Businesses bracing for overpass work

Rehabilitating the Perkins Road overpass has been in the works for nearly a decade. Now the detour signs are up, and work is scheduled to begin March 16. Area businesses in the historic area are bracing or planning ways to counter the potential 18-week project's impact on sales.

Dave Remmetter, owner of Chelsea's Cafe on Perkins Road, was relieved to see work delayed until after the St. Patrick's Day parade for the sales boost. But Remmetter says he worries work debris and detoured traffic could hurt his lunch crowd, which could force cutting employee hours. “My employees are nervous,” he says. “Everybody's got to work.”

Bet-R General Manager Cliff Boulden is banking on customer loyalty with the close-knit community to ease any shortfall, but he says a 20% drop in sales is possible at his Kalurah Street grocery store. “We're going to get some signs made to make sure people know we're open,” he says. “I'm more positive about it than others at the store, but I know it will affect business.”

Jim Ferguson, drainage and bridge engineer with the city-parish Department of Public Works, says only the bridge, not the roads leading up to it, will be closed for the upgrade.—Anna Thibodeaux

Pastorek: No 'war' with school boards

Louisiana Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek told local school board members today he wasn't trying to "roll over school boards" as he pushes a plan to term-limit board members, remove their salaries and limit their authority.

The audience at the annual meeting of the Louisiana School Boards Association seemed skeptical, however. School board members and the exiting president of the association say they feel under attack and accused Pastorek of trying to consolidate power in Baton Rouge and dismantle public education. Pastorek says he wanted to work with school board members, calling his proposals an effort to modernize education and improve schools. He denied accusations he has "declared war" on the local boards.

"That is utter nonsense. We cannot be at war. We have too much important work to do, and kids rely on us," Pastorek told an audience of about 350 education officials, including school board members and some area school superintendents. The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education debates Pastorek's school board proposals next week. If BESE agrees, the political battle heads to the Legislature, where a dozen lawmakers are former school board members and many others have close relationships with local boards.

Nearly all the ideas have generated opposition. Pastorek's words today didn't calm the ongoing dispute. Noel Hammatt, whose term as president of the school boards association ended today, followed Pastorek with a speech talking of despots and kings, of the need to maintain elected representation for communities and of the importance of a system of checks and balances. "We have elected officials. We have a system of checks and balances. We have people who would try to minimize the system of checks and balances," says Hammatt, a member of the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board.

Stanford investors could wait years for payback

Emma Chammah, a young professional in Baton Rouge, is one of the thousands of people who had money invested with the Stanford Group. She’s waiting—along with people who had millions with the firm—to see if she’ll see her savings again. “I quit my job to move to New York with my savings,” she says. “Now I’m not counting on getting my money back in April. I just hope I get it back eventually.” The ultimate fallout Baton Rouge might soon see will not be from investors who simply lost money, but those who received money and interest from Stanford products and now have to give it back. Read the Business Report story here.

Two Cents: Publisher encourages strong turnout in District 16

It is time to vote for a new state senator in District 16 on Saturday. Lee Domingue is the candidate I recommend. You can read my recent endorsement here. Earlier this week, Gov. Bobby Jindal also endorsed Domingue, saying, "Lee is a conservative, he’s honest, and he’s committed to bringing accountability and transparency to state government. As a proven business leader, Lee is ready to get to work right away to deliver results for taxpayers." Regardless of whom you support in District 16, exercise your right to vote Saturday. Send comments to editors@businessreport.com.—Rolfe McCollister

Dow, Rohm & Haas talking again about deal

Shares of Dow Chemical and Rohm & Haas soared this afternoon, after the two companies confirmed they had started talks to restart a merger and a pending lawsuit related to the deal. When Dow swooped in last summer to buy a much-smaller rival, many believed the $15 billion offer was too high with Wall Street barreling toward an economic meltdown and the mortgage crises in full swing. Since that July bid, Dow's market capitalization—or the total value of all its shares—has fallen well below that of its target, Rohm & Haas, and even below its $15.4 billion offer for the Philadelphia-based specialty chemicals maker. Today, Dow moved nearer to closing the deal, one that CEO Andrew Liveris has said would be an economic disaster in the current environment. The companies confirmed they were in direct talks, yet a Delaware court date is still scheduled for Monday if the two can't come to an agreement.

Parents talk about school take over

When state education officials clashed recently with an East Baton Rouge school system desperate to keep control of a dozen of its worst schools, many parents passionately defended their children’s schools and their faculty. 225 wanted to understand better why more parents weren’t leaping at the chance for their children’s schools to be possibly improved, even re-invented. Read the story about these parents and their hopes for their children here.

News roundup: TV viewing hits all time high … LSU's Johnson finalist for national coaching honor

Couch potato nation: TV viewing hit an all-time high in the fourth quarter of 2008, while the number of people watching programs on the Internet and on mobile phones continued to rise. The average American watches 151 hours of TV a month, according to figures from Nielsen Media Research. That’s a 3.6% increase from the last three months of 2007. The number of people watching “timeshifted” programs through digital video recorders jumped up by 33%, to more than seven hours a month. Nielsen officials say consumers are choosing the best screen available to watch programs, making their selections based on convenience, quality and access. Except for a slight dip in the teenage years, people watch more television as they grow older, with children under 11 watching more than 106 hours a month and adults over 65 watching more than 207 hours of programming in a month.

Man of the year: LSU men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson is a finalist for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award, which goes to coaches who exemplify high standards of the profession, such as winning with integrity. Johnson is one of 12 finalists for the award, named after the late Wake Forest basketball coach. In his first season, Johnson has led the Tigers to the SEC regular-season championship and a 25-5 overall record heading into Saturday’s regular season finale at Auburn. The winning coach will be announced during the Final Four festivities, which will be held April 4-6 in Detroit.