The independent manager of $20-billion in claims from the Gulf Coast oil disaster reassured Panhandle business owners and officials Monday that their losses will be covered, but first they have to be proven.

Ken Feinberg, the Brockton, Mass., lawyer who supervised claims following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, joined Gov. Charlie Crist at a 90-minute roundtable at Crabs Restaurant that was part grieving session and part legal seminar.

"We will consider their claims immediately on the merits. We will accelerate payments. We will provide six months of payments, not one, at Gov. Crist's request," Feinberg said. "We will allow for filing online, so you don't even have to walk into a claims facility. We will do everything we can to be claimant-friendly." More here.