Robertson faces suspension over law practice

East Baton Rouge Parish School Board member Darryl Robertson, whose letter to The Advocate likened the takeover of failing schools to the Tuskegee experiment, could be in trouble over his law practice. A three-member Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board committee has recommended he be suspended for a year, six months of it deferred. The group suggests he be placed on supervised probation during the final six months, that a monitor be appointed to keep an eye on his practice for three months and that Robertson complete the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Ethics School Program. The Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed formal charges against Robertson in February, alleging he violated the Rules of Professional Conduct nine times. In its opinion, the review committee says the allegations have “been admitted and proven by clear and convincing evidence.” Earlier, Robertson said he was rethinking his intention not to run for a third term. Robertson's letter prompted calls for his resignation from the board from Business Report publisher Rolfe McCollister, with nearly 80% of respondents to a Daily Report poll Friday agreeing. Robertson says he's received a great deal of support from his District 3 constituents, however, and could run for a third term. "Because of the reaction I've gotten from people in my community, I have to rethink that," he says. "I welcome the Business Report to poll people in District 3." Read the full version of the story here.—Penny Brown Font and Steve Clark

Local retailers expect holiday sales to hold even

Despite a national recession, area retailers anticipate level or slightly better sales on Black Friday compared to last year. “I think we’re going to be in real good shape. We’re expecting a lot of traffic here on Friday,” says Monique Hester, marketing director at Mall at Cortana. Retailers were more proactive this year with earlier advertising, deeper discounts and a little lagniappe to appeal to this season’s more value-conscious shopper. Ed Savold, store manager at the J.C. Penney location in Cortana, also anticipates level or slightly better sales on Black Friday. A manager who asked not to be identified at the Super Target on Siegen Lane said the top-selling items are expected to be the Nintendo Wii video-game system, other electronics, toys and small appliances.

According to an International Council of Shopping Centers survey, 45% say they plan to shop the day after Thanksgiving and into the weekend. Some 81% of holiday shoppers say they’re going to shop a discount store, such as Wal-Mart or Target, 78% plan to buy gifts at a department store and 63% look to shop at electronics retailers. Michael Niemira, ICSC chief economist, says the results are somewhat surprising, but underscore how pent-up demand can be triggered by promotions. Survey results also indicate more shoppers will take advantage of bargains (45% compared to 36% last year), and more of them will shop for themselves (81% compared to last year’s 69%).—Anna Thibodeaux

Employment figures show rebound from hurricanes

The dip in employment caused by hurricanes Gustav and Ike during September appears to have subsided, according to figures released this morning by the Louisiana Workforce Commission. The commission says 16,500 more people were working in October than in September, based on preliminary numbers for unadjusted labor force employment. There were 1.96 million people employed in Louisiana in October, compared with 1.95 million in September. The number of people working in metro Baton Rouge was up by more than 3,500, to 356,961. Unemployment dropped in the Capital Region, from 5.4% in September, to 5.1% in October. That put the area below the state rate of 5.3%. Compared with October 2007, metro Baton Rouge has added 2,425 jobs, but the unemployment rate has gone from 3.3% to 5.1%.

Real Estate Weekly: Apartment vacancies increase post-Gustav

Real Estate Weekly has news on the Baton Rouge apartment market, which has seen an increase in the number of vacancies since Hurricane Gustav. Also: the Baton Rouge Growth Coalition seeks nominations for its Good Growth Awards, the latest column from Tom Cook and a look at the addition to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. To read the newsletter, click here.

Government announces new loan program

The government, still struggling to manage a severe financial crisis, unveiled two new programs today that will provide $800 billion to try to help unfreeze the market for consumer debt from home mortgages to credit cards. The announcements by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department represented the latest modifications to the largest government bailout in history, a program designed to keep the troubled financial system from dragging the country into a deep and prolonged recession. To try to increase the availability of home loans to borrowers, the Federal Reserve said it will buy up to $100 billion in direct obligations from mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as the Federal Home Loan Banks. The Fed also will buy $500 billion in mortgage-backed securities, pools of mortgages that are bundled together and sold to investors. The program on consumer debt will lend up to $200 billion to the holders of securities backed by various types of consumer loans. It will be supported by $20 billion of credit protection from the $700 billion bailout package that was enacted last month.

