Callin’ Baton Rouge: The Ruston-Lincoln Parish Convention & Visitors Bureau and the City of Ruston have selected Baton Rouge-based Tourism Builders to create a strategic plan for increasing tourism to the area. The company, whose principals are Jill Kidder and Darienne Mobley, was selected from among a number of firms across the Southeast that submitted proposals to develop the plan. Their work will conclude in December, at which time a three-year tourism strategic plan will be presented. The plan will guide the decisions of the Ruston-Lincoln Parish CVB and City of Ruston as it relates to tourism promotion, service, partnerships and product development.
Lower still: The number of rigs actively exploring for oil or gas in Louisiana declined by three this week to 69, according to the latest weekly report issued this afternoon by Houston-based Baker Hughes. Across the U.S., the rig count fell by six to 857. Of those, 638 rigs were drilling for oil, which is the lowest tally since the last week in June. As Reuters reports, U.S. energy firms cut seven oil rigs this week after adding rigs for the last two weeks as U.S. crude prices fell nearly 15% this month in the biggest slump since December, a sign some drillers were waiting for higher prices before returning to the well pad. This was the 30th weekly oil rig decline in the past 31 weeks. Read the full story.
Help wanted: First-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending July 11 increased to 3,451 from the previous week’s total of 2,707, according to data released today by the Louisiana Workforce Commission. The week marked the start of a new quarter for new claims when some claimants regain their eligibility for benefits, typically resulting in an increase in initial claims, LWC says. For the comparable week a year earlier, the state department of labor said there were 2,984 claims. The four-week moving average, which is a less volatile measure of claims, increased to 2,899 from the previous week’s average of 2,758. LWC has more details.
