Forecast models show a mass of oil edging away from Louisiana and heading toward North Florida as health officials urged swimmers to stay out of the water
DESTIN -- Pie-sized tar patties washed up on Okaloosa County shores Thursday, beaching Panhandle swimmers as cleanup workers turned to nighttime hours to pluck splotches of weathered oil off some of the state's most pristine coast.
Federal forecast models, meanwhile, showed the mass of light oil increasingly edging eastward -- away from Louisiana and along the Panhandle shoreline in an ominous omen for the weekend at a time of increasing tar ball landings.
``Coastal regions near and west of Panama City may experience shoreline impacts by Friday,'' according to a situation report from Gov. Charlie Crist's office.
In Washington, members of Congress spent much of the day berating BP chief executive Tony Hayward during his first appearance on Capitol Hill in which he apologized again and again for the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Cable news offered grim split-screen images throughout the day showing oil still spewing into the Gulf of Mexico.