Economy’s third-quarter tumble worse than expected

The economy took a tumble in the summer that was worse than first thought as American consumers throttled back their spending by the most in 28 years, further proof the country is almost certainly in the throes of a painful recession. The updated reading on the economy's performance, released today by the Commerce Department, showed the gross domestic product shrank at a 0.5% annual rate in the July-September quarter. That was weaker than the 0.3% rate of decline first estimated a month ago, and marked the worst showing since the economy contracted at a 1.4% pace in the third quarter of 2001, when the nation was suffering through its last recession.

CPEX releases results of 'walking audit'

The Center for Planning Excellence and the Louisiana Department of Transportation have released the results of a “walkability audit” for Polk Elementary School conducted Aug. 13. Recommendations include better signage in the area around the school, bike lanes, better sidewalk maintenance and the development of “walking school buses” consisting of groups of children walking with one or two adults. A copy of the report can be downloaded here. The audit was done to raise awareness about the importance of walking or biking to school, study how students use the surrounding sidewalks and road crossings and identify ways to make those routes safer for children and other residents.

Fishing for money

An additional $40 million in disaster assistance has been secured to help Louisiana’s struggling fisheries recover from hurricanes Gustav and Ike. The funding has been made available through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service, a division of the federal Department of Commerce. To tap into the funds, Louisiana must develop a detailed plan outlining how the money will be used. NOAA guidelines state the money must be used to “assess the economic and social effects of the commercial fishery failure, restore the fishery, or prevent a similar failure in the future.”

The Louisiana Recovery Authority has been charged with developing the plan to spend the money, but LRA Executive Director Paul Rainwater says the money earmarked is merely a drop in the proverbial bucket. "This funding is a solid step forward, however we still have a great need of $250 million to assist our fishing industry in recovering from these storms, especially since the industry was still struggling after Katrina and Rita when hurricanes Gustav and Ike hit,” Rainwater says. “While we appreciate that there have been commercial fishing losses throughout the United States, we feel that NOAA has again undervalued Louisiana's needs.”

Rainwater adds that he will be making the case for more funds later today when he travels to Washington, D.C., to brief members of Congress on the state's unmet needs. He described Louisiana's fishing industry as “one of the economic engines of the state” that produces a quarter of the nation's seafood.—Jeremy Alford

News roundup: Many employees plan on shopping online while at work … Company looking to develop studio in New Orleans area … Consumer confidence up slightly

Watch out for the boss: Twenty-nine percent of employees say they plan to do some online holiday gift buying while at work, according to a new survey. The CareerBuilder.com report says of the online shoppers, 43% anticipate they will spend more than one hour looking for presents while at work, 23% plan on sending two hours or more and 13% will spend three hours or more hunting for presents. But look out for someone else watching to see who's naughty or nice: half of the companies say they monitor the Internet use of employees.

Hollywood South: Camelot Entertainment Group says it is looking to develop a movie studio in metro New Orleans. The company, which plans to build two studios in Southern California, says it has been looking at Louisiana sites for two years.

Better outlook: The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index, which hit an all-time low in October, improved slightly in November. Falling gas prices reduced inflation fears, but consumers are extremely pessimistic and more people said jobs were "hard to get.”

Are you the fittest exec in the Capital Region?

Business Report launches its first Fittest Execs competition, in which Capital Region business executives compete in four categories (men under 50, men over 50, women under 50 and women over 50). The competition is limited to C-level, president, vice president, owner, partner, executive director or retired executives of companies or corporations with more than five employees. Fitness appraisals will take place at Bally Total Fitness Baton Rouge through Friday, Dec. 19, with the results to be announced in the Jan. 13 issue of Business Report. The deadline to enter is Monday, Dec. 15. Click here to register or for more information.