Black gold: Portrush Petroleum Corporation says it has entered into an agreement to drill for oil and gas in Pointe Coupee Parish. The Canadian company says it will develop a 1,200-acre site right between Baton Rouge and Opelousas. Plans are to drill down to 11,600 feet.
Trip-paying dividends: Officials from Jackson, Miss., are using the Shaw Center for the Arts as a model for proposed downtown mixed-use development, The (Jackson) Clarion-Ledger reports. About 60 officials from Jackson made a canvass trip to Baton Rouge last week, collecting ideas for the redevelopment of the Arts Center of Mississippi. Ben Allen, president of Downtown Jackson Partners, which spearheaded the trip, told the newspaper he was impressed with the Shaw Center. “It’s got the coolest restaurant in the city. They’ve got apartments,” he says. “They’ve got the (LSU) Museum of Art, black-box theaters.” Read the story here.
