Editor’s note: This story has been updated since its original publication to include that Ginger Maulden, of Coldwell Banker ONE, received the Realtor of the Year award.
Honored: The Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors recognized five members for exemplifying the organization’s brand at an awards ceremony on Jan. 11. Suzanne Ruch of Franklin American Mortgage received the Ben. R. Downing Jr. Affiliate of the Year award. Sara Ketchings of CJ Brown Realtor was awarded Rising Star of the Year. Karen Moore of Keller Williams First Choice was awarded the Most Cooperative Realtor while Adam Pitts of KDK Capital Region Realty was named Charles H. Dillemuth Humanitarian of the Year. Ginger Maulden, of Coldwell Banker ONE, received the Realtor of the Year award, the GBRAR’s highest honor.
Rare find: One of the biggest diamonds in history has been discovered in the mountainous kingdom of Lesotho in southern Africa, Bloomberg reports. Gem Diamonds Ltd. found the 910-carat stone, about the size of two golf balls, at its Letseng mine in the country. The diamond is the fifth-biggest ever found. Gem did not say how it will sell the diamond or what it could be worth. Its value will be determined by the size and quality of the polished stones that can be cut from it. Lucara Diamond Corp. sold a 1,109-carat diamond for $53 million last year, but got a record $63 million for a smaller 813-carat stone it found at the same time in 2015. Read more.
Fierce competition: A rapidly tightening labor market is forcing companies across the country to consider workers they once would have turned away, The New York Times reports. The need for more employees is providing opportunities to people who have long faced barriers to employment, such as criminal records, disabilities or prolonged bouts of joblessness. The American economy hasn’t experienced this kind of fierce competition for workers since the late 1990s and early 2000s, the last time the unemployment rate—currently 4.1%—was this low. Read more.
