New group formed to give bond issue grassroots support

Progress Is Baton Rouge, a new group formed to provide grassroots support for Mayor Kip Holden's $700 million bond issue election, will hold its first public meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday at 333 Bistreaux downtown. Todd Teepell, one of the organizers of Progress Is Baton Rouge, says the group was formed after the first bond issue was narrowly voted down in November. Teepell says there was a "general feeling" that the bond issue failed because of a lack of education. "A top-down campaign for this won't work," he says. "The community has to pick up the idea and run with it." PIBR was initially formed by 15 young business and community leaders, including Collis Temple III, Raising Cane's Jamie Griffin and Derek Fitch, a vice president of development for Cyntreniks. But Teepell says the organization is opening up to anyone who wants to see positive growth happen in Baton Rouge. "The community at large needs to be the face of this campaign," he says. Plans are for PIBR to support the bond issue through educational efforts, such as answering questions through its Web site progressis.org.—Timothy Boone

Judge delays release on bond of Stanford

A federal judge has delayed releasing Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford on bond until he can review a decision to allow the financier to be free until his trial on charges that he swindled investors out of $7 billion. U.S. District Judge David Hittner granted a prosecution request today to delay a magistrate's order a day earlier that granted Stanford a $500,000 bond. Stanford is being held in the meantime. Hittner ordered a hearing be held on Monday to listen to arguments on whether Stanford's bond should be revoked. Prosecutors argue Stanford, who has ties to Antigua and access to money, is a flight risk. But his defense attorney says those claims are exaggerated and Stanford wants to stay and clear his name.

Nearly 1,000 added to unemployment rolls last week

The Louisiana Workforce Commission says initial claims for unemployment insurance in the state rose to 6,113 for the week ending June 20. That's up from the 5,139 claims for the week ending June 13. The biggest increase came from the transportation industry sector, which was affected by a six-week shutdown at the Shreveport General Motors assembly plant. The layoffs at the plant started June 15. The figure compares with 2,952 claims for the comparable week of 2008. The number of people receiving continued unemployment benefits increased to 57,408 from 56,614 during the week previous. For the comparable week of 2008, there were 23,853 continuing claims.

PAR says legislative session short on ideas

The Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana has come out with its analysis of the recently concluded legislative session. PAR says it was a short session—short on ideas—that failed to meaningfully reform the budget. The group says legislators failed to show leadership to make tough decisions on the budget. "It seems that the state’s budget woes were not severe enough this year to force into being the kind of transformational proposals that will be necessary to either cut services or grow revenue to achieve a conservatively balanced budget in the tight years ahead," PAR says. Read the full report here.

Hurricane Chris giving Legislature a bad rap

A video of Shreveport rapper Hurricane Chris performing before the Louisiana Legislature is making the rounds on the Internet. Hurricane Chris, born Chris Dooley Jr., was at the Legislature because of a resolution commending his musical accomplishments that was introduced by his godmother, Rep. Barbara Norton, D-Shreveport. After an introduction from Norton, Hurricane Chris got up and rapped his latest hit single, "Halle Berry (She's Fine)." To see the surreal glory of Hurricane Chris performing the suggestive song before the Legislature, click here.

B.R. native makes his HBO debut on 'True Blood’

The second season of True Blood is now airing on HBO with a new, Bible-thumping vampire fighter in town. He’s played by 27-year-old actor and Baton Rouge native Wes Brown. The Parkview Baptist and LSU alum signed on to the series earlier this year for a six-episode arc. True Blood is set in a fictional, Southern Gothic version of Louisiana just a few years after vampires have gone public and “come out of the coffin.” Oscar winner Anna Paquin stars as an outspoken waitress at a roadhouse in the town of Bon Temps. While filmed mostly in Los Angeles, the production did relocate to the Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas for several weeks of location shooting back in February. Read the 225 magazine story on Brown and True Blood here. True Blood is set to do a week's worth of shooting in Baton Rouge starting July 6, and extras of all ages and ethnic groups are needed. For more information or to register, click here.

Public money driving slow New Orleans downtown

A deal approved this week to fill up an empty skyscraper and keep the city's pro football team raises the bill of taxpayer-funded redevelopment projects in downtown New Orleans to $300 million. And those projects are almost the sole source of rebuilding in the city that was devastated four years ago by Hurricane Katrina. Most of the big private investment plans have stalled since the nation sank into a recession. Among the casualties: Donald Trump's proposed $400 million hotel and condominium high-rise and another developer's $60 million condominium project in the riverfront Warehouse District. The evaporation of private development is troubling in a city where good-paying jobs tied to white-collar professions are too few. Commercial investment was tough to come by even before Katrina, and now it's clear the post-storm recovery will likely take years longer than once thought. The unemployment rate in the New Orleans metropolitan area rose to 6% in May, up from 3.4% the year before following the loss of 3,800 jobs over the year. "The recovery rate has been slowing down, rather than picking up," Economist Loren Scott says. Without construction jobs aimed at $14 billion worth of levee repairs and improvements and two major bridge projects—the widening of the Huey P. Long Bridge over the Mississippi River and the rebuilding of the Interstate 10 spans over Lake Pontchartrain—the city's economy would be moving even slower.

News roundup: LAPD says no information painkillers were a factor in Jackson's death ... Baseball America says Tigers will be back in Omaha

Detectives are searching for doctor: Despite widespread Internet and tabloid reports, police have no information so far that Michael Jackson was injected with painkillers before his death Thursday, the Los Angeles Times reports. The top detective on the case told the newspaper that claims the pop superstar collapsed after an injection of painkillers "are coming from outside the investigation." Police are looking for Jackson's physician, but that's standard procedure when investigating a death in which the causes are unknown. Police want to know about Jackson's health and any medications he was taking.

Repeat? LSU baseball fans are still basking in the afterglow of the Tigers' sixth College World Series Championship, but Baseball America is already looking at what teams will contend for the title next season. LSU is one of the eight teams the magazine says could be back in Omaha, Neb., next year. While the Tigers are set to lose several stars to pro baseball, including Jared Mitchell, the MVP of the CWS, and Louis Coleman, an All-American, the team has a solid foundation with pitchers Anthony Ranaudo and Matty Ott, along with outfielders Mikie Mahtook and Leon Landry and infielder Tyler Hanover. Other teams pegged for Omaha include Texas, which lost to the Tigers in the championship round, Rice and Florida. See the full article here.

Top 100 nominations winding down

Business Report is asking privately-owned companies in the Capital Region to submit information to qualify for its annual Top 100 Private Companies list to be published July 28. Business Report ranks companies by gross revenue. Based on past numbers, companies with less than $15 million in revenue are unlikely to make the Top 100 list. For more information, e-mail jgennaro@businessreport.com. The deadline to submit information is 5 p.m. Tuesday.