On deck: Baton Rouge-based Marucci Sports announced it’s launching a new softball line, including a new bat, fielding gloves, batting gloves and bags. As part of the softball launch, the company says, Hall of Fame softball coach Yvette Girouard is joining the Marucci team as softball ambassador. Marucci, which already has a full line of baseball equipment and provides bats to a growing number of Major League Baseball players, says it will work to expand its set of softball offerings in the coming seasons. Marucci co-founder and CEO Kurt Ainsworth says in a prepared statement that the softball line is a natural progression for the company.
Nine lives: Judges in Baton Rouge have dismissed two lawsuits challenging different aspects of Louisiana’s law against owning exotic cats. The Associated Press reports one lawsuit sought to overturn an exemption to the ban that allows the owner of Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete to keep his live tiger mascot, Tony, on exhibit. District Judge William Morvant on Monday dismissed the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s challenge to the exemption granted to truck stop owner Michael Sandlin. The other lawsuit was filed by Yogie and Friends, a north Louisiana animal sanctuary threatened by the ban. Also Monday, District Judge Robert Downing dismissed the suit filed for sanctuary director Jenny Senier. Read the full story.
At the finish line: Even if Sen. Mary Landrieu is able to win passage of her Senate bill tonight to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline, analysts tell Bloomberg it may not be enough to affect the outcome of her re-election bid against Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy, whom she has been trailing in polls leading up to the Dec. 6 runoff. “Senator Landrieu is in an extremely vulnerable and difficult electoral situation,” says Nathan Gonzales, deputy editor of the Rothenberg Political Report. “I think Landrieu is in a tough race before Keystone. I think she’s in a tough race after Keystone. I don’t think it fundamentally changes the dynamics of the race.” Read the full story.
