The Shreveport Fire Department continued battling a woods and grass fire Thursday evening just south of 85th Street and east of Interstate 49.

The Louisiana Public Service Commission has called a special "energy emergency" meeting for 10:30 a.m. Aug. 12, in the Natchez room of the Galvez Building, located at 602 N. Fifth St. in Baton Rouge.

Oil prices fell below $126 a barrel Thursday after jumping more than $4 in the previous session after a U.S. agency reported America's gasoline inventory unexpectedly fell last week and as Iran vowed to continue its nuclear program. By midday in Europe, light, sweet crude for September delivery was down 94 cents to $125.80 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract soared $4.58 to settle at $126.77 a barrel on Wednesday. Wednesday's large increase came amid very low trading volumes for the Nymex contract and may be showing a distorted reflection of the market, analysts said. "The current low liquidity is making it hard to be fully confident about the sustainability of the rebound seen (Wednesday)," said Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix in Switzerland. "Overall U.S. demand is still a bearish concern." Crude has fallen over the last three weeks from a record high of $147.27 on July 11, in part, on expectations that the spike in prices over the last year has begun to dampen U.S. demand for gasoline. But the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday in its weekly inventory report that U.S. gasoline supplies fell 3.5 million barrels last week. Analysts surveyed by energy research firm Platts expected gasoline supplies to increase by 400,000 barrels. Gasoline stocks had risen in three previous three weeks. "That weekly data series is very useful, but very erratic week to week," Moore said. "I hesitate to read too much into the stocks decline." Only days remain until a deadline expires for Tehran to show it will stop expanding its uranium enrichment program, at least temporarily, or face the threat of new U.N. sanctions. But there were no signs Wednesday that Tehran was willing to bend as Iranian officials, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, pledged to continue the country's nuclear program. "We are not giving up our nuclear activities, including enrichment," said Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, Iran's top representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Also Wednesday, more than 100 nonaligned nations backed Iran's right to peaceful uses of nuclear power. "It's quite likely that tensions around Iran's nuclear program will again become an issue for the market," said David Moore, a commodity strategist with Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. "The deadline for Iran to respond is ticking away." In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell 0.13 cents to $3.519 a gallon while gasoline prices were down 2.01 cents to $3.1150 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 0.4 cent to $9.252 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, September Brent crude was down 81 cents at $126.29 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. ___

The nonemergency offices of the Shreveport Police Department will reopen this morning after a power outage forced the Texas Street building and some offices at City Hall to close on Wednesday. The buildings were without air conditioning and the computer systems were inoperable. The power outage occurred about 4:30 a.m. and was caused by a blown transformer, though calls to Caddo Parish 911 still were answered. A backup generator allowed some emergency lights and other areas to maintain electricity — but not enough to allow employees to work as usual.

LAPLACE, La. (AP) _ A worker was killed when he was pinned by a truck he was directing at the Bayou Steel plant in LaPlace. Officials say 35-year-old Carlos Morris, of LaPlace, who worked for Diamond E Trucking, died Wednesday shortly after the accident. He was pronounced dead at River Parishes Hospital in LaPlace. Bayou Steel Corporation President Jerry Pitts said the accident involved a contractor's truck and a contract employee. Pitts said the death is under investigation by Bayou Steel, contractor Diamond E Trucking and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

NEW IBERIA - An Iberia Parish principal has been placed on administrative leave after being arrested on numerous drug charges just after midnight Wednesday.

Elaine Harris Carr, 42, of Bossier City, is accused of opening three unauthorized credit card accounts in her name and her husband's name while working at WESLA Federal Credit Union. She allegedly used inactive credit card accounts of other customers to pay on her personal credit cards, said Cindy Chadwick, Caddo Parish sheriff's office spokeswoman. Caddo sheriff's Detective Alan Davidson said investigators believe Carr started manipulating the accounts seven years ago. The loss to WESLA so far is $211,000, Davidson said.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) _ The state is once again offering a "tax holiday" to help out on the cost of school supplies. From 12:01 Friday morning until midnight Saturday, Louisiana consumers won't have to pay the 4 percent state sales tax on most things they buy. All Louisiana businesses are required to participate, and the exemption extends to non-Louisiana residents. There are several limits. The break applies only to the first $2,500 of each purchase, and local sales taxes still apply. Also, the break doesn't cover purchases of cars, meals, taxable services or merchandise bought for business use. Jeff Duhe, a spokesman for the state Department of Revenue, said it's only the second year the holiday has been offered.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) _ Here are the winning numbers selected Wednesday in the Louisiana Lottery: Pick 3 3-9-2 (three, nine, two) Maximum prize $500 Pick 4 0-8-5-7 (zero, eight, five, seven) Maximum prize $5,000 Easy 5 1-4-5-7-20 (one, four, five, seven, twenty) Jackpot: $310,000 Lotto 4-12-19-20-22-33 (four, twelve, nineteen, twenty, twenty-two, thirty-three) Jackpot: $375,000

The first $2,500 of the purchase price of most tangible property items for non-business use will be exempt from the 4 percent statewide sales tax.