Looking ahead: Louisiana could be one of the first states to develop a statewide forecasting system to predict where flooding will occur, The LSU Manship News Service reports. The Water Institute of the Gulf CEO Justin Ehrenwerth told a joint legislative committee on Tuesday that the institute has partnered with water-management researchers in the Netherlands to develop a data-based system that predicts which neighborhoods would be most affected by flooding, enabling first responders to send help accordingly. Read more.
Locked up: A Louisiana man who pleaded guilty to defrauding hundreds of real estate agents nationwide has been sentenced in federal court to 38 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay about $1.6 million in restitution, the Justice Department says. Real estate agents paid Rex Alan Harris of Covington and his company “Agents by City”—a fake marketing firm—for TV ads that were promised to generate real estate sales and referrals. But Harris didn’t deliver, opting instead to spend the agents’ money on items like New Orleans Saints season tickets. Read more.
Mission to Mars: The world’s first space sports car is cruising toward the asteroid belt, well beyond Mars. SpaceX chief Elon Musk confirmed the new, more distant route for his rocketing Tesla Roadster, which was launched aboard the company’s Falcon Heavy from Florida on Tuesday. Musk says the final firing of the upper stage put his red convertible into a solar orbit that stretches all the way to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The original plan had the car traveling no farther than Mars. In the driver seat of the Tesla is a space-suited mannequin nicknamed “Starman.” Read more.
