It took a special session to approve a budget for next fiscal year and lawmakers have bigger money problems in the very near future. Jeff Palermo has the latest…
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Bayou Teche Brewing cuts the ribbon on the newly expanded brewery in Arnaudville. Halen Doughty has more…
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It looks like Louisiana economy is picking up as nonfarm and private sector jobs are on the rise. Emelie Gunn has more…
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Legislators struggled to approve a budget this year and the state’s financial woes will only look worse next year. That’s because one-point-two billion dollars in temporary taxes will expire in July 2018. Publisher of lapolitics.com, Jeremy Alford, says state lawmakers face more difficult decisions…
It’s expected the governor will call a special session early next year so legislators can address the fiscal cliff. Alford says the governor may propose ideas recommended by a task force that studied the state’s tax code, but that doesn’t mean the legislature will agree with those proposals
A big portion of the temporary taxes that will expire next year is the additional penny put on the state sales tax last year by legislators to address a massive budget shortfall. Alford says the easiest thing for lawmakers to do is to keep the fifth sales tax penny on the books
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Bayou Teche Brewing has a newly expanded Arnaudville brewery. President Karlos Knott says they added 50-percent more floor space, including new office space and an automated keg washing system. The expansion was needed to increase sales of their year-round LA 31 beers and seasonal beers. He says they’re excited about a new fully-automatic smart brewhouse from the Italian manufacturer Simatec.
This brewhouse is the first of its kind in the country. Knott says while it’s exciting to be on the forefront, it’s also nerve-racking to be the Guinee pig. He says there’s hundreds of them in Europe, and the owners they talked to love them.
The smart brewhouse can produce up to 13 batches in just 24 hours. Knott says the new technology should help them brew at least three time as many beers in a day. He says the company is also going to help them further automate the brewery as they expand.
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Employment is on the rise in the Bayou State. In May, nonfarm employment increased by 10,500 jobs, the best one month gain since July of 2011. Executive Director of the Louisiana Workforce Commission Ava Dejoie says there’s been a noticeable improvement to the state’s employment landscape over the past month.
Private sector employment increased by more than 9-thousand jobs over the month of May. Dejoie says our economy is tied to oil and gas but we’re turning the tide and diversifying the economy.
Even with these improvements, Louisiana unemployment rate is 5.7-percent, the third highest in the country. But Dejoie says the industrial boom in Lake Charles has created an additional 16-hundred jobs in May and flood recovery efforts are also producing jobs.
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The Beauregard Parish Police Jury has expressed interest in taking possession of the P.G.T. Beauregard statue. It was one of four controversial confederate statues taken down in New Orleans. Police Jury President Rusty Williamson says it’s the right place for the monument, since the parish is named after the Confederate General.
Members of the Beauregard Community Coalition do not support moving the statue to Beauregard Parish. But Williamson says after a poll of the police jury, they determined bringing it to the parish was the best idea to avoid the namesake statue ending up in the trash. He says there are a variety of places to erect the statue other than the courthouse.
Williamson says he will meet with the Community Coalition this week to discuss options for a location for the equestrian statue. But he says it’s unclear if or when they may get the statue, because the removal of this monument is tied up in the courts.
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Something has to give in tonight’s College World Series winner’s bracket matchup between LSU and Oregon State. The Tigers have won 17 in a row, while the Beavers have won 22 straight. Oregon State is an impressive 55-4 on the season, but Coach Paul Mainieri says they can be defeated…
Both teams rallied from behind to win in the opening round of the C-W-S. Mainieri says expects another hard fought battle tonight…
Shortstop Kramer Robertson says they know it will take a great effort to get a win over Oregon State…