Shell has announced they will cut an additional 2,800 jobs as crude oil prices hover multi-year lows. The company previously announced a cut of 7,500 jobs. LSU Economist Dr. Loren Scott says, with crude oil prices below $40 a barrel, the entire industry is almost in a panic mode…:
CUT 3 (08) “Gulf of Mexico”
Scott says as long as Saudi Arabia floods the market with crude oil, prices will not improve forcing oil companies to continue to cut back.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office says one of their employees who was found dead in her personal vehicle Monday morning is identified as a JPSO sergeant. They say 47-year-old Tracey Marshall was located by first responders in the drivers seat shot multiple times and pronounced dead on the scene. Marshal, who joined the JPSO in 2005, was a sergeant assigned to the courts as a bailiff. The investigation is ongoing.

Long lines are expected at the post office today — the busiest mailing day of the year. USPS spokesman McKinney Boyd says, nationwide, they will process more than 600 million pieces of mail today alone. He says lots of folks went Christmas shopping over the weekend, wrapped up their packages Sunday, and today will drop them off at the post office…:
CUT 6 (06) “loved ones”
For arrival by Christmas, they recommend sending by December 21 for Priority Mail and December 23rd for express shipping.

The Army Corps of Engineers says they are inspecting levees for signs of seepage or failure from Baton Rouge south as the Mississippi River rises above 12 and a quarter feet above sea level in New Orleans. In Baton Rouge the water level was at 31 feet Monday. Restrictions during the high water period include no transportation of heavy loads over the levee and no underground work within 1500 feet of the levee.