McCain to headline Business Awards and Hall of Fame Banquet
Arizona Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential front-runner, is the guest speaker for the 25th annual Business Awards and Hall of Fame Banquet presented by Business Report and Junior Achievement. The event, sponsored by Capital One and Franklin Press, is scheduled for Thursday, April 24 at the Holiday Inn Select on Constitution Avenue. Charlie Valluzzo of McDonald's is the Hall of Fame Inductee; Lee Domingue of AppOne is the Businessperson of the Year; Louis DeAngelo Jr. of Louis DeAngelo Restaurants is the Young Businessperson of the Year; Louisiana Workers' Compensation Corporation was named Company of the Year (100 or more employees) and Window World of Baton Rouge is the Company of the Year (less than 100 employees). Tickets are $75 per person, $550 for a table of eight and $700 for a table of 10. Proceeds benefit the Junior Achievement Endowment Fund. For tickets, call Junior Achievement at 928-7008 or go online to Junior Achievement’s Web site here.
New Coca-Cola plant getting bigger
Baton Rouge Coca-Cola Bottling Co. is making changes to the $80 million bottling plant and distribution facility it is building near Metro Airport. The company is expected to go before the Planning Commission on Monday afternoon with a proposal to add 184,000 square feet to the facility, which is scheduled to open in the fall. The addition would boost the size of the plant to 459,000 square feet. The planning commission is also set to vote on the first phase of the Americana TND in Zachary, which includes 121 lots, and a new walkway to the Belle of Baton Rouge riverboat casino.
Louisiana’s has lowest auto insurance decrease in nation
Over the past three years, auto insurance rates have dropped by the smallest amount in Louisiana than any other state, according to State Farm. Since Jan. 1, 2004, rates have dipped by 1.72% in Louisiana, well below the average national drop of 14.8%. A company spokesman says the slight decrease was caused by Louisiana reporting a smaller decline in the frequency of claims, compared to other states. New Jersey reported the biggest decline, with rates falling by 29.2%. State Farm said a steady drop in claims and an improved regulatory environment caused the Garden State’s decrease. To read the recent Business Report story on why Louisiana's auto insurance rates are so high, click here.
Legislature to consider new state planning agency
Whether it’s a non-binding resolution or an actual bill, expect lawmakers to ponder the creation of a new Office of State Planning in the upcoming spring regular session. The proposed office would be located in the executive branch and would provide various forms of support to local governments and others in regard to planning efforts.
While there isn’t an official price tag yet, there are indicators. For starters, Louisiana once had an Office of State Planning before it was disbanded during the 1970s. It had a staff of about 20 people and a $4 million budget (adjusted for inflation). Nationwide, at least 28 states have some sort of planning function at the executive level. For instance, Maryland’s Department of Planning has a staff of approximately 110 and an $8 million budget.
All of this information was released to lawmakers last week, the end product of a study crafted by a special task force. The Legislature requested the information in 2007 and created the task force to carry out the mission. While the proposed office is still in its early stages, the task force has recommended to the Legislature that, after its creation, the Office of State Planning be evaluated to become a “cabinet-level department.” The report also suggests that the Louisiana Recovery Authority oversee the transition process and that the office be accountable to another public-private board—to be created later.
As for the duties of the office, the report identifies facilitating funding for local planning, developing statewide benchmarks, analyzing land-use laws and much more. The proposed office may also get the authority to provide incentives for local plans that conform to certain state priorities, similar to the planning offices in New Jersey and Maryland. Georgia, Wisconsin and Washington have incentive programs as well.
The new agency is a priority of Louisiana Speaks, the state’s post-hurricane planning organization. To read the full version of the report, click here. --Jeremy Alford
Baker Donelson to conduct Chinese business seminars
Baker Donelson, the Memphis-based law firm with offices in Baton Rouge, will host a series of seminars in China aimed at helping companies there do business in the U.S. The first seminar will be held March 5 in Nanjing, one of China's business centers. More than 50 Chinese businesses are expected to attend the seminar. Baker Donelson is also planning to hold seminars across the Southeast, discussing intellectual property law and China trade.
B.R. nanotech firm sold to regenerative medicine company
NanoMatrix, a Baton Rouge-based company that develops products used in regenerative medicine, has been acquired by Organogenesis Inc., a Massachusetts company that was the first to mass-produce synthetic skin. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Regenerative medicine uses living cells to repair or replace body tissue damaged by injury, disease or the aging process. NanoMatrix has expertise in electrospinning, where tiny fibers are used to create a scaffold that mimic the structure and biochemical environment of human tissue.
Poll: Readers agree that 'No Country' is best picture
Daily Report readers and Oscar voters have the same taste in movies. Forty-one percent of the people who responded to an online survey say that No Country for Old Men would win the Academy Award for best picture. The film, a brooding, bloody tale of violence in a desolate corner of west Texas, won four Oscars on Sunday night, including best picture, best director for brothers Joel and Ethan Coen and best supporting actor for Javier Bardem. Michael Clayton finished a distant second in the poll, with 17%—maybe because of stars George Clooney and Tilda Swinton (who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress) or maybe because the movie shares the same name as the former standout football player for Christian Life and LSU. Nearly 550 people participated in the survey.
Today's question: Metairie’s Clearview Mall recently instituted a curfew that bans teens under the age of 16 on weekend evenings and nights unless they are accompanied by an adult. Should Baton Rouge’s two malls institute similar measures?
News roundup: Home sales drop for fifth straight month; some markets restricting mortgages; almost 11.7 million plastic surgery procedures performed last year
Housing slump continues: The sale of existing houses fell to the lowest level in nearly 10 years in January, while the median price of a home fell for the fifth straight month, The Associated Press report. The National Association of Realtors said today that sales of single-family homes and condominiums dropped by 0.4% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units, the slowest sales pace on records going back to 1999. The median price of a home sold in January slid to $201,100, a drop of 4.6% from a year ago. Only people with good credit need apply: Financial analyst Jim Cramer is circulating a list of 30 housing markets where mortgages have been restricted to only people with good credit. The list, which comes from the Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Company, covers states and metro areas hit hardest by the housing slump, including California, Florida and Detroit. See the full list here. Nip/tuck nation: Nearly 11.7 million cosmetic surgical and nonsurgical procedures were performed in 2007, a 457% increase since the figures started being compiled in 1997. The report, from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, found that Botox injections were the most common non-surgical procedure, with nearly 2.8 patients being injected with the wrinkle remover, while liposuction was the most common surgical procedure, with more than 450,000 men and women undergoing the treatment.
