Starbucks to close 200 more U.S. stores

Starbucks, which has been hard hit by the national economic slowdown, says it will close 300 more stores by the fall. The Wall Street Journal reports the Seattle coffee chain is finalizing a list of the stores that will close, but 100 of the locations will be outside the United States. Nine Baton Rouge locations closed or are in the process of closing from an earlier round of shutdowns. Company officials say this new round will happen in cities where Starbucks built stores under the assumption the economy would remain strong. The wave of home foreclosures in California and Florida has hit the company hard.

Shaw receives $50 million contract extension

The Shaw Group's environmental & infrastructure division has been awarded a $125 million task order to continue cleaning up a New Jersey Superfund site. The extension from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers brings the value of Shaw's contract to clean up the Maywood site to $379.5 million—$50 million more than the maximum of the original 10-year deal. Shaw has been cleaning up the Maywood site, which was a location of early atomic energy and weapons programs, since 1999. In that time, company officials say they have dug up and disposed of 203,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil. The new deal extends the remediation services until 2013.

Publisher: State education leaders stand up for children

BESE's recent decision to take over eight failing East Baton Rouge public schools is a good move for change in Louisiana and a defining moment, Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister says. State education leaders, including Education Superintendent Paul Pastorek, deserve credit for standing firm and doing what was best for children. "I applaud his act of true public service and courage," McCollister says. Read his column here. Send comments to editors@businessreport.com.

Melancon stands alone on stimulus vote

The only member of Louisiana’s House delegation who voted with President Barack Obama’s proposed stimulus package Wednesday was Rep. Charlie Melancon of Napoleonville. That split mirrored the larger divide in the House, where Republicans stood unanimously against the spending plan in a party line 244-188 vote.

Melancon, the only Democrat in the state House delegation, says the investments in education, health care, transportation and economic development offered by the legislation were too good to pass up. “With our economy in freefall and millions of Americans losing their jobs, doing nothing is not an option,” Melancon said. “We must act now to turn our economy around, or we will slip even deeper into recession.

Back home, Obama’s stimulus could offer a cushion for state government, which is facing a $2 billion shortfall for the next fiscal year that begins on July 1. In response, agencies are being asked to absorb massive cuts and this year’s regular legislative session is expected to offer high drama. Based on a breakdown prepared by Melancon’s office, the legislation would make $945 million available to the state’s general fund over the next two years. “Just as we did with the mid-year budget cuts (from the current fiscal year), we will seek greater budget flexibility by reviewing all means of state government financing, including the use of statutory dedications,” says Michael DiResto of the Division of Administration, adding other factors such as oil prices will play a key role, too. For a longer version of this story, click here.—Jeremy Alford

Americans receiving jobless benefits hits record

The number of people receiving unemployment benefits has reached an all-time record, the government said today, and more layoffs are spreading throughout the economy. The Labor Department reported that the number of Americans continuing to claim unemployment insurance for the week ending Jan. 17 was a seasonally adjusted 4.78 million, the highest on records dating back to 1967. That's an increase of 159,000 from the previous week and worse than economists' expectations of 4.65 million. As a proportion of the work force, the tally of unemployment benefit recipients is the highest since August 1983, a department analyst said. The total released by the department doesn't include about 1.7 million people receiving benefits under an extended unemployment compensation program authorized by Congress last summer. That means the total number of recipients is actually closer to 6.5 million people.

Businesses continued to hemorrhage jobs today. Ford Motor Co. reported a fourth-quarter loss of $5.9 billion and said its credit arm would cut 20% of its work force, or 1,200 jobs. Eastman Kodak Co. said it's cutting 3,500 to 4,500 jobs, or 14% to 18% of its work force, as it posted a $137 million quarterly loss on plunging sales of photography products.

December new home sales post monthly 14.7% drop nationally

Sales of new homes plunged 14.7% in December to the slowest monthly pace on record as the hobbled homebuilding industry posted its worst annual sales results in more than two decades. The Commerce Department said today that new home sales fell in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 331,000, from a downwardly revised November figure of 388,000. December's sales pace was the lowest on records dating back to 1963. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected sales would fall to a rate of 400,000 homes. For 2008, builders sold 482,000, the weakest results since 1982, when 412,000 homes were sold.

Cox to add six more HD channels

Cox is set to add six more high-definition channels to its local programming lineup on Tuesday. The system will add HD versions of popular basic cable networks: Fox News Channel, Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, FX, E! and Speed Channel. The additions will give Cox customers a total of 54 HD channels.

Local small business owner appears on 'Fox & Friends'

Brian Rodriguez, who owns a local Web design and development firm, appeared on the Fox News morning show Fox & Friends today to speak out against a requirement to teach cursive writing in schools. Rodriguez, owner of Gator Works, says students would be better off becoming familiar with technology than working on penmanship. He got the appearance through a friend who lives in Nashville, Tenn., and books guests for talk shows. Fox & Friends wanted to do a segment on penmanship after a recent USA Today article about how Florida schools reinstated cursive writing lessons. "They were looking for a tech guy and a small business owner to talk about this," he says. Rodriguez says he's already gotten a lot of feedback from the appearance, including calls from people who called him "an elitist" because of his stance. See the video here.

Oil drops below $41 as inventories swell

Record U.S. unemployment figures, rising crude inventories and a dismal global economic outlook dragged benchmark oil prices below $41 a barrel today. A market slump accelerated as the Labor Department reported that the number of Americans continuing to claim unemployment insurance for the week ending Jan. 17 was a seasonally adjusted 4.78 million, the highest on records dating back to 1967. A fourth straight week of soaring oil inventories also weighed on markets. Light, sweet crude for March delivery fell $1.19 to $40.97 a barrel by afternoon in Europe in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 58 cents overnight to settle at $42.16. The U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration on Wednesday said commercial crude oil inventories jumped 6.2 million barrels from the previous week, almost twice what was expected. Overall supplies jumped to a 45.9 million barrel surplus, representing a 16% increase since 2008.

Poll: Cane's favorite fast-food chain

Daily Report readers say Raising Cane's is their favorite fast-food chain. Twenty-nine percent of the people who responded to an online survey say the local chicken fingers restaurant is their favorite place to get a quick meal. Fifteen percent went with another Southern chicken chain, Chick-fil-A, and 12% say Subway is their favorite. More than 2,200 people participated in the poll. Cane's finished second in a recent national survey of regional restaurant chains.

Today's question: Who will win Super Bowl XLIII on Sunday?

Felton reportedly fired as Georgia basketball coach

Dennis Felton, who last season led Georgia's basketball team to an improbable SEC tournament championship, was fired this morning, ESPN.com reported. Evans' decision came after the Bulldogs lost to Florida 83-57 on Wednesday night, their seventh consecutive defeat. Georgia is 9-11 and 0-5 in SEC play. Felton had an 84-91 record in six seasons at Georgia, including a 26-59 mark against SEC opponents. Evans seemed poised to fire Felton a year ago, but the Bulldogs won three games in two days to win the SEC tournament and advance to the NCAA tournament, where they lost as a No. 14 seed to No. 3 seed Xavier 76-61 in the first round. Felton is the third SEC basketball coach to leave at midseason since last year; LSU dismissed John Brady in January 2008, and Alabama coach Mark Gottfried resigned earlier this week.