School Board to vote on rolling millages forward

The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board is set to vote Thursday evening on rolling millage rates forward. The board wants to roll the current rate of 43.45 mills forward, instead of going to the 40.97 mill rate that came about as a result of the recent property reappraisals. Rolling the millage rate forward will bring in a little over $6 million more for the school system, says Catherine Fletcher, the chief business operations officer for the school system. Most of the school taxes are dedicated for maintenance and teacher salaries, two areas where more money is needed, she says. "Maintenance costs are going up because our buildings are old," Fletcher says. "And you know about the teacher salary situations."

Designs for new Main Library released

The East Baton Rouge Parish Library Board has posted three proposed designs for the new Main Library on its Web site. To look at the designs and comment on them, click here. All three designs call for a 100,000-square-foot building, with meeting rooms, group study rooms, activity spaces for children and teens and a quiet reading room. Plans are to break ground on the new Independence Park library next year and have the facility open by 2011.

State kicks off biofuel initiative

Louisiana appears to be turning over a new leaf—a greener leaf. The Advanced Biofuel Industry Development Initiative was officially enacted last week. It’s meant to expand fuel supplies in the state without boosting dependence on foreign oil and gas. Act 382 by Rep. Jonathan W. Perry, an Abbeville Republican, is also being framed as economic development tool for rural regions of the state and those still recovering from the 2005 hurricane season. It calls for a small network of advanced biofuel manufacturers, which in turn could create a new industry.

From a national perspective, the initiative stands out because it will not rely solely on feedstock corn to create an ethanol blend. Rather, the new law is guided by a so-called “field-to-pump strategy” that will promote other feedstocks derived from crops harvested in Louisiana. For south Louisiana, that means sugar cane. And there’s already movement: Imperial Sugar announced in May that it will build an ethanol plant next to its sugar refinery in Gramercy and be operational by 2011. The Sugar Cane Research Station in Houma is also already involved in joint ventures focusing on the production of biofuel.

The act creates two pilot programs. The first calls for a blend of fuel and advanced biofuel, meaning hydrous or anhydrous ethanol from sugar or other starches, to be made through 2012. The second would put to use the fuel blends in motor vehicles during the same period, with the Department of Agriculture and Forestry overseeing the process. According to the enacting legislation, the two pilot programs should "offer the consumer a less expensive substitute for unleaded gasoline.”—Jeremy Alford

225 wants something "ugly"

You've seen one lately for sure. Something so hideous, so unkempt, so ill advised your only recourse seems to be to cry out with your eyes burning, "Why doesn't an owner/city official/good Samaritan do something?" Now you've got another option. E-mail editor@225batonrouge.com with your nomination for the magazine’s "Ugly Awards." It can be a commercial building, city property, infrastructure or a public mess of any kind. Just make sure it's ugly.

Real Estate Weekly: New project for SU’s Cador

Real Estate Weekly is out with Southern University baseball coach Roger Cador's plan to go before the East Baton Rouge Parish Planning Commission on Aug. 25 for permission to rezone .88 acres Ford and Essex streets in order to build an affordable housing complex for seniors. Also: highlights of the Livable Louisiana Summit on Smart Growth and the latest columns from Brian Andrews and Tom Cook. To read the newsletter, click here.

Louisiana ranks No. 4 in adult obesity

A new report on adult obesity found that 29.5% of Louisiana residents were overweight to rank fourth nationally. The Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which did the study, says that's increase from the 28.2% classified as obese last year. The report says that 37 states saw obesity rates increase over the past year. Mississippi remains the fattest state, with 31.7% of residents classified as obese.

Country club to install solar panels

The Island Country Club in Plaquemine is scheduled to install 160 solar panels next week in what club officials say is one of the largest solar conversion projects in Louisiana. The panels will generate 31,680 watts of power, which will be used as supplemental energy for main clubhouse, golf shop, pool, tennis and swimming clubhouse and golf cart barn. Klein Kirby, vice chairman of A. Wilbert’s Sons, which owns The Island, says the move to solar power is a good fit since the company considers itself to be good stewards of the land and the community.

