Thornton, LSU hold off Butler in NCAA opener

Butler has put together quite a few upsets in recent NCAA tournaments. Marcus Thornton kept LSU off that list. Thornton scored 30 points, and the hot-shooting Tigers held off a late rally to beat Butler 75-71 today in a first-round NCAA Tournament game in Greensboro, N.C. Tasmin Mitchell had 14 points and Chris Johnson added 12 for the Tigers (27-7), seeded eighth in the South Regional. They shot 49% against one of the nation's toughest defenses in advancing to Saturday's second round against the North Carolina-Radford winner. The Bulldogs (26-6) made things interesting by twice pulling within three in the final minute. The last came when Willie Veasley tipped in Gordon Hayward's missed 3 with 5.4 seconds left to make it 74-71. Johnson hit one of two free throws with 4.5 seconds left to seal the victory for LSU. Hayward, Butler's top 3-point shooter, finished with 12 points for the Bulldogs, who rallied from an early 13-point deficit but went on to lose in the first round for the first time since 2000. Considered one of the nation's most dangerous mid-majors, Butler had knocked off Maryland, Wake Forest, Louisville and Mississippi State in recent tournaments.

New report breaks Baton Rouge down by the numbers

The Baton Rouge Area Foundation today released “CityStats,” a report of nearly 50 statistical indicators measuring various aspects of quality of life in East Baton Rouge Parish, including measures of civic involvement, public safety, education and other areas. The study looks at everything from attendance at cultural events to the number of patents issued locally, and from the amount of trash that gets recycled to how people feel about the police department. The foundation plans to fund a new report every year, providing a snapshot of “where we are, how far we’ve come, and where we need to go,” the report says. The process started with three community meetings, led by Jacksonville Community Council Inc., and the Baton Rouge Area Chamber compiled the research. The foundation says it will use the report to guide the grants it makes to nonprofits. The report is available here or at BRCityStats.org.

Capital Region adds jobs over year

The number of people working in metro Baton Rouge went up by 7,800 from January 2008 to January 2009, according to figures released today by the U.S. Department of Labor. There were about 374,600 people working in the Capital Region in January, compared with 366,800 in January 2008, according to the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Despite the additional jobs, the unemployment rate in metro Baton Rouge went up from 4.3% unemployment in January 2008 to 5.4% unemployment in January. That was good enough to put the Capital Region tied for the 39th lowest unemployment rate of any metro area in the United States. Houma-Thibodaux had the lowest unemployment rate in the country in January, at 3.7%. Lafayette (3.9%) and Lake Charles (5%) also had lower unemployment rates than Baton Rouge in January. Detroit had the highest unemployment rate in January, at 13%.

BRAF assets decline in value

The assets held by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation were worth $530 million at the end of 2008, down from $564 million the year before, the foundation announced. Not surprisingly, the decline can be blamed on the foundation’s investment portfolio, which makes up about 18% of the total. Other assets, including real estate, helped buffer BRAF from the market turmoil, spokesman Mukul Verma said. Membership revenue increased to $457,000 from $450,000. Two new board members were elected last night at BRAF’s annual meeting: landscape architecture consultant Suzanne Turner and Dr. Carl Luikart with Louisiana Cardiology Associates.—David Jacobs

NCAA Tournament roundup: Memphis survives scare from Cal State Northridge … Texas A&M eliminates BYU again

Another team of Tigers escape: Roburt Sallie scored 35 points, and second-seeded Memphis (32-3) beat Cal State-Northridge (17-14) 81-70 today in Kansas City, Mo., to avoid what would have been one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history. Sallie, who was averaging barely four points for the Tigers, sank 10-of-15 3-pointers, a first-round tournament record. The Matadors, who were 19-point underdogs, took advantage of miserable shooting by most of the other Tigers and led by six points with 10:08 to play. But a few minutes later, Antonio Anderson led Memphis on a 9-0 run and last year's NCAA national runners-up finally took control. Since the NCAA went to a 64-team format in 1985, only four No. 2 seeds have lost to a No. 15 in the first round.

Aggies advance: Bryan Davis scored 21 points and Donald Sloan added 14 to lead No. 9 seed Texas A&M (24-9) to a 79-66 victory over No. 8 Brigham Young (25-8) in Philadelphia, handing the Cougars their seventh straight opening-round loss in a rematch from last year. The teams drew the same seeds last March, when the Aggies won 67-62. Jimmer Fredette scored 18 points, and Lee Cummard added 17 for BYU.

Improv group delivers the belly-aching comedy tonight

If you haven’t had the fortune of seeing improv comedy in major metro cities such as Chicago or Los Angeles, you just lucked out. United Way is bringing in iO Theaters of Chicago, the improv comedy troupe that’s belted out gifted actors and writers such as chris Farley, Mike Myers and Tina Fey and others who've gone on to Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and other comedic gems. These young comedians deliver an hour and a half of belly-aching laughs -- and you never know how they’ll get you to participate on stage. Show is tonight at 7 p.m., and it’s not too late to get a $15 ticket at unitedwayevents.com.

What else is going on this weekend? Spend your Saturday at the Shaw Center as the LSU Museum of Art celebrates its 50th anniversary and Storyville hosts its popular T-shirt fashion show at Manship Theatre. Tickets to the birthday spectacular from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. are $50 for MOA members, $75 for non-members. $100 gets you access to the private patron party an hour earlier. Tickets for fashion show, which sold out last year, are for $16.50 via manshiptheatre.org. Read about it all at 225 Select.

New U.S. jobless claims fall more than expected to 646K

New jobless claims fell more than expected last week, but continuing claims set a new record for the eighth straight week and few economists expect the national labor market to improve anytime soon. The Labor Department said today that initial requests for unemployment insurance dropped to a seasonally adjusted 646,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 658,000. That was better than analysts' expectations.

But continuing claims jumped 185,000 to a seasonally adjusted 5.47 million, another record high and more than the roughly 5.33 million that economists expected. Other economic news was slightly more upbeat. A private sector group's index of leading economic indicators dropped less than expected in February, although growth is not expected before next year. On the housing front, rates on 30-year mortgages plunged to the lowest level since January, and may fall further after the Federal Reserve launched a new effort to prop up the flailing housing market.

Get news of Richmond canvass trip via Facebook

The city of Baton Rouge and the Baton Rouge Area Chamber will be heading out on their annual canvass trip Sunday. Business Report Executive Editor JR Ball is one of the attendees making the two-day trip to Richmond, Va. If you can't make the trip to Richmond—or if you're there and want to know what's really happening—you can follow his postings on Business Report's Facebook page. Click here to become a friend of Business Report.

PAR backs school board reforms

The Public Affairs Research Council says it backs a plan to reform local school boards to give superintendents more power over day-to-day district operations. The reforms that PAR is supporting largely back reforms that state education Superintendent Paul Pastorek is pushing, such as term limits for board members. In some ways, the reforms are a little less tough than what Pastorek wants—for example, he has advocated taking away board member salaries. PAR says school board members should get a limited per diem. "None of the proposed reforms would usurp local control of school districts. Local school boards still would have the ability to set overall district policy and to hire and fire the superintendent," says PAR, which says the Legislature should vote on the bills this session. State Rep. Steve Carter, R-Baton Rouge, has filed bills to enact Pastorek's recommendations.

Lamar plans offering to raise $250 million

Lamar Advertising says it plans to raise about $250 million through an institutional private placement of some notes. The notes will be due in 2014 and will be paid by Lamar Media, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company. The proceeds will be used to pay off some notes due in 2010.