Cemetery grant: A $7.2 million federal grant is set to create a new veterans’ cemetery in southwest Louisiana. State Sen. Dan Morrish says the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs will provide another $1 million. Jennings Mayor Henry Guinn says people are eager to begin construction. It will serve all of southwest Louisiana from the Texas border to the Atchafalaya basin up to Leesville. Read the full story.
Bye-bye buggy: After selling it on and off in the U.S. for nearly seven decades, Volkswagen has decided to squash its iconic Beetle. The company’s American unit announced Thursday that it will end global production of the third-generation bulbous bug in July of next year after offering two special editions for sale. The compact Beetle was introduced in Germany in 1938 during the Nazi era and came to the U.S. 11 years later, where it became a symbol of utilitarian transportation often used by hippies. Read the full story.
Upside down: About 5.1 million U.S. homeowners are still living with the fallout from the real estate bust that triggered the epic downturn, Reuters reports. As of June 30, nearly one in 10 American homes with mortgages were “seriously” underwater, according to Irvine, California-based ATTOM Data Solutions, meaning that their market values were at least 25% lower than the balance remaining on their mortgages. It is an improvement from 2012, but is still double the rate considered healthy by real estate analysts. Read the full story.
