In production: Cane Land Distilling will commemorate the opening of its new facility at 760 St. Philip St. in downtown Baton Rouge with a ribbon cutting ceremony taking place 11 a.m. on Friday. Downtown Development District Executive Director Davis Rhorer and Cane Land Founder and President Walter Tharp will cut the ribbon, along with the Alma Plantation & Sugar Mill family. Located near the 13th Gate and the Interstate 10 overpass, the distillery produces fresh-pressed cane juice rum distilled from sugarcane grown and milled at the Alma Plantation & Sugar Mill in Pointe Coupee Parish. Cane Land is open to the public from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday.
On hold: A federal judge says that until Louisiana’s appeal of an abortion law ruling is over, he won’t consider fees for lawyers who won the challenge. The Associated Press reports U.S. District Judge John deGravelles also gave lawyers for abortion clinics 21 days to oppose the order he handed down today. The clinics’ lawyers say the state should pay them $4.7 million. Attorneys for the state say that if they win their appeal, the clinics’ lawyers won’t be due anything. The law required doctors who perform abortions to be able to admit patients to a nearby hospital. It has never been enforced. DeGravelles overturned the law in April, under a U.S. Supreme Court decision that a similar Texas law was unconstitutional. The five justices in the majority on that ruling remain on the high court.
Another drop: Construction of new homes fell for a second straight month in April, pushing activity to the lowest point in five months, The Associated Press reports. Housing starts fell 2.6% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.17 million units, the Commerce Department reported today. That followed a 6.6% decline in March and left home building at its lowest point since last November. The weakness was led by a big drop in construction of apartments, a volatile sector. Nevertheless, housing construction has been one of the bright spots for the economy. Analysts expect the number of Americans seeking homes will rebound in the coming months, driven by strong employment gains and low unemployment. Read more.
