Last seen Wednesday morning: The East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office is looking for a 28-year-old accountant who was last seen entering his office at 5:20 a.m. Wednesday. Ben Brown was caught by a security camera entering the Postlethwaite & Netterville office, but was not seen at work. His car was found at the office, with no signs of forced entry or suspicious activity. Brown is a white male, with short brown hair, 5-foot-7 and weighs about 170 pounds. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 389-5000, or contact Crime Stoppers at 344-STOP.
Money going to waste: There’s little interest in $384 million in tax-free borrowing capacity available to private businesses damaged by Hurricane Ike. Seven months after the State Bond Commission approved the guidelines governing the program, the program remains untapped. Whit Kling, director of the Bond Commission, says a $75 million allocation of bond capacity that had been approved won’t be used. The program, set up by Congress late last year for Ike-affected states, was modeled after a federal Gulf Opportunity Zone Act—or GO Zone—program developed after Hurricane Katrina. For the Ike program, private businesses in 20 parishes, including Livingston, Orleans and Tangipahoa, are eligible for the replacement of losses or facility repairs, but not for new construction or expansion.
Wanna buy an airline? Southwest Airlines Co. is seeking to trump a rival bid and acquire Frontier Airlines, a Denver-based carrier operating under bankruptcy protection. Frontier offered flights to Denver out of Baton Rouge Metro Airport from May 2007 to April 2008. A court had already approved the sale of Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc. to the parent of Republic Airways for $108.8 million, but that deal can be nixed if a better offer comes along.
Dallas-based Southwest says it submitted a nonbinding bid of $113.6 million. Southwest hopes that making the bid will allow it to talk with Frontier and get information to help shape its final proposal. Southwest said it faces an Aug. 10 deadline for submitting a binding bid. If there is more than one qualified bidder, an auction will be held the following day.
