The $20 billion that BP has set aside to pay for losses caused by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill will start making payments in early August.

Ken Feinberg, who is in charge of paying individuals and businesses for lost income, told a meeting of government officials in Louisiana on Thursday that he expected a seamless transition from BP management to his administration.

"My goal is to improve that system," Feinberg said. "I'm determined to come up with a system that is more beneficial to the people using it."

BP currently has 35 offices in the Gulf Coast area accepting claims. The oil company will turn the entire operation over to Feinberg and not be involved in any of the claims against the $20 billion fund, except to supply more money if it's needed, Feinberg said.

The offices will be open for three years, and claims can be filed at any time, he said. Once filed, they must be paid within 90 days, Feinberg said.

The fund has not been tapped yet, but Feinberg said by the end of the first week of August his group would be ready to make payments.

There are still some issues to settle, Feinberg said. One of them is how much transparency the fund should have. Data from the program will be available, but there is still debate on providing names of people applying.

A local law firm is now offering a reward for information that leads to the capture of the person who shot and killed University of Tampa student Ryan McCall last August.

McCall and a friend were walking near the campus when a man robbed and shot them. The law firm of Winters and Yonker wants to give $50,000 to anyone who leads police to McCall's killer.

A cell phone recording of the exchange that happened the night McCall died captured an unknown voice saying, "Get over here. Get the (expletive) over here. Get over here. Get over here. Get the (expletive) over here. Get over here."

If you have any information that could help lead police to Ryan McCall's killer, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-873-TIPS.

As the Senate prepares to vote on whether Elena Kagan should fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, there remain a substantial number of other vacancies in the nation’s lower federal courts that urgently need filling.

Currently, there are about 100 vacancies in the lower federal courts. The American Bar Association says the lack of judges is affecting the efficiency and fairness of the justice system.

ABA President Carolyn B. Lamm said, “Our courts are already terribly strained at the federal level because of the caseload and the workload, and when you’re a hundred justices down…that’s a big gap.  We have speedy trial rules that require them to put criminal cases first.  As a result, all of the civil proceedings are put off and there is a real gap in terms of a significant delay as a result of the vacancies. It is edging toward a crisis not to have a full bench.”

Even if all the vacancies were filled, said Lamm, a significant number of new judgeships would still be necessary to handle caseload growth.  In fact, the Judicial Conference of the United States is recommending 67 new permanent and temporary judgeships. 

Beyond the existing 100 vacancies, more than 20 additional judges have announced that they will retire in the next several months. Since the start of the 111th Congress, President Obama has made 78 nominations to fill the empty seats, and the Senate has confirmed 36 of the nominees.  

Lamm noted that most nominees have moved through the Senate with little dissent and little delay.

When they finally are scheduled for a vote by the Senate, Lamm commented, “None of them have in fact engendered huge debate on the floor of the Senate….  No one has seen a pattern of inappropriate people being nominated; it is simply very slow and it really needs a full bipartisan effort to move these nominations. And quite frankly, it is becoming urgent,” said Lamm.

Retirees and other residents from all over the country were among those who donated nearly $500,000 to help Arizona defend its immigration enforcement law, with most chipping in $100 or less, according to an analysis of documents obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

The donations, 88 percent of which came through the Arizona defense fund's website, surged this week after the federal government sued Tuesday to challenge the law. A document from Gov. Jan Brewer's office showed that 7,008 of the 9,057 online contributions submitted by Thursday morning were made in the days following the government's filing.

Website contributions came from all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, including nearly 2,000 from Arizona. Donations ranged from $5 to $2,000, with the vast majority between $10 and $100.

The AP examined about a quarter of the fund's total contributions, and found only two that came from businesses.

The willingness of thousands of individual Americans to contribute to the Arizona fund illustrates broad concern and frustration over border security and illegal immigration. The state's legislation has since renewed calls for broader immigration changes.

The Arizona law includes a requirement that police enforcing another law generally must investigate the immigration status of people if there is "reasonable suspicion" to believe the people are in the United States illegally.