National news briefs

Work on relief well in Gulf to go forward

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — BP's broken oil well is not dead yet.

The government's point man on the crisis said Friday that the blown-out well is not securely plugged to his satisfaction and that the drilling of the relief well — long regarded as the only way to ensure that the hole at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico never leaks oil again — must go forward.

"The relief well will be finished," said retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen. "We will kill the well."

Work on the relief well was suspended earlier this week because of bad weather. Allen did not say when it would resume, but when the order comes, it could take four days to get the operation up and running again.

From there, it could be only a matter of days before the "bottom kill" is done and the blown-out well that wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast economy and environment is no longer a threat.

Name changed for Montana wolf hunt

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Wildlife officials are dropping their proposal for a "research hunt" for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies.

Instead, they are considering proposing a possible "conservation hunt" to trim the predators' population in the name of reducing livestock attacks.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks attorney Bob Lane said Friday his agency could not justify carrying out a hunt in the name of research since the goal would have been to reduce the wolf's population, not study it.

Lane says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it would not condone such a proposal. Idaho also has been considering a research hunt.

A court ruling last week put 1,367 wolves in the region back on the endangered list.

Brother dies after partial liver donation

DENVER (AP) — A South Dakota man who donated part of his liver to his brother has died, temporarily halting live donor liver transplants at the University of Colorado Hospital where the transplant was done.

Thirty-four-year-old Ryan Arnold of Watertown died Aug. 2.

He underwent the surgery four days earlier to help his brother Chad Arnold, who lives in suburban Denver.