Getting down to business: Now that they have a full-time commissioner of higher education to guide them, the members of the Louisiana Board of Regents and their staff are tackling a number of issues they hope will improve state colleges and universities. Joseph Rallo, who signed a contract but hasn’t yet moved to Louisiana from Lubbock, Texas, where he’s in the Texas Tech system administration, tells The Shreveport Times that he’s looking forward to working toward tackling the issues. Included are getting more graduates, solving funding shortages, helping campuses in trouble academically and financially, and finding ways to help students graduate. Read the full story.
Road warrior: Gov. Bobby Jindal was in Gardner, Kansas, late Monday afternoon, campaigning for Gov. Sam Brownback. Kansas City’s KMBC-TV reports the appearance took place at Steel and Pipe Supply, a steel fabricating plant owned by an old college friend of Brownback’s. Jindal praised Brownback for holding closely to his political principles, saying he thinks it catches Democratic opponent Paul Davis off guard. Brownback and Jindal also attended a fundraiser for the Brownback campaign. Jindal is set to be in Florida tonight and Kentucky on Wednesday to campaign for Republicans.
Priming the pump: The shale oil boom is proving far less kind to Mercedes-Benz drivers than it is to those sitting behind the wheel of a Toyota Camry or Chevrolet Impala. As Bloomberg reports, while regular gasoline-chugging drivers are paying an average of just $3.03 a gallon in the U.S.—the lowest in four years—those cruising around in luxury cars and demanding only the finest of grades, known as premium, have seen smaller declines. The price gap between the two grades swelled last week to the widest since 2008. Read the full story.
