Steak, sushi restaurant coming to Essen

Guang Ming Lin, who owns China One restaurant on Government Street, plans to open a high-end steak and sushi restaurant in the former Vincent’s location at Essen Lane and Interstate 10. A long-term lease has been signed, and a Nov. 1 opening date has been targeted, says Mark Hebert of Kurz & Hebert Commercial Real Estate, who brokered the deal. Jim Tanner's Country Club Development owns the Vincent's building. The restaurant had been closed for more than a year, before Tanner re-opened it in mid-July.—Timothy Boone

Juban family buys Silver Spoon

The Silver Spoon, a Bocage Village restaurant known for its lunch salads, has been sold to the Juban family. Carol Juban says there are no plans to make any changes to the Silver Spoon menu, and former owners Kathy and Mike Mangham are staying on as managers. "This was a good opportunity for us to move in a different direction," Juban says. "We like what they're doing, and it's a wonderful concept." Although Juban co-owns Juban's Restaurant, there will be no connection between the popular Perkins Road spot and Silver Spoon.

IEM receives $2.2 million New Jersey contract

IEM has been awarded a $2.2 million contract to help New Jersey with emergency planning. The multiyear contract calls on the Baton Rouge company to update emergency operations plans in 14 counties and improve the level of preparedness.

New Orleans councilman says city should use BREC as a model

New Orleans City Councilman Arnie Fielkow says BREC should be a model for efforts to revamp the city's recreation department. “Baton Rouge has been nationally recognized as one of the top cities in the country in terms of the quality of recreation that they provide,” Fielkow told New Orleans CityBusiness. “Given its proximity to New Orleans geographically and its size comparisons, we think it would be instructive to really take a serious look at what Baton Rouge does in funding, what it does in governance and see if we can keep the best attributes from that system.” One problem could be that four different agencies provide recreation activities in New Orleans: Department of Parks and Parkways, City Park, Audubon Institute and New Orleans Recreation Department. BREC head Bill Palmer told the magazine that New Orleans would have to find its own way to make the department more efficient. Lafayette officials have also talked about using BREC as a model for its park system. Read the story here.

Edouard continues westward just off La. coast

Tropical Storm Edouard continues to parallel the Louisiana coast with little change in strength. According to the 10 a.m. advisory issued by the National Hurricane Center, Edouard is about 160 miles south-southeast of Lafayette, moving west near 8 mph with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph. A turn to the west-northwest is expected later today, which would bring Edouard’s center near the southwest Louisiana or upper Texas coasts by Tuesday morning. A tropical storm warning is in effect from the mouth of the Mississippi River westward to Port O’Connor, Texas. A tropical storm warning means tropical storm conditions are expected within the warned area within the next 24 hours. A hurricane watch remains in effect from west of Intracoastal City to Port O’Connor, Texas. A hurricane watch means that hurricane conditions are possible within the watch area, generally within 36 hours. For more information on Edouard, click here for the National Hurricane Center Web site and here for the National Weather Service’s Baton Rouge-New Orleans forecast office Web site.

National group raps Landrieu on labor stance

A television ad that is circulating heavily statewide accuses incumbent U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Democrat, of supporting a ban on secret-ballot elections in the workplace. It urges voters to contact her office. Landrieu campaign spokesman Scott Schneider says the ad is “patently untrue.” Media outlets in others states also targeted by the Employee Freedom Action Committee have taken the same stance after investigating and debunking the claims of similar campaign commercials.

The EFAC is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organized by Richard Berman, owner of lobbying powerhouse Berman and Co. According to an article published last week in National Journal magazine, there’s tens of millions of dollars behind the nationwide anti-labor coalition. Berman, dubbed a "star rainmaker" by The Hill newspaper, has formed several advocacy fronts through his lobbying house over the years. This one is another 501(c)(4), which means donor information does not have to be disclosed.

In particular, the Landrieu spot attacks Louisiana’s senior senator for supporting the Employee Free Choice Act, which actually allows labor organizations to unionize workplaces with the use of secret-ballot elections or through a new option: the majority sign-up process, in which workers seeking to form a union can sign cards indicating their desire to do so. The AFL-CIO, a national labor group, describes the majority sign-up process as “much faster than the government-run balloting process and leaves less time for employers to harass and intimidate workers so they will back off from joining a union.”

The Louisiana chapter of the Employee Freedom Action Committee, which sponsored the Landrieu spot, is administered by a select committee, including backers Boysie Bollinger of Lockport and Lane Grigsby of Baton Rouge. Both men are also supporters of Republican state Treasurer John Kennedy, Landrieu’s opponent this fall.—Jeremy Alford

Index looks at N.O. recovery three years after Katrina

A new report tracking the rebuilding of New Orleans has been issued several weeks shy of the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The New Orleans Recovery Index, sponsored by the Brookings Institute Metropolitan Policy Program and the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, says the Crescent City has recovered 72% of households and 90% of tax revenue pre-Katrina. Although the recovery is well under way, the city faces new challenges, such as dealing with 65,000 blighted properties, rapidly rising rents and increased demand for public transit. Click here for the report.

Poll: Most disagree with Gillis sentencing

Seventy-five percent of the people who responded to a Daily Report poll say that they disagree with the sentence in last week's trial of Sean Vincent Gillis, believing he deserved the death penalty. Thirteen percent say they oppose the death penalty and agree that Gillis should get life in prison without parole. Six percent were not sure how they felt, and 6% say the evidence supported a life sentence for Gillis. More than 1,200 people responded to the survey. Gillis was sentenced to life prison for the murder of Donna Bennett Johnston, after a jury deadlocked on the penalty phase.

Today's question: With Tropical Storm Edouard just off the south Louisiana coast, have you made preparations for this hurricane season?

Executive spotlight: John W. Bordelon

John W. Bordelon is the president and CEO of Home Bank, the Lafayette-based financial institution that is building a branch on Bluebonnet Boulevard. Bordelon says his greatest professional accomplishments have been keeping the community bank operating during the oil bust of the early 1980s and taking the company public this year in time for its 100th anniversary. "I was a Medicare examiner right out of college," he says. "I left the most regulated industry in 1981 for the second most regulated industry at Home Bank.” For the full Q&A with Bordelon, click here.

Here is one of the highlights:

Q: What is something that you can't live without?

Besides my family, I don’t think I could live long without Louisiana seafood—doesn’t matter what kind, only if there is enough.

News roundup: Shaq trims price again on Miami Beach mansion; LHC Group buys Tennessee company; Louisiana ranks last for breastfeeding

It's only $29 million: Shaquille O'Neal has again reduced the asking price on his Miami Beach, Fla., mansion, The Wall Street Journal reports. The 20,000-square-foot home now has an asking price of $29 million. O'Neal, who was traded by the NBA's Miami Heat to the Phoenix Suns last season, had asked as much as $35 million for the home. He bought the waterfront property in 2004 for about $19 million. Expanding operations: LHC Group has acquired the assets of Morristown-Hamblen Home Health and Hospice of Morristown, Tenn. Details of the sale were not released. The business will be renamed Morristown-Hamblen HomeCare and Hospice, and it will operate as a subsidiary of the partnership between Lafayette-based LHC and the University of Tennessee Medical Center. Another bad number: A report found that Louisiana ranked last for breastfeeding, with just under 48% of children nursing from their mothers. The report, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that nationally 74% of children were breastfed at least once and Utah ranked first at 90.3%. Breastfeeding has been repeatedly shown to be better for babies, since the milk is easy to digest and contains antibodies that can protect infants from infection. Reports also show lower rates of cancer in women who breastfeed.