Stumping: As he heads into a re-election campaign year, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Wednesday that a teacher pay raise will be his “number one priority” in next year’s legislative session. Edwards will seek a $1,000 across-the-board pay raise for teachers in the 2019 session that begins in April. He said he’ll also push for a $500 raise for school support employees, such as cafeteria workers and classroom aides. Not revealed is how Edwards plans to cover the projected $114 million price tag. Read the full story.
Employment boost: The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, hitting near a 49-year low in a sign the job market remains strong, Reuters reports. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell by 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted level of 201,000 for the week ended Sept. 15, the Labor Department said on Thursday. That is the lowest level since November 1969. Read the full story.
Pie in the sky: Comcast Corp. and 21st Century Fox Inc. will settle their takeover battle for Sky PLC in a weekend auction run by British regulators, setting up a dramatic climax to a 21-month sale process that has pitted some of the world’s biggest media giants against each other, The Wall Street Journal reports. Read the full story.
