Now open: Nearly 300 parking spots in the LaSalle Parking Garage at 617 North Third St. downtown are being opened up for public use today because the state is underusing them, the Division of Administration has announced. The garage is currently used by the downtown YMCA, LaSalle State Offices, Hampton Inn and a private company whose offices are in the new IBM building. The state will collect parking fees on the spots. Costs begin at $2 for an hour and increase by $2 for each additional hour, up to $10 max for four to 24 hours.
Upgrades on the way: The Louisiana Workforce Commission’s jobs portal, HiRE, will be taken offline at 5 p.m. on Wednesday for a major upgrade. LWC says the website will remain down through Monday, Nov. 9, at the latest, but could come back online sooner. People claiming unemployment benefits for the week ending Oct. 31 through the website can avoid processing or payment delays if they file by 5 p.m. on Wednesday. Claimants who need help with or information about their unemployment insurance accounts while the system is offline are encouraged to contact the LWC at 1-866-783-5677.
Power outage: New Orleans-based Entergy Corp. this morning reported a third-quarter loss of $718.2 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier. Entergy, one of just two Fortune 500 companies in Louisiana, reports a loss of $4.04 per share. Earnings, adjusted for asset impairment costs and nonrecurring costs, were $1.90 per share. The Associated Press reports the results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.93 per share. Entergy shares have fallen 22% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has climbed 1%. The Wall Street Journal reports the third-quarter loss is due to impairments stemming from Entergy’s shuttering of two nuclear power plants.
