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Houma police say a 24-year-old man is accused of driving a shopping scooter while drunk.

Police say Thomas J. Phillip's breath tested at more than double the amount considered legal proof of intoxication under Louisiana law when he was pulled over Sunday.

Police say they got a call about a motorized scooter pulling a wheelchair, and found Phillip on the scooter and a friend of his in the wheelchair. They say Phillip was arrested after allegedly telling police he'd been at a Wal-Mart store and decided to take the scooter for a joyride.

Researchers say snowmelt that chilled coastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico may have contributed to baby dolphin deaths in the winter of 2011.

A new research paper says 86 baby dolphins are known to have been aborted or died shortly after birth during the period.

Researcher Ruth Carmichael of Alabama's Dauphin Island Sea Lab says she can't say definitively that colder water caused the deaths. However, she says it may have been a deadly contributing factor.

The attorney general's office will pay up to $50,000 to Gov. Bobby Jindal's former executive counsel to defend the governor's signature education revamp in court.

Amanda Larkins, spokeswoman for Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, said Tuesday that the contract with lawyer Jimmy Faircloth hasn't been completed. But she described its terms, saying Faircloth is being paid $195 an hour, with a cap of $50,000.

Larkins said the contract runs through the current budget year, which will end June 30.

The chief financial officer of the Department of Transportation and Development says a troubled toll bridge in coastal south Louisiana has increased its collections by adding a payment lane on site.

But DOTD Undersecretary Michael Bridges acknowledged the change last month also has encountered problems, including equipment failure, long lines and driver confusion.

The comments came Wednesday at a state transportation panel hearing about the bridge on La. Highway 1 in Leeville, which is just west of Grand Isle.

The New Orleans City Council will have two open seats on the November 6 ballot. The second vacancy comes after District E Councilman Jon Johnson’s guilty plea to federal corruption charges.

A New Orleans city councilman is resigning his office after pleading guilty to corruption. Federal charges link Hurricane Katrina relief to the politician’s failed-campaign fund.

Local advertising agencies that held the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corp. contract for more than a decade failed to win a new deal with the tourism promotion organization.

The Times-Picayune reports (http://bit.ly/Q6WU9Z) the work will go to a New York company.

The marketing corporation's board voted unanimously Tuesday to hire Dentsu America as its advertising agency of record. Dentsu will work with a local company, Spears Consulting Group.

MONROE — An internationally recognized University of Louisiana at Monroe toxicology professor has settled a lawsuit he filed against the university alleging he was harassed and discriminated against after he suffered a stroke five years ago.

The News-Star reports (http://tnsne.ws/OG813H) that the university announced Tuesday that it had reached "an amicable settlement" with Harihara Mehendale in the College of Pharmacy.

The Louisiana Legislature's top financial adviser is retiring.

Legislative Fiscal Officer Gordon Monk has worked in state government for 33 years. His last day will be Aug. 8. Monk told The Advocate (http://bit.ly/NztEFS) a contentious legislative session convinced him it was time to go.

The Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget plans to name a temporary replacement on Monday. Lawmakers will pick a permanent fiscal officer when they are next in session, likely not until 2013.

A New Orleans city councilman pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal criminal charge of misusing federal money intended to help a nonprofit organization after Hurricane Katrina and diverting some of it to one of his political campaigns.

Jon Johnson, who is 63, faces up to 5 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

U.S. District Judge Lance Africk set sentencing for Oct. 25.

Johnson said he will resign from his seat on the council.