BRAC canvass trip plans stop in Pittsburgh

The Baton Rouge Area Chamber's 2010 canvass trip will stop in Pittsburgh Sept. 19-21. Chamber officials and Mayor Kip Holden say Pittsburgh was selected because the city has had success in areas such as public education school reform, charter school development, private sector/university collaborations and entrepreneurial development. "There are some truly inspiring things happening in the Pittsburgh area, and they are things that correlate directly to many of the issues that we as a region are tackling,” says Adam Knapp, chamber president and CEO. Stevie Toups, corporate vice president of business development for Turner Industries Group, will chair the trip. This is the sixth time BRAC and the city-parish have teamed up for a canvass trip; previous stops were Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tenn., Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Portland, Ore.; and Richmond, Va. Registration for the Pittsburgh trip will open April 5; for more information e-mail nicole@brac.org.

Recession hits Baton Rouge restaurants

To the Friday night diner, the Baton Rouge restaurant industry appears healthy. Compared to the rest of the country, says the Louisiana Restaurant Association, it is. But the Capital Region has not been immune to the downturn, and its restaurants are doing everything they can behind the scenes to shore up business and protect their generally small profit margins. Read the cover story in the new Business Report here. Send comments to editors@businessreport.com.

Feds expect gas prices to top $3 a gallon

The Energy Department hasn't changed its prediction about higher gasoline prices. It still expects pump prices to climb past $3 per gallon as more motorists hit the road in the spring and summer driving seasons.

In its monthly short-term energy outlook report, the Energy Information Administration says that for the full year, the national average will be about $2.84 per gallon, up from $2.35 per gallon in 2009. That outlook was unchanged from last month.

Pump prices are already above $3 in California and are almost there elsewhere on the West Coast. The rest of the country isn't far behind. The average price today for a gallon of regular unleaded is $2.69 in metro Baton Rouge, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report. That’s up from $2.62 a gallon a week earlier, $2.50 a month ago and $1.85 a year ago. Higher oil prices, gasoline blended with ingredients to cut down on smog in warmer weather and an uptick in demand are expected to drive prices higher. Some analysts don't think U.S. consumers can afford to drive more or pay higher prices.

According to the EIA, U.S. motorists consumed 8.99 million barrels per day of gasoline in 2009. The report predicts the nation’s consumption to rise to 9.04 million barrels in 2010 and 9.11 million barrels in 2011.

B.R. housing market expected to stay ahead of nation

Baton Rouge is forecast to be one of the best performing markets in the country with respect to home prices over the next year. According to the Local Market Monitor’s first-quarter Home Price Forecast, Baton Rouge is ranked as one of the best-performing markets in the category of markets with populations over 600,000. Other top performers include Washington, D.C., Buffalo, N.Y., and Los Angeles. Local Market Monitor says Southern California markets have bottomed out and are on track to hold steady or improve during the upcoming year. But some markets that have been crushed by the housing bust are expected to continue to perform poorly, including Las Vegas and Phoenix, which are forecast to be two of the worst markets for the upcoming year. Lake Charles is expected to be one of the 10 best-performing small housing markets. Other cities in the category, open to areas with populations under 600,000, include Anniston, Ala., Fort Walton Beach-Destin, Fla., and Fort Smith, Ark.

2010 hurricane season said to pose ‘above-normal’ threat

The 2010 Atlantic hurricane season will be more active than last year, posing an “above-normal” threat to the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, AccuWeather forecasters said today. AccuWeather foresees 16 to 18 named storms forming in the Atlantic Ocean, with five becoming hurricanes and two or three of them going ashore in the U.S. as major systems. In all, 15 storms probably will be in the western Atlantic or the Gulf of Mexico, and seven could make landfall in the U.S., says Joe Bastardi, chief long-range and hurricane forecaster. “This year has the chance to be an extreme season,” Bastardi says in a statement. “Certainly much more like 2008 than 2009 as far as the overall threat to the United States’ East and Gulf coasts.” Bastardi says he raised his forecast from last year because of a weakening El Niño, the Pacific warming phenomenon that can suppress Atlantic storm development, and because waters are warmer than normal from Africa to the Caribbean while being cooler to the north: a common pattern in major storm seasons. Colorado State University’s Tropical Meteorology Project made its initial forecast for the season in December, calling for 16 named storms with as many as eight becoming hurricanes, five of them major. In January, WSI predicted 13 named storms and seven hurricanes, three of them major; last month, the Commodity Weather Group called for 11 named storms, including as many as five hurricanes.

Terra picks CF buyout bid

Fertilizer company Terra Industries says it will pursue a bid to be acquired by CF Industries instead of a previous agreement with Norway's Yara. Terra has notified Yara that their $4.1 billion buyout deal announced last month will not go forward. Chemical maker CF Industries Holdings Inc., based in Deerfield, Ill., last week offered to buy Terra Industries Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $4.7 billion. Terra says that was a "superior proposal" to Yara's offer. Yara has five business days to meet or beat CF's offer, a Terra spokesman says. Terra and CF both operate fertilizer plants near Donaldsonville.

Poll: Higher license fee is a tax

Sixty-seven percent of people who responded to a Daily Report poll say the recent $15 increase in the cost of a driver's license amounts to a tax hike by Gov. Bobby Jindal. Twenty-eight percent of people who participated in the survey say the increase is not a tax hike and 5% are undecided. Jindal's office says the increase, which took effect Monday, is a service charge designed to offset an unfunded federal mandate to cover costs of maintaining a National Driver Register. But some legislators have dubbed the charge a tax.

Today's question: Will the upcoming hurricane season be worse than last year's?

News roundup: GM Shreveport gets order for 849 Hummers ... Port Fourchon company expanding ... 'Lost Boys' actor Corey Haim found dead

Fleet order will stave off shutdown: General Motors has received a fleet order for 849 Hummers, so the Shreveport plant won't shut down for two weeks in May, after all. GM spokesman Otie McKinley says the plant has a month to build the H3s and H3Ts. He says Hummer production will resume April 12, and the order must be completed by May 13. McKinley says the plant will be staffed at full production during that time. The company had planned a two-week shutdown to begin the first week of May.

Move will create 30 jobs: Allport Services, an oilfield-services company, has completed part one of a $3 million dockside facility at Port Fourchon and hired 30 additional workers. During its two years in business, Allport has worked as a logistics broker, matching companies' leftover equipment and materials with potential buyers. It now has larger offices with client parking and a full-scale dock with cranes that can lift up to 230 tons. A warehouse as well as fuel and water services are scheduled for completion early next year, and the company then plans to hire another 30 workers.

Troubled 1980s teen star dead at 38: The Los Angeles coroner's office says The Lost Boys actor Corey Haim is dead at 38. Coroner's Lt. Cheryl MacWillie said today that Haim died at 2:15 a.m. at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. The Los Angeles Times reports Haim died of an accidental overdose. Canadian-born Haim became a teen heartthrob with the 1986 film Lucas and the 1987 film The Lost Boys. Haim battled drug addiction for much of the 1990s and 2000s. In recent years, he appeared in the A&E reality TV show The Two Coreys with his friend and frequent co-star Corey Feldman. It was canceled in 2008 after two seasons.