Moving through: City-parish debris removal crews will begin making their final pass through all flood-affected ZIP codes in Baton Rouge and the unincorporated areas of East Baton Rouge Parish today. Crews will start work in 70817. They will pass through each street and not return, according to a news release. As final pass efforts are completed within each ZIP code, additional ZIP codes will be activated for final debris collection passes. The city-parish says debris crews have picked up more than 1.6 million cubic yards of flood debris since Aug. 20, with at least 75% of debris collected as of Oct. 6. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is not reimbursing the city-parish for construction and reconstruction waste materials, so debris removal crews will not collect those materials. Residents can track the debris collection effort online.
Market pick up: Global stocks jumped this morning, on the eve of the U.S. presidential election, after FBI Director James Comey said in a letter to Congress on Sunday that the agency is not recommending criminal charges against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over her emails, USA Today reports. Germany’s DAX index, France’s CAC 40 and Britain’s FTSE 100 were up more than 1.5%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index surged 1.6%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.7%, and the Shanghai composite index added 0.3%. In pre-market trading in the U.S., the S&P 500 was up nearly 40 points, or 1.4%, and on track to snap a nine-session losing streak. The Dow Jones industrial average was up more than 230 points in the pre-market and the Nasdaq composite was 1.5% higher. Read the full story.
In memory: Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, the first woman to hold the job, died this morning at the age of 78. Reuters reports Reno succumbed to complications of Parkinson’s disease as family surrounded her in her Miami home. She was diagnosed with the disease in 1995. The blunt-spoken lawyer worked as the top U.S. law enforcement official under former President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001, becoming the longest-serving attorney general of the 20th century. Her tenure as attorney general is marked by several controversies, including the raid on Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, the international tussle over Cuban-born Elian Gonzalez and a 1998 antitrust case against Microsoft. Read the full story.
