Laying the foundation: Urban Restoration Enhancement Corporation, a Baton Rouge-based nonprofit community development agency, has been awarded a $55,000 grant from Columbia, Maryland-based Enterprise Community Partners to address affordable housing needs in Baton Rouge. UREC says in a press release that it will use the grant for strategic planning and leadership development in preparation for current and future affordable housing initiatives in the area. It will also use the grant to study the feasibility of expanding to Lake Charles to meet the affordable housing demands anticipated with projected job growth in the area. The grant is being matched by private funding, UREC says, with $3 being supplied for every $1 in grant funding. UREC Board Chair Cathy Denson says in a prepared statement the funding “will enable us to strengthen capacity to provide more sustainable and affordable housing opportunities in Baton Rouge and other areas of Louisiana.”
Ready to board: Louisianians will still be able to use their driver’s licenses to fly commercial airlines in the new year, despite the state’s failure to comply with the federal REAL ID law. Though the state secured a yearlong extension in October to comply with REAL ID, The News-Star reports there remains some confusion among people who feared the requirement would kick in for Louisiana on Jan. 1 as previously scheduled. Had the state not received the extension, Louisianians would have needed a passport to fly in 2016. Congress passed the REAL ID Act in 2005 as a preventive measure against terrorist attacks like 9/11 with specific requirements for state-issued driver’s licenses. Louisiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire and New York, as well as American Samoa, are the only states and territory that have failed to comply. Read the full story.
Here’s the scoop: About a week after Blue Bell ice cream returned to Baton Rouge grocery store freezers, the Department of Justice announced this morning that it has started an investigation into Blue Bell after their ice cream was linked to a deadly Listeria outbreak earlier this year that killed three people. The Associated Press reports an FDA investigation found Listeria in all three of Blue Bell’s production plants located in Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas. Records indicated that the company knew one plant was contaminated at least as early as 2013. The FDA investigation uncovered other troubling problems, including condensation dripping directly into ice cream and unsanitary equipment. Last April, Blue Bell shut down all three production facilities, and all ice cream was recalled. Despite the Listeria outbreak and recall, some Baton Rouge area grocers reported lines outside their stores on Monday morning last week as Blue Bell returned to the market.
