‘Daily Report’ Week in Review: Kip Holden confirms Miss USA pageant returning to Baton Rouge, CATS committee to take up long-term contract for Bob Mirabito and more
Though Mayor Kip Holden had showed up to a press conference Wednesday morning to highlight a community cleanup effort and his office’s involvement, the mayor ended up stealing the show by publicly confirming that the Miss USA pageant would be returning to Baton Rouge this year for a second year.
“I am happy to tell you Miss USA is coming back to Baton Rouge,” Holden said at the press conference, as first reported by Daily Report. “They enjoyed it so much last year they called us and said they’re coming back.”
Though the timing of Holden’s announcement was unexpected, news of the development was not. Last month, the mayor’s office asked the Metro Council to appropriate $230,000 for expenses related to the 2015 pageant. At the time, an administration spokesman would say only that no deal had been finalized, though the request led to multiple media reports that the pageant would be back for a second year. The Metro Council OK’d the pageant spending on Wednesday evening.
Also this week, Daily Report received confirmation from Capital Area Transit System Board Chair Donna Collins-Lewis that she has reached an agreement with CATS CEO Bob Mirabito to extend his contract.
Collins-Lewis says the CATS Finance and Executive Committee will take up the contract next week.
“If everything looks good and they sign off on it, then it will be put on the full board’s agenda for the meeting on April 21,” says Collins-Lewis, who also sits on the Metro Council.
As for details of the new contract, Collins-Lewis says she isn’t disclosing any until the committee has had a chance to review the pact and vote on it.
—Steve Sanoski
Here’s a rundown of some of the other top stories making headlines in Daily Report this week:
- Both the Baton Rouge metro area and Louisiana saw their respective rankings rise in the latest edition of the State of American Well-Being report from Gallup and Healthways, which measures how people feel about their daily lives based on 2.1 million surveys. While Louisiana’s ranking inched up one spot to No. 40 among all states—marking the first time since the 2011 report that the state is not among the 10 lowest-ranked states—Baton Rouge climbed nine spots to No. 54 among all U.S. cities.
- Opposing efforts to repeal economic development incentives, keeping educational standards in place in K-12 education, giving state colleges and universities more autonomy to raise tuition and fees, and outlawing a controversial funding mechanism used by government-related labor unions will top the business community’s legislative agenda during the upcoming session. Baton Rouge Area Chamber President and CEO Adam Knapp and Louisiana Association of Business and Industry President Stephen Waguespack outlined their organizations’ respective legislative priorities at a luncheon in Baton Rouge on Wednesday.
- The Capital Area United Way slightly exceeded its fall fundraising goal of $9.3 million and surpassed contributions from the fall 2013 campaign by 3%. Though the agency will not release final numbers on the fall 2014 campaign until next month, CEO Darrin Goss says it’s not too soon to declare the workforce campaign a success.
- The intersection of Third and Lafayette streets near the State Capitol is the proposed location for a new downtown bus hub. Capital Area Transit System CEO Bob Mirabito and city-parish officials have been working for several months to find a suitable location for the hub and think the new spot will work, according to CATS spokesperson Amie McNaylor. Implementation of the new location should be complete by July, she says.
