Oil change

BP sign: Getty Images • Dudley, Hayward: Associated Press

Nearly 100 days after oil began gushing into Gulf Coast waters, BP announced plans aimed at plugging its own corporate problems: The company said embattled CEO Tony Hayward would resign his post on Oct. 1. His replacement—Robert Dudley—would become the first American to head the British company. Dudley grew up in Hattiesburg, Miss., and took over cleanup operations on the Gulf Coast after a series of blunders by Hayward.

Workers temporarily capped the well on July 15, and BP said it hoped to finish a permanent relief well by mid-August. Plenty of work still remains: Government scientists estimate the gusher has poured some 94 million gallons of oil into the Gulf. But the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration offered some good news: The federal agency is re-opening some 26,000 square miles of federal waters to recreational and commercial fishing. That leaves about 25 percent of federal waters in the Gulf (and thousands of square miles of state waters) off limits.