This story has been updated since its original publication to include unemployment numbers from the Louisiana Workforce Commission.
Flying high: Calcasieu Parish police jurors have approved a memorandum of understanding between the parish, the city of Lake Charles and the Chennault International Airport Authority to facilitate development of a proposed $257 million airport expansion, The Associated Press reports. The airport has plans to increase its cargo-handling capacity and allow for additional development such as aircraft hangars, rail-served warehouses and a light industrial park. The expansion would be built on 220 acres occupied by Mallard Cove Golf Course, owned by the city of Lake Charles. The proposal calls for building a new golf course to replace Mallard Cove. The City Council still must approve the MOU.
Joining the labor force: Louisiana’s unemployment rate decreased in July to 6.2%, its lowest level since June 2014, according to seasonally adjusted data released today by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The state’s civilian labor force, which includes the number of people employed plus those looking for work, increased by 38,438 people from July 2014. The number of those employed in the labor force increased by 40,954 over the year. Louisiana’s unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage points to 6.2%, according to seasonally adjusted data from a BLS survey of 750 households. The national unemployment rate held at 5.3% while the 17-state Southern regional average rate in July was 5.2 percent. The Louisiana Workforce Commission has the full report.
The ‘New’ New Orleans: Helped by billions in recovery money, buoyed by volunteers and driven by the grit of its own citizens, New Orleans is enjoying a post-Katrina resurgence, The Associated Press reports in a story marking the 10-year anniversary of the storm. Reforms from schools to policing to community engagement and water management are in progress, buttressing people against the next monster storm. But in the same breath, people also point to the many left behind. This ‘New’ New Orleans is whiter and more expensive, and blacks still suffer society’s ills disproportionately, especially in the chronically neglected Lower 9th Ward, a bastion of black homeownership before the floodwalls failed. “A lot of folks say things are so much better, the economy is so improved, and other people are going to say it is so much worse,” said Allison Plyer at The Data Center, a think tank in the city. “And both those realities are true.” Read the full story.
