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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The city of New Orleans holds its second abandoned vehicle auction of 2012 on Thursday. The auction will have 98 vehicles for sale, all of which have been discarded on neighborhood streets or left unclaimed by residents with excessive parking fines and fees.

METAIRIE, La. (AP) — Bankruptcy filings in the New Orleans region are on the decline. New figures from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana show they dropped 9.5 percent in April compared with the same month a year ago. New Orleans CityBusiness reports there were 305 filings last month compared with 337 in April 2011.

With little fanfare, a cluster of tidy new houses recently went on the market in the Lower 9th Ward, bringing a poorly executed experiment in post-disaster housing to inglorious resolution long delayed.

The 22 one- and two- bedroom houses are the last of the now-notorious  “Katrina Cottages” that, almost seven years ago, were conceived as salvation for New Orleanians displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita and desperate to come home.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — William Jefferson, who rose from north Louisiana poverty to become the state's first modern era African-American congressman and one of its most powerful politicians, is expected to report to a federal prison Friday.

A federal investigation dissolved his power and turned him into a laughing stock over bribe money hidden in his freezer.

He was convicted in 2009 of soliciting bribes in connection with African business deals. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge has pushed back the start of a civil trial for claims against BP PLC and other companies involved in the 2010 Gulf oil spill. The judge on Thursday set a date of Jan. 14, 2013. The litigation centers on the oil spill that began in April 2010 from BP's Macondo well.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — U.S. Sen. Mary L. Landrieu's office says the senator planned visits to post offices in Moss Bluff and Lafayette. Friday's visits were set after Landrieu wrote to the Postmaster General, urging the U.S. Postal Service to extend the current moratorium on post office and mail processing facility closures.