Time granted: The Alcoholic Beverage Control Board on Thursday gave former Metro Councilman John Delgado and his three downtown bars an additional 90 days to pay roughly 30,000 in back taxes. Delgado confirmed to Daily Report Tuesday that his bars—Draft House, Huey’s and 1913—had fallen behind on paying city-parish sales taxes. He blamed the delinquency on sluggish summer sales and an oversaturated market, but was confident the tax bills would be paid by the end of the year.
Now hiring: Gov. John Bel Edwards has authorized the hiring of more home inspectors for the Restore Louisiana Homeowner Assistance Program. The move comes after major hurricanes struck Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, causing widespread damage and drawing inspectors away from Louisiana due to the added workload. Louisiana has lost 40% of its qualified home inspectors since Hurricane Harvey, causing the home inspection process resulting from last year’s flood to significantly slow, the governor’s office says. Read more.
Up in the air: Getting anywhere on the planet in under an hour is one of the more intriguing possibilities raised by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the billionaire innovator, as he unveiled plans for a new rocket. The vessel would both take off and land vertically, like a space rocket, Musk said. It would fly most routes—New York to Tokyo, for example—in about 30 minutes, and anywhere in under an hour. At a presentation today in Australia, Musk showed off plans for the so-called BFR rocket, which would also be able to bring satellites into orbit and crews to Mars. Musk’s company, SpaceX, has been able to make smaller rockets land vertically, though the technical and commercial feasibility of this new venture is yet to be determined.
