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Friday, July 4, 2008

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Crown Crafts Inc., the Gonzales-based maker of infant clothing and bedding products, has agreed to form a “strategic review committee” to explore its future, though it did not elaborate on what the alternatives might include.

It’s official: Louisiana’s Department of Labor is no more, and the Louisiana Workforce Commission replaced it Thursday as an engine of job creation, worker training and unemployment compensation in the state.

A Baton Rouge construction contractor doing work for Perkins Rowe said late Wednesday that, even though it doesn’t have the money, it will pay a painting subcontractor who has staged small pickets this week in front of the high-profile development.

Businessman Bob Dean, a longtime buy-and-hold investor in downtown Baton Rouge property, will test the strength of the current downtown real estate market with a pair of high-profile buildings.

The Louisiana Public Facilities Authority has completed an $11 million bond sale for Grigsby Properties LLC that will fund Cajun Industries LLC’s corporate headquarters expansion in Baton Rouge and construction of a new multipurpose facility in West Baton Rouge Parish.

The Louisiana Public Facilities Authority completed an $11 million bond sale for Grigsby Properties LLC that will fund Cajun Industries LLC’s corporate headquarters expansion in Baton Rouge and construction of a new multipurpose facility in West Baton Rouge Parish.

Businessman Bob Dean, a leading investor in downtown Baton Rouge real estate, has put the eight-story Commerce Building up for sale for $11.4 million a year after saying he would develop it himself as an entertainment destination.

When Davis Rhorer reckons capital investment in downtown Baton Rouge — $1.7 billion since 1993 — prospects for the next decade stagger his imagination.

NEW ORLEANS — A state law designed to accelerate the cleanup of property polluted by petroleum production was reinstated Tuesday by the Louisiana Supreme Court.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street began the third quarter Tuesday with a moderate decline as rising oil prices and weak economic data made it clear the country can expect no respite anytime soon from its morass of financial problems.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Korean joint venture that acquired much of Taylor Energy Co. this year has named itself Ankor Energy LLC and will officially begin running the operation today.

The Shaw Group Inc. reported spending $220,000 lobbying the federal government on a variety of topics during the first quarter, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.

The Baton Rouge Area Chamber’s new chief executive, Adam Knapp, sees strength and legs in the region’s economy despite the nation’s flirtation with recession since late 2007 and despite declining housing prices in metro markets on the East and West coasts.

Ronald Oakley, who has headed a key operating unit of The Shaw Group Inc. since 2006, is bound for a new executive job heading the company’s operations in Europe — an emerging market for the company’s Power Group.

Office Depot will open its sixth Baton Rouge-area store in Bluebonnet Village, the shopping center anchored by Matherne’s Supermarket at the corner of Bluebonnet Boulevard and Perkins Road.

The Louisiana Edible Creations Center in Gonzales will acquire what it considers to be the final linchpin for providing a turnkey facility to help startup food companies sell their products at retail stores.

High fuel and energy costs rank second only to the cost of health care among the problems facing small business owners nationally, according to one of several surveys by the National Federation of Independent Business, its Louisiana chapter said in a release today.

Oil prices surged past $143 a barrel for the first time ever Monday, and the price for a gallon of gas hit an all-time high in the United States. Supply concerns and a fragile global economy continue to drive the price of oil to new highs, as well as continued tensions in the Middle East.
•Baton Rouge Area Gas Prices

REDMOND, Wash. (AP) -- On his final full day at Microsoft Corp., Bill Gates went on stage to reminisce with his longtime friend Steve Ballmer, and neither man could hold back tears as Ballmer handed Gates a large scrapbook as a farewell present. Gates, who is stepping back to focus on his philanthropy, sat with CEO Ballmer in a Microsoft conference room and meandered through moments in Microsoft's history. They stopped to get in a few good digs at IBM Corp., whose first personal computers were loaded with Microsoft's DOS operating system before IBM adopted its own operating software and their relations strained.
•AP Timeline: Bill Gates last day at Microsoft

Film Horizons, an investor fund seeking to back Louisiana-made movies, wants to raise $20 million by the end of the year. Because multiple films will be produced with the fund, the total production value of the movies could reach $150 million over the five-year life cycle of the fund, said Christopher Fink of Nova Features LLC.

Baton Rouge scores higher than competing cities in Texas, Mississippi and Alabama in the hunt for regional distribution centers, a new Jacobs Engineering study concludes.

