WASHINGTON -- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration yesterday imposed a record $87 million fine against oil giant BP PLC for failing to correct safety hazards after a 2005 explosion killed 15 workers at its Texas City refinery.

The fine -- the largest in OSHA's history -- comes after a 6-month inspection revealed hundreds of violations of a 2005 settlement agreement to repair hazards at the refinery.

BP officials formally contested the fine, saying they believed the company had fully complied with the settlement agreement.

WASHINGTON -- The White House and key senators have reached a compromise on a shield law to protect journalists who refuse to reveal their sources, but they limited its application in cases involving national security and federal criminal prosecutions.

Negotiations involving Senate sponsors of the legislation, the Justice Department, the White House and media organizations over the past month resulted in compromises on all sides.

SAN DIEGO -- The nighttime collision of a Coast Guard aircraft on a rescue mission and a Marine helicopter left nine people feared dead at sea as investigators yesterday tried to solve the mystery of how the aircrews failed to see each other in a heavily used military training area off Southern California.

The crash involved a Coast Guard C-130 with a seven-member crew and a Marine Corps AH-1W Super Cobra with two aboard.

LOS ANGELES -- Criminal charges won't be filed against 30 Los Angeles police officers who fired rubber bullets and pummeled demonstrators with batons at a pro-immigration rally two years ago, prosecutors said yesterday.

The district attorney's office called the May Day melee an "unfortunate and preventable situation" prompted by poor police training, leadership and communication, but addedthat "our investigation determined there is insufficient evidence to initiate criminal proceedings against the officers."

The melee occurred May 1, 2007, in MacArthur Park and has cost the city $13 million in legal settlements.

WASHINGTON -- The National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities are expected to receive their highest levels of funding in 16 years from a bill President Barack Obama is expected to sign into law by this weekend.

Under the Interior Appropriations Bill passed Thursday by the House and Senate, both cultural agencies were slated to receive $167.5 million for the 2010 fiscal year. Last year's budget allocated $155 million.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Two of three parachutes malfunctioned in the test flight of a prototype moon rocket earlier this week, causing major damage to the booster, NASA said yesterday.

The problem caused the Ares I-X booster to slam into the Atlantic Ocean harder than expected and badly denting it.

ATLANTA -- The Rev. Bernice King embraced the legacy and leadership of her parents yesterday as she became the first woman to head the civil rights organization co-founded by her father.

The youngest child of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King vowed to be a bridge between the civil rights generation and the hip-hop generation as the eighth president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Washington correspondent Daniel Malloy writes the "Pittsburgh On The Potomac" blog exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.