EDMUND D. FOUNTAIN | Times
A broken oil boom rests on the beach on the west side of Bay St. Louis in Mississippi. High winds and rough seas have damaged many of the lines of defense that have been put in place to contain a growing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Maps: See the spread of the spill since April 22 and learn more about the gulf loop current that could bring it to the Florida Keys or Atlantic coast.

Experts warn of Gulf oil spill's toxicity: Don't touch the oil, the teacher told the 40 volunteers who had signed up to help clean up the beaches and marshes. Don't let it get on your skin. Don't take off your protective suit, even if it gets to be 100 degrees outside.

Glimmer of progress to stem leaks as oil spill spreads
BP reported some glimmers of progress on Monday in its efforts to stem oil leaks from an undersea well off the Louisiana coast that have created what President Obama called a "potentially unprecedented environmental disaster." Meanwhile, Florida candidates' political rallying cry is no longer drill, baby, drill. It's spill, baby, spill.

For the latest, follow our list of journalists, public agencies and stakeholders in the Gulf disaster on Twitter.

Check out Times photos of the coastal disaster areas in Louisiana and near Pensacola.

Previously:

• Frustrated local and state officials complained Sunday that the BP-led plan for protecting Florida's coastline from a massive oil spill was incomplete and failed to allow for input from people who know the coast best. Meanwhile, oil continued to wash ashore in Louisiana, where the disaster only deepened residents' gloom.
• Gov. Charlie Crist declared a state of emergency for 6 Panhandle counties because the oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon platform threatens Florida's coasts "with a major disaster." The governor's office reports that he has been flooded with phone calls from concerned residents regarding the spill.

• Our primer on what has gone wrong

• You can also see how the slick has spread in the last week and check out photos from a 1993 ship crash near Egmont Key that spilled oil on Pinellas county's beaches.

The oil spill spreading across the Gulf of Mexico gave Gov. Charlie Crist a reason to rethink his support for offshore drilling.