13 apply for job as Pennington’s executive director

Thirteen applicants have applied for the job as executive director of Pennington Biomedical Research Center, including the head of another university nutrition center, an obesity researcher for a major pharmaceutical company and the head of the Naval Hospital Corps School. Pennington's search committee released the names and will consider applicants Monday. Dr. Claude Bouchard, who has been head of Pennington for 10 years, announced in March he was stepping down to return to research and teaching. Applicants for his job include James Hill, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver; Steven Heymsfield, global director of scientific affairs for obesity for Merck & Co.; and Stephen Parker, a dentist who runs the Naval Hospital Corps School in Great Lakes, Ill.

Report: Baton Rouge housing market still one of nation's best

Baton Rouge is expected to be the best large market for home prices, according to a quarterly forecast released today. The Local Market Monitor looked at home price performances for more than 300 metro areas. Officials note that even the top markets aren't expected to see home prices increasing, rather values should remain steady. New Orleans was ranked sixth, while Lake Charles was ranked as the fifth-best small market. Other large markets expected to do well include Columbia, S.C.; Fort Worth, Texas; and Houston. On the other end, some of the worst-performing markets are Bakersfield, Calif.; Bradenton, Fla.; and Las Vegas, areas where massive overbuilding took place.

Forbes says Baton Rouge is a good value

For the second day in a row, the Baton Rouge Area Chamber is highlighting a Forbes magazine report, this time a list ranking the Baton Rouge area 16th in a list of “best bang-for-the-buck cities.” The report ranked the nation’s 100 largest metro areas based on foreclosures as a percentage of housing units, vacancies, unemployment rates, a three-year job-growth forecast, a three-year home-price forecast, housing affordability, median real estate taxes and median travel time to work. Most notable for Baton Rouge is a No. 1 ranking in the median real estate taxes category, BRAC says. Omaha-Council Bluffs, Neb.-Iowa, gives the best bang for your buck, according to Forbes; the same area ranked first on the Forbes list of fastest-recovering cities. You can read the story here.

Miles discusses LSU coaching vacancy with ex-Tiger

LSU Coach Les Miles has spoken to Buffalo Bills receivers coach Tyke Tolbert regarding an opening on the Tigers’ staff, Louisiana Gannett News reports. LSU receivers coach D.J. McCarthy resigned Wednesday after recently being linked to a possible NCAA violation concerning defensive tackle Akiem Hicks of Sacramento City Community College in California; LSU admitted last week that it turned in the possible violation to the Southeastern Conference after repeated questioning by reporters. Hicks has not played this season. Tolbert played at LSU from 1988-90 and was a receivers coach at Louisiana-Monroe from 1995-98 and Louisiana-Lafayette from 1999-2001, and has been with the Bills since 2004. He also coached tight ends at Auburn in 1998 and at Florida in 2002 and was the receivers coach with the Arizona Cardinals in 2003. To read the Louisiana Gannett News story, click here.

N.O. high school ranked among nation's best

Thirty-one Louisiana public high schools were ranked among the nation's best, according to a new report from U.S. News & World Report. Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans was ranked 27th in the magazine's list of the 100 best high schools in the nation. The magazine looked at factors such as how students did on standardized tests compared with other high schools in the state and the percentage of students who passed Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests. Baton Rouge High and University High were ranked as silver-medal schools. McKinley High, French Settlement High and West Feliciana High were ranked as bronze-medal schools. Overall, Louisiana ranked 30th out of all states for high-school performance. For the full article, click here.

State energy leases provide early Christmas

After opening the year with a string of record lows, members of the Louisiana Mineral Board spent Tuesday and Wednesday overseeing the most successful December energy lease sale the state has experienced in 13 years. Overall, the board awarded 38 leases covering about 5,640 acres statewide. Nearly $9 million in bonuses were collected from the winning bidders, bringing the total sum generated by the board since the current fiscal year kicked off July 1 to $34 million. Technically, that fiscal year-to-date total is down from the $191 million the board had in its coffers in December of last year, but the inflated figure is chiefly due to the historic play in the Haynesville Shale area in north Louisiana. In December 2007, a better year for comparison, the board had collected only $16 million. While this month’s sale showed that inland tracts in south Louisiana are on the uptick after months of dormant activity during the spring and summer, offshore leases remain unattractive to investors. In fact, there were no offshore leases up for bid at all this month. Nonetheless, this week’s sale provided two Baton Rouge firms with an opportunity to increase their inventory. Theophilus Oil, Gas and Land Services spent more than $600,000 on 1,371 acres in St. Mary Parish. The local firm was also awarded 30 acres in the Caddo Parish area, near the Haynesville Shale, for $9,200. EBR Louisiana LLC, meanwhile, grabbed 24 acres in Jefferson Davis Parish for $9,000.—Jeremy Alford

Wright Feigley to handle Cortana marketing

Cortana Mall has hired Wright Feigley Communications to lead its advertising and marketing efforts. Wright Feigley will take over the mall's ad strategy effective Jan. 1. Monique Hester, Cortana's marketing director, says the mall went with the local firm after years of working with out-of-state companies that didn't understand the Baton Rouge market. “Wright Feigley gets it and understands the increasingly competitive retail landscape," Hester says.

Poll: Most don't agree with move to extend bailout program

Eighty percent of people who responded to a Daily Report poll say they disagree with the decision to extend the federal bailout program. Fifteen percent of people who participated in the survey say they agree with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's move and 5% were undecided. Nearly 1,250 people participated in the survey.

Today's question: Which entity is under more pressure to settle its contract dispute?

News roundup: Video games top wish lists ... October trade deficit drops to $32.9 billion

What the children are telling Santa: The most popular gifts children are asking for this holiday season are video games, according to a national survey of mall Santa Clauses. About 400 Santas were polled by the International Council of Shopping Centers and Cherry Hill Photo, which specializes in holiday pictures. Santas also gave the most unusual gift requests they heard from boys and girls—including one child who asked for concrete blocks to build a real house and a boy who asked for a live pig.

Surging exports: The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed in October as exports surged to the highest level in nearly a year. Growing exports, boosted by a weaker dollar, are expected to boost demand for American manufactured goods in coming months and provide important strength to the overall economic recovery. The Commerce Department says the trade deficit fell to $32.9 billion in October, 7.6% below a revised September deficit of $35.7 billion. Economists had expected the deficit to increase to $36.8 billion. The improvement reflected a 2.5% jump in exports, led by strong gains in sales of American farm products, autos, aircraft and industrial machinery. Imports rose only 0.4%, a gain that was held back by a big drop in oil imports. The politically sensitive deficit with China rose 2.5% to $22.7 billion, the highest level in nearly a year, even though U.S. exports to China hit an all-time high.