Crude oil traded in negative territory today. Kevin Barnhart has the story.
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A survey of Louisiana small businesses finds nearly 60-percent of them are at the risk of closing over the next five months as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Brooke Thorington explains.
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For the first time ever, West Texas Intermediate oil futures traded in the negative today. Louisiana Oil and Gas Association President Gifford Briggs says the energy industry is on the verge of collapse…
Cut 3 (08) “…and it happens.”
Briggs says the industry is facing a crisis, with many Louisiana wells planning to shut in 100% of their production due to storage constraints as companies are being told they can’t take delivery in May.
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Briggs believes the biggest element to stabilizing the industry is to get the economy rolling again and says there are relief efforts such as broad-scale royalty relief in the Gulf of Mexico.
Cut 5 (11) “…of making payroll.”
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Ten years ago today the BP Oil Spill killed 11 rig workers and coated much of the state’s coastline in tar.
Congressman Garrett Graves was the head of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority at the time. He says his first thoughts upon seeing the news were about the lives lost, and the work that had been undone.
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The Deepwater Horizon well sat about 41 miles off the Louisiana coast drilling in the Macondo Prospect.
The cleanup job was immense, but Graves remembers it was expedited by a one of its kind agreement cut with BP to get projects off the ground in record time…
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Along with its financial penalties, BP also plead guilty to 11 counts of manslaughter and felony lying to Congress.
Louisiana received just over eight billion dollars in settlement funds to help restore the coast and billions more in economic damages as a result.
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The spill pumped 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf.
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The US Supreme Court rules all felony trials must be decided by a unanimous jury verdict, a decision likely to result in dozens of retrials in Louisiana.
In 2018, Louisiana passed a constitutional amendment ending its practice of allowing non-unanimous verdicts, but Loyola University Law Professor Dane Ciolino says the amendment was not retroactive…
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After the amendment passed Oregon remained the only state not to require unanimous jury verdicts.
There are likely hundreds of people incarcerated in Louisiana due to non-unanimous verdicts whose cases are decided and whose appeals are done. Ciolino says for them…
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The decision will likely result in some high-profile retrials. Ciolino says one of those will likely be for Ronald Glasser who was convicted of murdering NFL running back Joe McKnight in 2016.
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The 6-3 ruling came as a result of an appeal by Evangelisto Ramos, who was found guilty of killing a woman in New Orleans in 2014 on a 10-2 vote that he appealed on constitutional grounds.
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A Main Street America survey shows nearly 60-percent of small businesses in the state are in danger of closing permanently due to COVID-19 in the next six months. Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser is a co-chairman of the Resilient Louisiana Commission which will make recommendations on how to reopen the state’s economy…
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Nungesser says while the Mayor of New Orleans has extended its stay at home order to May 16th, but he’s optimistic the rest of the state can reopen businesses sooner and that even Mayor Cantrell might reconsider the extension.
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Nungesser encourages Louisianans to have a staycation when they can venture out again and to visit a part of the state they’ve never been to and support the local economy.
Cut 14 (08) “…local restaurant.”