On the debate floor: The top five candidates running for Louisiana’s soon-to-be-vacant U.S. Senate seat are meeting for their last debate ahead of next week’s election, at Dillard University in New Orleans. As The Associated Press reports, tonight’s televised debate is drawing attention mainly for the sixth contender who will be on stage at the historically black university: white supremacist David Duke. Duke narrowly reached the 5% polling benchmark set by Raycom Media for participation in the debate, to be broadcast across most of Louisiana. Major contenders in the Senate race are three Republicans, U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, U.S. Rep. John Fleming and Treasurer John Kennedy; and two Democrats, Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell and lawyer Caroline Fayard. The debate will air at 7 p.m. on WAFB-TV.
On the road: Largely driven by the collapse in oil prices, gas consumption in the United States is on the rise again after years of a steady decline, FuelFix.com reports. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports today that on an average day in June of this year 9.7 million barrels of finished gasoline was consumed. That broke the previous record of 9.6 million barrels a day set in July 2007. The increase in consumption creates new headaches for U.S. policy makers trying to address climate change. Transportation represents 26% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, which fell 10% from 2007 to 2012, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Cheap gasoline has put more Americans out on the road. This summer, Americans drove 6.4% more miles than they did back in the summer of 2007. Read the full story.
As expected: Federal Reserve policy makers today left interest rates unchanged, reinforcing expectations for a hike next month, Bloomberg reports. “The committee judges that the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has continued to strengthen but decided, for the time being, to wait for some further evidence of continued progress toward its objectives,” the Federal Open Market Committee says in a statement today following a two-day meeting in Washington. The decision was 8-2. Fed officials revealed growing confidence that inflation is on track to reach their 2% target. Read the full story.
