In the pocket: New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees and his wife, Brittany, through their Brees Dream Foundation, are launching an apparel company this fall, reports The Times-Picayune, citing the foundation and the Idea Village—the business incubator that is partnering with the foundation to find someone to run the New Orleans-based venture. Idea Village founder Tim Williamson says the apparel line will be much like Product Red, a licensed brand that partners with companies like Gap and American Express to sell everything from shirts to credit cards bearing the Red logo. That company was founded by Bono, frontman of the band U2, as a way to get the private sector involved in raising awareness and money to help eliminate AIDS in Africa. Read the full story here.
Seeing red: China moved to temper expectations of another massive stimulus plan amid reports the country was green-lighting more infrastructure projects to stabilize its slowing economy, The Los Angeles Times reports. “The Chinese government’s intention is very clear, it will not issue another large-scale stimulus plan to boost robust growth,” the official New China News Agency says in an article published Tuesday. The statement helped drive stock markets down across Asia today, as investors sought clues as to how the world’s second-largest economy would respond to its biggest economic challenge in three years. Read the full story here.
Black gold: A Kuwaiti-led energy consortium today won the right to search for oil and gas in southern Iraq as part of the country’s fourth postwar energy auction. Two natural gas exploration deals meanwhile attracted no bidders. Exploration rights in a dozen areas of the country are on offer in the two-day auction, with 39 foreign energy companies registered to compete. Iraq holds the world’s fourth largest oil reserves and oil revenues make up nearly 95% of the country’s budget. Since 2008, Iraq has awarded 15 oil and gas deals to international energy companies, the first major investments in the country’s energy industry in more than three decades. The Associated Press has the full story here.
Today’s poll question: Do you think a second chamber, as proposed by Woody Jenkins, is necessary in East Baton Rouge Parish?
