Corporate recycling: Cities that made pitches to Amazon in hopes of landing the massive HQ2 project are reusing their expensive presentations to woo other companies, The Wall Street Journal reports. City leaders in Philadelphia, Toronto, Indianapolis and Newark are among those taking the incentive offers they compiled for Amazon’s consideration and pushing them out other businesses and developers—and it’s worked for at least once city so far. Elm Partners, a London-based investment firm was swayed by Philadelphia’s video presentation created for Amazon, says Chief Executive James White. White hadn’t known much about the city before seeing the pitch but moved Elm Partners to the City of Brotherly Love in January. Read the full story (subscription may be required).
All together now: Together Baton Rouge and the Louisiana Association of Educators is holding a public assembly at 6:30 tonight to rally for full public school funding from the state and higher teacher salaries. The event will take place at Shiloh Baptist Church on Eddie Robinson Sr. Drive. It’s open to the public, but TBR is requesting attendees RSVP online.
Sold!: The Louisiana Mineral and Energy Board collected $225,754 from its monthly lease sale held on May 9 in Baton Rouge. This month’s sale included seven leases covering 759 acres, 240 of them sold to a state agency. The leases are located in Allen, Beauregard, East and West Feliciana, Grant, Iberia, LaSalle, St. Mary and Terrebonne parishes. The board reports having collected $3.6 million from monthly lease sales since the start of the fiscal year on July 1. The board called $1.9 million in revenue for fiscal year 2016-2017.
