Pilot: Towboat erratic before Miss. River spill

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A towboat was so erratic it appeared its operator "had had a stroke" as it pushed a barge into the path of a tanker before a collision that shut a major shipping waterway over the summer, the tanker's pilot testified Thursday.The tanker ran over the barge in July, causing the barge's fuel tank to rupture and spill about 276,000 gallons of oil into the Mississippi River in New Orleans. The collision closed the river for six days.