Eggs and baskets: A new ranking of U.S. cities for economic diversity by financial news website WalletHub.com places Baton Rouge at No. 208. In compiling the rankings, WalletHub says it examined 350 of the largest U.S. cities across three key metrics, including industry diversity, occupational diversity and worker-class diversity. Aside from the overall ranking, Baton Rouge is ranked No. 188 in the industry diversity category; No. 242 for occupational diversity; and No. 81 for worker-class diversity. See the complete rankings.
Blowing in the wind: LSU AgCenter wheat specialist Josh Lofton says the recent surge of cold weather could be damaging to Louisiana’s wheat crop. As The Associated Press reports, Lofton says the amount of damage can’t be determined for a week to 10 days. He says damaged tissue will show signs of discoloration and wilting. Lofton says this year’s state wheat acreage is down to fewer than 200,000 acres compared with last year’s crop of 210,000 acres.
Pressing on: The eight-month slide in oil and gas prices affected operating budgets for major companies and small independents, and has provided the impetus for about 30,000 layoffs in oil services. But business goes on, and as The Advertiser reports, there have been several noteworthy announcements in the industry across the state in recent weeks. Among them, Gov. Bobby Jindal was on hand at Hunting Energy Services-U.S. Manufacturing in Houma on Thursday to announce the company is completing a $62-million expansion. Read the full story.
