Returning home: Cristo Rey Baton Rouge Franciscan High School is reopening its north Baton Rouge campus on St. Gerard Avenue at a 10 a.m. ceremony Friday. Like many buildings in the Baton Rouge area, waters from the widespread August 2016 flood engulfed the school’s campus, displacing students, teachers and staff just four days into the school year. Cristo Rey has held classes at the Bon Carre Business Center since then. Mayor Sharon Weston Broome will speak.
Awarded: Houston-based IGP Methanol LLC has awarded an exclusive front-end engineering design contract to CB&I for its proposed Gulf Coast Methanol Complex, a news release says. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The facility, to be located in Plaquemines Parish, will consist of four identical methanol trains and utilities. When complete, Gulf Coast Methanol will produce 7.2 million tons of methanol per year, making it the world’s largest permitted methanol production facility. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality issued an air quality operating permit for the complex last month. Read more.
Space odyssey: Crowds began gathering at the Kennedy Space Center at daybreak for the afternoon test launch of SpaceX’s big new rocket, the Falcon Heavy. The Heavy is set to become the world’s most powerful rocket in use, with double the liftoff punch. It’s equipped with three boosters and 27 engines designed to provide about 5 million pounds of thrust. Adding to the excitement, SpaceX chief Elon Musk has his cherry-red Tesla Roadster on board. Musk is striving to put the car into a perpetual solar orbit reaching out as far as Mars, the focus of all his rocket efforts as he aims to establish a city there in years to come. Read more and watch the rocket launch.
