Louisiana Chemical Association president: Don't fund Tulane

Louisiana Chemical Association president Dan Borné wants the state to stop sending money to Tulane University in retaliation for the law school’s involvement in a suit over the Capital Region’s ozone emissions, which he says will hurt the Baton Rouge area economy. “We’re in attainment [with federal ozone standards], but Tulane doesn’t think we’re in attainment, so they’re suing us,” Borné says. “We’re going to tell legislators all over the state, if they want to play hardball by trying to kneecap industry in Baton Rouge, then we should play hardball and kneecap them with their state appropriations.” Borné also is asking member companies to withdraw financial support and stop recruiting at Tulane.

Tulane is a private university, but has tax-exempt status and receives about $900,000 a year for educating state students and occasional matching funds from the Board of Regents to create endowed professorships. Tulane also has some contracts with the state; for example, the medical school has a contract to treat sickle-cell anemia, provost Michael Bernstein says. Bernstein says attacking the lawyer because you don’t like the client’s accusations makes no sense. “I think that guy is out of his mind,” he says. “Those statements betray a lack of awareness about how our legal system works, a lack of awareness about what Tulane is and does in this state, and a lack of comity about sorting through issues in dispute.”—David Jacobs

Metro Airport: Thanksgiving travel comparable to last year

Officials at Metro Airport expect roughly the same number of Thanksgiving travelers this year as last year, despite a national downturn. "It looks comparable to last year," Marketing Manager Jim Caldwell says. Caldwell expects about 12,000 people will pass through the airport between Tuesday and Sunday. AAA projects air travel nationally will be down 6.7% this year compared with Thanksgiving 2008. Things were moving smoothly at the airport this morning, with no major delays and good weather, Caldwell says. The number of flights at Metro Airport has held at about 50 arrivals and departures per day for most of 2009. Delta plans to add an early morning flight to Atlanta in January, Caldwell says. The flight will leave Baton Rouge a little after 9 a.m., and will meet requests from business travelers.—Timothy Boone

Study: Insurance discounts being overlooked

Don’t complain about paying too much money for your homeowner and auto insurance policies if you’re not exploring all of the discounts that might be available to lower your rates. That’s the core message of a new survey released by the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America, known in the industry as the “Big I.” It asked home and auto owners if they believed they were taking full advantage of all the discounts they qualified for on their policies and the answers collected jive with the longtime trend of consumers not reading the fine print. More than 34% of respondents, representing 53 million households, admitted they are probably not taking advantage of these discounts or didn’t know they even existed. Regarding auto coverage, more than 20% of those surveyed were on the same page. “The latest survey shows what we suspected: many Americans could be foolishly throwing money away because they fail to ask about insurance discounts for which they may qualify,” says Madelyn Flannagan, Big I vice president. “Companies often offer some unique, regional, very specific and, at times, quirky discounts.” To read the full story, click here.—Jeremy Alford

EBR Mortgage Finance Authority extends program

The East Baton Rouge Parish Mortgage Finance Authority has extended a popular program that allows qualified homebuyers to receive federal tax credits early. The program allows first-time homebuyers to receive an $8,000 credit for buying a home before they file their 2009 federal income tax return. The program applies to people who close on a home by June 30, with purchase agreements signed no later than April 30. The borrowers must use the $8,000 for a down payment or closing costs, and have to pay back the mortgage finance authority either as soon as they get the credit or pay it off over 10 years. The group is offering a similar arrangement for non-first time homebuyers, who can get a $6,500 tax credit.

B.R. chefs share Thanksgiving memories

Whether you fry it up fast or spend all day basting and roasting your bird; whether your dressing is rice-based or built on cornbread; whether your pie is pumpkin or pecan, everyone has a Thanksgiving tradition that will play out this Thursday in gloriously delicious detail. This week we asked three experts to share with us their go-to Turkey Day delicacies and a little about what makes the holiday special for them. Click here to read this week’s 225 Dine, and get holiday tales from Jim Urdiales, William Wells and Stephanie Phares.

Poll: Most upset with Landrieu vote

Seventy percent of people who responded to a Daily Report poll say they are upset with U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu's decision to allow a health care reform bill to move forward. Twenty-nine percent say they have no problem with Landrieu's decision and 1% is unsure. More than 1,650 people participated in the poll. Landrieu voted over the weekend to move a bill backed by Senate Democrats along, after she got $300 million from the federal government to fill in a gap in Louisiana's Medicaid funding.

Today's question: What is your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

News roundup: New US home sales rise 6.2%...Toyota to replace 3.8M gas pedals

Something to be thankful for: Sales of new homes rose more than expected last month to the highest level in more than a year as the housing market shows stability after its historic collapse. The Commerce Department says sales rose 6.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 430,000 from an upwardly revised 405,000 in September. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected a pace of 410,000. Home shoppers in October were acting before lawmakers decided to extend a tax credit for first-time buyers and expand it to existing homeowners. Nevertheless, sales were up 5.1% from a year ago, the first yearly increase since November 2005. The median sales price of $212,200 was off 0.5% from $213,200 a year earlier, but up 0.7% from September's level of $210,700.

Be careful: The Transportation Department says Toyota will replace gas pedals on 3.8 million vehicles in the United States to address problems with sudden acceleration or the pedal becoming stuck in the floor mat. As a temporary step, Toyota will have dealers shorten the length of gas pedals beginning in January. Transportation officials told The Associated Press the Japanese automaker will develop replacement pedals for the vehicles, and new pedals will be available beginning in April. The automaker announced the massive recall in September. The recall includes vehicles such as the Toyota Camry, the top-selling passenger car in America, and the Toyota Prius, the best-selling gas-electric hybrid.

No Daily Report AM Thursday, Friday

Daily Report AM will not be published Thursday or Friday in observance of Thanksgiving. The newsletter will resume Monday. Happy Thanksgiving.