Bringing it all back home: Houston-based KBR announced this morning that it has finalized two previously announced partnerships with Baton Rouge-based Bernhard Capital Partners that will re-establish the Brown & Root brand. One partnership creates the equally owned and managed Brown & Root Industrial Services, under which all of KBR’s U.S. and Canadian industrial services and on-call construction is now operating. The other brings all of KBR’s Canadian pipe fabricating operations under Falcon Fabricators and Modular Builders, a subsidiary of Epic Piping, a Bernhard company that KBR has a minority stake. Read a recent Business Report feature on the return of the Brown & Root brand.
It fills you up: The Capital Area United Way says Thursday evening’s Jambalaya Jam held in downtown Baton Rouge raised approximately $57,000 for the agency. A total of 47 corporate teams competed at the event, which was the 28th annual for CAUW. First place winner was Atmos Energy, trailed by ExxonMobil Complex 2 in second place and Triad in third. Other award winners include BASF, community games corporate division; The Arc Baton Rouge, community games nonprofit division; Dow Chemical Company, People’s Choice Award; Entergy River Bend, team spirit; and Motiva, best appetizer. CAUW says the funds raised by the event will help it further its mission to improve education, income and health in the 10-parish area it serves.
On the way down: First-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending Oct. 3 decreased from the previous week’s total. The state labor department figures released this morning show the initial claims decreased to 2,341 from the previous week’s total of 2,342. For the comparable week a year earlier, there were 2,081. The four-week moving average, which is a less volatile measure of claims, decreased to 2,251 from the previous week’s total of 2,270. Continued unemployment claims claimed for the week ending Oct. 3 decreased to 23,097 compared to 23,357 the previous week. The four-week moving average for such claims decreased to 23,625 from the previous week’s average of 23,957.
