Pinnacle releases updated details on Sugarcane Bay

Pinnacle Entertainment, which plans to build a $260 million casino resort on River Road, released updated details about its second Lake Charles property. Sugarcane Bay at L'Auberge du Lac should be completed by late 2010, while a 400-room hotel should open by the first half of 2011. The resort will include a spa, restaurants, lounges and meeting space. Pinnacle says the $305 million project will create about 700 construction jobs and about 1,000 permanent jobs. Pinnacle is set to present its plans for Sugarcane Bay to the Louisiana Gaming Control Board next month for approval. The company says it is continuing to work on its Baton Rouge resort, which in the first phase will include a casino, 100-room hotel, entertainment venue and restaurants and lounges.

Booze sellers toast holiday sales effervescence

T’is the season, and to amplify the holiday feel, plenty of people are heading to the liquor store to stock up on Thanksgiving wine and Christmas spirits. Glazer’s is one of the main liquor distributors in the state, and Category Analyst Mike Brosonski says about 30% of Glazer’s wine sales take place from the months of October through December, with the majority around Thanksgiving. “White wine tends to go with the turkey,” he says, noting that store promotional displays hit the floor around Halloween, helping inspire sales. Similarly, 30% of liquor sales take place during OND, he says, with most of that done the week before Christmas through New Year’s Day. Sales of champagne get particularly bubbly just before Jan. 1. Statewide, Brosonski says New Orleans has a sales edge with its “on-premise presence” of booze, meaning the host of restaurants and bars that liberally leverage libations. Overall, he says per-capita alcoholic beverage consumption skews higher in the state than elsewhere. Regionally, he says south Louisiana represents 60% of Glazer’s business. Amato’s Winery in Independence, which ferments local blueberry, strawberry and other fruit wines, and two muscadine wines, distributes through Glazer’s. Owner Henry Amato says his cranberry wine, made with Washington state produce, is popular around Thanksgiving. “Wine sales in Louisiana for us start with the first cool snap,” he says. “Fruit wines go well around the holidays.”—Todd R. Brown

How the 6th District could look after the census

Louisiana most likely will lose a congressional seat after the 2010 Census, a move that will cause the 6th Congressional District to grow. A blog by the Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College says there's likely to be a tug of war between Democrats and Republicans on how to redraw the district. East Baton Rouge will remain as the core of the district, says Mike Whatley. But Democrats in the Legislature will want to dip into St. John the Baptist and St. James parishes, which President Barack Obama carried in the 2008 election, as a way of picking up population—and votes for the party. Republicans will be trying to add more GOP-friendly areas, such as the rest of Ascension or Assumption parishes, in order to make sure the 6th District seat continues to stay on their side of the aisle. To read the posting, as well as an outlook for what could happen to the 7th District seat, click here.

State troopers now policing enviro-crimes

The Louisiana State Police have long had reign over our highways and gaming establishments, but now troopers also have a hand in white-collar search warrants and apprehending felons connected to environmental crimes. As state government enters an era of consolidations and mergers, brought about chiefly by a shortfall of money, it should come as no surprise that LSP is now collaborating with the Department of Environmental Quality to enforce violations of the Louisiana Environmental Quality Act. It’s a true partnership, not just collaboration on paper, says State Police Superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson. “We will share expertise, training and resources to ensure that Louisiana's environment is protected and preserved for the future," he says. In fact, two law enforcement vehicles have already been loaned to DEQ and many of the department’s investigators are in the process of receiving special LSP commissions and training on surveillance techniques, interview and interrogation, firearms, ground fighting and defensive tactics. “This partnership is a perfect example of implementing streamlining practices to make government more efficient,” says DEQ Secretary Harold Leggett. “We have always worked well with the State Police and now we will continue to do so in a more proactive manner.” In order to accomplish these goals most efficiently, Leggett says comprehensive policies are being established statewide. He adds that the support from LSP will assist DEQ in its “mission of enforcing state environmental regulations with regard to promoting water and air quality, while controlling solid and hazardous waste discharges.”—Jeremy Alford

Poll: Review LSU football program after season ends

Fifty-three percent of people who responded to a Daily Report online survey say LSU should let the season play out and then do a complete review of the entire football program in the wake of Saturday's loss to Ole Miss. Twenty-one percent of respondents to the survey say head coach Les Miles should be fired in the wake of LSU's meltdown against the Rebels, while 14% say offensive coordinator Gary Crowton should be fired. Twelve percent of people who took the poll say no one should be fired as a result of the 25-23 loss to Ole Miss. Nearly 1,950 people participated in the poll.

Today's question: Are you upset with U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu for casting a vote to move the health-care bill forward?

U.S. economic rebound not as strong as first thought

The economy grew at a 2.8% pace last quarter, as the recovery got off to a slower start than first thought. The Commerce Department's new reading on gross domestic product wasn't as energetic as the 3.5% growth rate for the July-September period estimated just a month ago. The main factors behind the downgrade: consumers didn't spend as much, commercial construction was weaker and the nation's trade deficit was more of a drag on growth. Businesses also trimmed more of their stockpiles, another restraining factor. The new reading on GDP, which measures the value of all goods and services produced in the United States—from machinery to manicures—was a tad weaker than the 2.9% growth rate economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected. Still, the good news is that the economy finally started to grow again, after a record four straight losing quarters. The bad news is that the rebound, now and in the months ahead, will probably be lethargic.

Home prices rise for fourth month in a row

Home prices rose slightly in September, the fourth-straight monthly increase and a clear sign the housing market recovery is continuing. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 major cities released today rose 0.3% to a seasonally adjusted reading of 144.96 in September. Prices rose month-over-month in 11 metro areas, a weaker showing than in recent months. Compared with a year earlier, prices were down 9.4%, the smallest year over year decline since January 2008. "We have seen broad improvement in home prices for most of the past six months," says David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Standard & Poor's index committee. "However, the gains in the most recent month are more modest than during the seasonally strong summer months." Prices, as measured by the seasonally adjusted 20-city index, are up more than 3% from the bottom in May. But they are still down 30% from the peak in April 2006.

News roundup: Mortgage rates continue to fall ... Zagat releases airline survey

Hit new low, again: The national average for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell once again last week. The average rate quoted nationally was 4.69% for the week ending Sunday, according to the Zillow Mortgage Rate Monitor. That's down from 4.75% for the week ending Nov. 15. The rates for a 15-year mortgage were even lower, coming in at 4.23%, compared with 4.25% for the week ending Nov. 15. Zillow says rates continued to fall on Monday, though the volume of requests has dropped.

Fewer fliers: One-third of the people surveyed for the annual Zagat Airline Survey say they flew less in 2009. The survey, which is based on a poll of nearly 5,900 frequent fliers and travel professionals, found that the percentage of business flights was down from 64% in 2008 to 61% in 2009, while leisure travel increased from 35% to 39%. Continental was the top-rated large domestic premium class airline, while JetBlue was rated as the best large domestic economy class airline. Portland International was rated as the top airport, while LaGuardia finished last for the third year in a row.