Fay makes Florida landfall as tropical storm

Tropical Storm Fay moved inland Tuesday after making landfall in southwest Florida, never growing into the hurricane that forecasters had feared. At 10 a.m., the center of the sixth named storm of the Atlantic tropical storm season was located about 50 miles east of Fort Myers was moving slowly toward the north-northeast, with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph expected to gradually weaken through the day. After crossing the Florida Keys without causing major damage Monday, Fay lumbered ashore about 5 a.m. Tuesday at Cape Romano, just south of Naples, with sustained winds of about 60 mph. Cape Romano is the same spot where Hurricane Wilma, a Category 3 storm, made landfall in October 2005. Forecasters say Fay could restrengthen during a 24- to 48-hour period when the center enters the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Canaveral; a developing ridge of high pressure is expected to turn Fay to the west-northwest toward the northeast Florida or Georgia coasts. Click here for the National Weather Service Web site for updates on Fay.

Olympics: Fowles sparks Team USA rout of South Korea

Women’s basketball: Former LSU standout Sylvia Fowles had 26 points and 14 rebounds to lead the U.S. to a 104-60 rout of South Korea today and advance to the semifinals. It's the sixth straight Olympics that the Americans have advanced to the medal round. The Americans will face either Russia or Spain in the semifinals Thursday night. … Women’s track and field: Former LSU standout Lolo Jones finished seventh in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 12.72 seconds. Jones’ USA teammate, Dawn Harper, took the gold medal in 12.54 seconds, while Australia’s Sally McLellan won the silver (12.64) and Canada’s Priscilla Lopes-Schliep the bronze (12.64)....Women’s gymnastics: Shawn Johnson finally got her Olympic gold medal in the last event of the women's competition, the balance beam. Johnson, bothered by a headache before the competition, nailed her routine that is chock-full of difficult tricks, earning a 16.225. American Nastia Liukin won the silver medal, and Cheng Fei of China took the bronze. ....Women’s beach volleyball: Americans Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh knocked off Brazilians Renata Ribeiro and Talita Antunes 21-12, 21-14 to move within a step of becoming the first team to defend an Olympic beach volleyball title. May-Treanor and Walsh are favorites to beat China's Tian Jia and Wang Jie in the final on Thursday.

Poll: Most save less than a quarter of what they make

Fifty-two percent of respondents to a Daily Report survey say they are saving less than 25% of their salary. Twenty-two percent say they save more than a quarter of what they make, while 18% say they spend as much as they make. Eight percent say they spend more than their salary. More than 1,050 people participated in the survey.

Today's question: The presidents of more than 100 universities are requesting that the drinking age be lowered to 18 to reduce binging. What do you think of this idea?

News roundup: Back-to-college spending set to drop … Housing starts, permits tumble in July … Wholesale inflation rises at fastest pace since 1981

Shelling out less: Back-to-college spending is projected to drop 6.7% this year as the weak economy causes students to cut back on buying clothes, electronics and dorm furnishings. The National Retail Federation says the average college student will spend $599 getting ready to go back to class, compared with an average of $642 last year. In contrast, back-to-school spending for elementary and high school students is expected to increase 5.5% this year to an average of $594 per child. … Double-figure decreases: Home building projects started in July fell 11% to the lowest annual rate in more than 17 years, while building permits tumbled 17.7%, the Commerce Department reported today. The annual pace of housing starts at 965,000 slimly beat Wall Street's expectations of 960,000, but it was the lowest since a 921,000 unit rate in March 1991. Building permits, an indicator of future construction, dropped to an annual rate of 937,000, well below the 970,000 analysts polled by Reuters had forecast. … Wholesale prices increase more than twice the expected gain: Wholesale inflation surged in July, leaving prices for the past year rising at the fastest pace in 27 years, according to government data released today. The Labor Department reported that wholesale prices shot up 1.2% in July, pushed higher by rising costs for energy, motor vehicles and other products. The increase was more than twice the 0.5% gain that economists expected. Core prices, which exclude food and energy, rose 0.7%. That increase was the biggest since November 2006 and more than triple the 0.2% rise in core prices that had been expected.