Gathering: More than 5,000 people are expected to converge on downtown Baton Rouge for the Jehovah’s Witness regional convention taking place now through Saturday and on Aug. 3-6. Visit Baton Rouge says the convention has secured various parking lots in the downtown area. As a result, Visit Baton Rouge has issued a traffic and parking advisory, notifying those who may need to travel downtown for any reason about the increased traffic and limited parking. The convention will begin at 8 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. each day.
Head start: Louisiana education officials say more than 6,500 high school students scored high enough on Advanced Placement tests this year to earn college course credit. The Associated Press reports state education department figures show that’s a nearly 10% increase over last year and a 137% increase from 2012, when 2,747 students earned college credit. The latest figures were released today. Superintendent of Education John White touted strong improvements in the test scores of black students, particularly in East Baton Rouge Parish. Still, he says, Louisiana has more work to do because there remain 23 school districts where no African-American students took an Advanced Placement test.
Vintage: After years of being outsold by the iPhone, the iPod may be going the way of Walkman. As Bloomberg reports, Apple has announced it’s discontinuing two of the cheapest iPod models: the nano and shuffle. The two products have been removed from Apple’s online store and will vanish from retail locations as well. Apple says it’s simplifying its iPod lineup, which will include two models of iPod Touch with double the capacity. The $149 nano and $49 shuffle were last updated with new colors in 2015, but the nano hasn’t been revamped since 2012 while the shuffle hasn’t been redesigned since 2010. Read more.
