Life in the fastlane: A federal grant will help partially fund the construction of a third lane going both ways on Interstate 10 between Interstate 49 and the Atchafalaya Basin, Gov. John Bel Edwards’ office has announced. Louisiana is one of 18 recipients to receive a U.S. Department of Transportation FASTLANE grant. The state was awarded $60 million. According to Edwards’ office, the project, which is estimated to cost more than $300 million, will improve a stretch of roadway that carried 120 million tons of freight valued at $204 billion in 2015. Traffic counts this year indicate a 33% increase of all vehicles traveling along that stretch of I-10 are freight traffic, the governor’s office says, adding that future freight flows are expected to grow by 55%. The future value of freight also is expected to grow to an estimated $435.3 million. The Edwards’ administration submitted an application for the grant in April.
Historic fine: A Lafayette businessman and his company have been found guilty of violating state ethics laws and have been assessed the largest ethics fine in Louisiana history, $1.56 million, The Advertiser reports. The Louisiana Ethics Adjudicatory Board found Greg Gachassin and his Cartesian Co. violated the ethics code by contracting with an agency of the Lafayette Public Trust Financing Authority, whose beneficiary is the city of Lafayette. Gachassin served as the authority’s chair from 2003 to 2009. The board also found Gachassin guilty of discussing and voting on LPTA matters “in which he had a personal substantial economic interest.” The board says Gachassin was paid to assist the Cartesian Co., which earned $1 million from deals brokered while violating the state ethics law, in LPTFA matters. Gachassin can appeal the decision. Read the full story.
Closing time: Office Depot says it would close about 300 additional stores in the next three years to help cut cost by $250 million by the end of 2018, Reuters reports. The office supplies retailer, which closed 400 U.S. stores by the end of the second quarter, also reported the seventh straight drop in its quarterly sales. Office Depot and its rival Staples have been hit by competition from online retailers, such as Amazon.com, that have been discounting school and office supplies. Besides store closures, Office Depot also is planning to cut costs by reducing procurement, administrative and general expenses. Office Depot had 1,513 stores in North America and about 1,800 globally at the end of the second quarter. Specific locations for the closures have not been identified. There are three Office Depot locations in Baton Rouge. Read the full story. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-office-depot-results-idUSKCN10E1BV
