Dutiful: Early voting for the Nov. 19 elections resumes today and will run through Saturday, except Friday, which is Veterans Day. The East Baton Rouge Parish Registrar of Voters has four offices that will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily during the early voting period. The offices in Baton Rouge are at 222 St. Louis St., room 201 of the Governmental Building; 3851 Essen Lane, inside the State Archives Building; and 10500 Coursey Blvd., room 203. The Baker office is inside the Motor Vehicle Building at 2250 Main St. All registered voters can cast an early vote, provided they bring with them a driver’s license, a Louisiana Special Identification card or “some other generally recognized picture ID that has your name and signature,” according to the secretary of state’s office.
Under control: An early-morning fire near the drive-through window at the Sonic Drive-In at 10603 Burbank Drive left the restaurant with smoke damage throughout, but no injuries, as employees had not arrived for work when firefighters were dispatched to the blaze around 5 a.m. The fire, which was brought under control about 10 minutes after firefighters arrived, remains under investigation.
Preventive measures: Major improvements to the Bogalusa paper mill responsible for a massive August fish kill in the Pearl River will begin at the end of the year. The state Department of Environmental Quality has released a timeline detailing when the Temple-Inland mill must begin and complete construction of new infrastructure designed to prevent another fish kill. Mill officials originally estimated the cost of the improvements at about $10 million, but now anticipate the cost will exceed $15 million. The mill’s equipment malfunctioned and spilled an unauthorized byproduct known as black liquor into the Pearl, depleting oxygen and killing hundreds of thousands of fish and mussels. International Paper Co. reached an agreement with Temple-Inland in September to take over the mill, but the transfer has not yet taken place. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.
