32 pelicans saved, but how many lost?

Please take 49 seconds to watch today's video at this link on Bradenton.com, shot by our summer intern, J. Hunter Sizemore. He went along with reporter Sara Kennedy and photographer Grant Jefferies to film the release Wednesday of 32 pelicans -- all rescued from the BP oil spill -- at Fort DeSoto Park. You can see moments of the release in this photo gallery as well.

As Sara quoted one tourist in her story, "Every animal matters." The unfathomable thought: the ratio of how many are perishing to those being saved.

Tell us how you'd clean up this oil disaster

We started today with the news (not surprising, sadly enough) that oil has been projectile-vomiting into the Gulf of Mexico at least twice as much "as previously thought." Thought by whom? Delusionary BP management? Please -- they know.

But what they still don't seem to know, after 52 days of disaster, is how to stop this. Why not try everything feasible? Even the wacky ideas deserve to be heard.

That's what this story by Bradenton/Miami Herald writers pointed out in Friday's editions. There are thousands of theories, inventions and proposed solutions. One of them has to work.

We want to hear your ideas. Send us an e-mail at communities@bradenton.com. We'll publish them next week.

-- Joan

Photo above by INSTITUTE FOR MARINE MAMMAL STUDIES:
A young hawksbill sea turtle before it was cleaned in Gulfport, Miss.

McClatchy newsrooms team up on oil spill

The Gulf Coast has been gripped with fear since the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and blowing open the well 50 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico. It has been spewing an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil a day that now cover almost 4,000 square miles.

As the oil is already lapping Louisiana shorelines, and images of oil-soaked wildlife multiply, the Tampa Bay area is obviously taking precautions in the event the oil slick heads toward our shores. But even if we avoid a direct hit, the economic and environmental impact is likely to be felt for years. Even Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has described the spill as a “unique and still-evolving and potentially an unprecedented disaster.”

Recognizing the enormity of this story, McClatchy editors are coordinating all of our newsrooms' coverage, which you'll find daily in the Herald and on our home page. The Bradenton Herald has created a special report here at Bradenton.com/oilspill, with an interactive map of the Gulf where you can click on icons for incident reports.

Led by Miami Herald Executive Editor Anders Gyllenhaal and Washington Bureau Chief John Walcott, this effort is allowing a far deeper report for all of us.
Journalists at the Biloxi Sun-Herald are on the front line in Mississippi and Louisiana. At the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, expertise is being gleaned on the oil industry. Staff at the Anchorage Daily News have enormous institutional knowledge from the Valdez oil spill, the largest in U.S. history until this disaster. The Miami Herald has sent reporters to the Panhandle, and along with the Bradenton Herald are examining every possible angle of potential impact to Florida. The Washington bureau is digging into political ramifications, environmental enterprise and more. The Kansas City Star, Merced Sun-Star and most all of the other McClatchy properties are contributing.

All in all, we plan to bring you the most thorough coverage possible as this catastrophic event unfolds.

-- Joan
Here's one of the most recent images off the coast of Louisiana:


Oil from the Deepwater Horizon well swirls in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana. (Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times/MCT)