In his first Oval Office address to the nation in 17 months last night, President Obama promised he would "make BP pay for the damage their company has caused." But how did people in the Gulf region feel about what the president said? Tim Kant, mayor of Fairhope, Alabama, tells The Takeaway what he thinks. That and this morning's headlines.

President Obama delivered his first prime time address from the Oval Office Tuesday evening, nearly 60 days after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and sank into the Gulf of Mexico, leaving an oil well gushing crude into the ocean. Thousands of Gulf-related jobs have been affected, including fisherman, restaurants and overall tourism in the region. An Associated Press poll shows 52 percent of Americans disapprove of the President’s handling of the crisis.

Join the conversation! Tell us what you hoped to hear, and share your reactions to the speech.

Chiefs from the five major oil companies, including BP, testified before Congress yesterday. Executives from Chevron, Conoco, Exxon Mobile, and Shell all took pains to distance themselves from BP's negligence during testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “We would not have drilled the well the way they did," said Rex Tillerson, chief executive of Exxon Mobile.

Yesterday, we saw members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee give Lamar McKay, president BP America, a scathing performance review, so we were wondering how our listeners felt about these reviews at work. Are performance reviews actually valuable in your life? Some Takeaway listeners don't think so.

A new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine shows that medical students who graduate from Historically Black Colleges and Universities are more likely to practice primary care medicine in low-income communities, the exact area of care most needed in the country today. By 2020, six years after health care overhaul kicks in, there will be 35 million newly insured Americans, but a projected shortage of up to 100,000 primary care doctors. HBCUs like Morehouse, Howard and Meharry Medical College – the top ranked schools in the study – may be helping prevent the problem by training students to work in underserved communities upon graduation.

The day that became known in Northern Ireland’s history as Bloody Sunday – when thirteen civilians were shot dead by British soldiers at a civil rights march in Londonderry on January 30, 1972 – remains a controversial flashpoint in Northern Ireland’s history. It triggered three decades of bitter and sectarian violence known as the Troubles, which claimed more than 3,600 lives.

But on Tuesday, the longest and most expensive legal inquiry in British history found all thirteen civilians innocent. British Prime Minister David Cameron said the deaths were “both unjustified and unjustifiable.”

Do you have a favorite treat from Michigan or dish from Minnesota?  Have you ever had Vernors soda, or squeaky cheese curd? For this week's food segment, we continue our state-by-state journey to find our favorite regional foods from around the country with our friend Ed Levine of SeriousEats.com.

From the Gulf region to the Beltway, everyone has an opinion on President Obama's eighteen minute long speech about the BP oil spill last night, including Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. That story and this morning's headlines.

With the help of Kathleen Hall Jamieson, professor of communications and director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, we take a look at President Obama's Oval Office speech from last night. Jamieson analyzes the president's rhetoric, looking at whether it was effective in communicating his control over the Gulf oil crisis and setting up the changes in the country's energy policy.

Closing arguments are scheduled for today in a federal trial that will address the constitutionality of Proposition 8 - the controversial amendment to California's constitution that reinstated a ban on gay marriage in the state in 2008, after it had been legal for some months.

President Obama’s "Build America" bonds were supposed to help cash strapped municipalities pay for roads, schools or construction projects, but they may be benefiting Wall Street banks as well.

At their convention today in Detroit, the United Autoworkers Union will elect a new president, ending the eight-year tenure of Ron Gettelfinger. Gettelfinger led the union through one of the most difficult periods in its history. The UAW was once one of the largest and most influential unions in the country, but these days its membership is the smallest it’s been since the end of World War II.

International pressure on Israel to lift a military blockade of Gaza has intensified in the weeks since Israeli commandos stopped a flotilla carrying aid in international waters, killing nine activists. Israel's security cabinet will meet today to discuss a possible easing of the blockade. Middle East Envoy, and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said he is "confident" that Israel will partially lift the blockade. To tell us whether his optimism is warranted, the BBC's Jon Donnison reports from Gaza City.

It might be that not everyone in the world is following the World Cup. But the sheer numbers of people tuning into the games show that a lot of people are seriously rooting for their favorite teams. FIFA recently came up with new (wide) estimates that say from 250 million to half a billion people tune in to watch.

Annenberg Public Policy Center director Kathleen Hall Jamieson told The Takeaway that her single-phrase reaction to President Obama's address on the BP oil spill last night was, "National Mission: Details to Follow." We wanted to know, what was your reaction to the president's speech? Some of you were satisfied, others were not, and some of you just wanted to play the blame game.