There are no longer any excuses for Baton Rouge area residents who think about and talk about getting in shape but don’t actually get in shape.

Local businessman and longtime fitness entrepreneur Donnie Jarreau has seen first-hand the recent boom in fitness centers that are stirring up competition.

MAPP Construction of Baton Rouge is getting a contract to build the Jefferson Parish Emergency Telecommunications and Emergency Operations Center in Gretna.

Cathy Maher-Griffiths has been named risk manager at Baton Rouge General Medical Center. She was director of women and children’s services.

Dr. Gloria Richard-Davis and Dr. Darrell J. Carmen, both from Louisiana and Southern University graduates, were on the “Best and Brightest in Medicine” list published in Black Enterprise magazine.

EXCHANGE CLUB OF BATON ROUGE

Houston-based Cheniere Energy Inc., which is developing several liquefied natural gas terminals in Cameron Parish and southeast Texas, has entered into a domestic marketing agreement with J.P. Morgan Ventures Energy Corp.

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development has extended its engineering contract with Ardaman & Associates Inc.

Louisiana Department of Labor Secretary Tim Barfield will be the guest speaker at the Baton Rouge Black Chamber of Commerce’s networking breakfast July 11 at 7 a.m. at the McKinley Alumni Center.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks slid again Friday after their sharp dive in the previous session, with investors anxious about a new oil price record and dubious that personal income and spending will remain resilient.

Entergy Corporation needs to replace the two steam generators at its Waterford III nuclear power plant, an operation that will cost customers $511 million according to a filing by the state’s largest electricity provider made with the State Public Service Commission.

HAMMOND — The bulk of the big-box retailers and restaurants that will make up the $100 million transformation of Hammond’s former enclosed mall into an outdoor upscale shopping center will open in summer 2009, Sterling Properties Chairman Jimmy Maurin said Thursday.

The Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association board Thursday elected longtime Director Michael Gray to serve as its chairman.

A group of Louisiana investors has an option to buy 1,700 acres in Vacherie and will apply for permits to build a 10 million barrel petroleum storage facility and port terminal along the Mississippi River.

Albemarle Corp., of Baton Rouge, said Thursday it will install a new system at its Pasadena, Texas, plant to remove more than 80 percent of the waste that results from making a chemical catalyst.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The economy turned in a better - but still subpar - performance in the first three months of this year, mostly spurred by stronger sales of U.S. products overseas. The 1 percent annualized increase in gross domestic product, announced by the Commerce Department on Thursday, marked a slight improvement from the government's previous estimate of 0.9 percent growth for the January-to-March quarter. And, it showed the economy logging stronger growth than the feeble 0.6 percent pace registered in the final three months of last year.

What a difference a year makes. In May 2007, Louisiana’s post-hurricane growth had built a 66,000-job bulge over the prior May.

Baton Rouge businessman Jack Rome Jr.’s financial problems have mushroomed into a lawsuit filed by one of his largest creditors.

A Rhode Island company that has manufactured paper industry chemicals in Livingston Parish since 1984 will move its headquarters here next year, state officials said Wednesday.

Martin Wine Cellar will open a second Baton Rouge location on Perkins Road late this summer.

Louisiana had slightly fewer people working in May than April but the state’s jobless rate improved from 4.1 percent to 4.0 percent because fewer people also were unemployed.

An airline travel Web site lists Metro Airport among 50 large U.S. airports that might lose service as the airline industry’s financial struggles continue

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday slashed the $2.5 billion punitive damages award in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster to $500 million.

Louisiana’s Department of Economic Development will wield $350 million more in firepower to beat bids from competing states and nations in the state financial year beginning July 1.

The state Board of Commerce and Industry authorized an estimated $60.6 million in business tax breaks for June but rejected a late application from a barge company building across from a proposed St. James Parish steel mill site.

Four consulting teams have made their pitch to work on the second phase of Plan Baton Rouge, the planning effort credited with kick-starting the resurgence of downtown a decade ago.

Retail spending was up in April, but the area outside the city limits continues to do the heavy lifting. Retail spending in East Baton Rouge Parish rose 7 percent in April compared with the year before, with businesses and consumers spending $635.4 million.

The city-parish Planning Commission signed off on conceptual plans for two large developments Monday. The commission approved plans and zoning for a 36-acre mixed-use River Park development on the Mississippi River downtown near the Hollywood Casino. Also receiving approval was Howell Place South, a 47-acre mixed-used development on the north side of Airline Highway west of Plank Road.

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