Dialed in: A Cox Communications spokesman says the intermittent phone outages in Baton Rouge that began around 6 a.m. Monday were fixed “by midafternoon” and that all service is back up as of this morning. “We’re still looking into the root cause,” says David Deliman, regional public affairs director, adding that Cox does not have a complete count on the total number of customers affected by Monday’s outage.
Game time: A new casino joins Louisiana’s market Wednesday when the Jena Choctaw Pines Casino opens in central Louisiana. The 46,000-square-foot casino will welcome customers following a ribbon-cutting ceremony set for 10 a.m. The Jena Band of Choctaw Indians’ Pines Casino will be the third Native American-owned casino in central Louisiana. The casino, on U.S. Highway 167 in the Grant Parish town of Dry Prong, will offer more than 700 gaming devices, poker tables, a sports bar, entertainment and dining options.
Feelin’ good: Confidence among U.S. small businesses rose in January for a second month after lawmakers reached a last-minute deal to avert a sweeping increase in income taxes. The National Federation of Independent Business’s optimism index improved to 88.9 last month from 88 in December. Seven of the measure’s 10 components contributed to the gain in January, the Washington-based group says. Bloomberg has the full story here.
