrina was “nothing in comparison” to that caused by Hurricane Sandy. Though Reid has since said he “misspoke,” La. Sen. David Vitter called him an “idiot” via Twitter, the Republican Party of Louisiana is demanding an apology and Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, sent out a release calling the comment “repugnant.”
Big time find: A housefly-sized frog discovered in Papua New Guinea by LSU professor and herpetologist Christopher Austin is ranked No. 65 on Discover magazine’s list of the top 100 science-related stories of 2012. The frog, known as Paedophryne amauensis, is the world’s smallest vertebrate, measuring about one-third of an inch long and weighing 0.02 gram. You can check out the Discover coverage here.
