Covering new ground: Baton Rouge-based Business First Bank is expanding to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where it will be opening a new loan production office, CEO and President Jude Melville has announced in a press release. The bank will serve small- and lower-middle market businesses and executives. Banker Chris Shaw, a native of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, will lead the new office. Shaw most recently served as executive vice president and commercial manager for a Dallas community bank. Read more.
Down the ballot: The Baton Rouge Area Chamber has released its positions on the three proposed constitutional amendments on the Oct. 14 ballot. BRAC is supporting amendment No. 1, which prohibits the assessment of property taxes on any construction projects in progress. It also supports amendment No. 3, which creates a special fund for revenues generated by a new gas tax. The chamber has taken no position on amendment No. 2, which establishes a property tax exemption for the surviving spouses of first responders who die while on duty. Read the reasoning behind BRAC’s recommendations. Early voting for the Oct. 14 election begin Saturday. Also read Publisher Rolfe McCollister’s endorsements, click here.
Policy shift: The United States is warning Americans against visiting Cuba and ordering more than half of U.S. personnel to leave the island, senior officials say, in a dramatic response to what they described as “specific attacks” on diplomats. The decision deals a blow to already delicate ties between the U.S. and Cuba, longtime enemies who only recently began putting their hostility behind them. The embassy in Havana will lose roughly 60% of its U.S. staff, and will stop processing visas in Cuba indefinitely, the American officials say. Read more from The Associated Press.
