Back on solid ground: With the anniversary of last year’s flood approaching, the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank is celebrating the reopening of its administrative offices on Choctaw Drive—which took on four feet of water—with a ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. Friday. The ceremony is the prelude to a community-wide food distribution event that will start at 8 a.m. on Saturday at the Baton Rouge Police Department headquarters. Smithfield Foods will donate 40,000 pounds of protein with help from BRPD. The food bank resumed operations at its Fraenkel center warehouse in September.
Security check: The U.S. House has voted in favor of allowing lawmakers to use taxpayer funds to beef up security at their homes. The Associated Press reports the unanimous vote came on a nonbinding move by Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, to allow lawmakers to use their office budgets for security systems at their homes so long as they are not structural improvements that add value. Love cited threats she has received, which included having her address posted on Facebook. The vote comes after Majority Whip Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, was wounded last month at a practice for the GOP baseball team. Scalise was discharged from a Washington-area hospital on Tuesday.
Coming down the line: Passengers at all U.S. airports will soon face new stricter measures for screening electronic devices bigger than a cellphone. The Associated Press reports security officers will ask travelers in regular lanes to take all larger devices out of their bag and put them in a bin by themselves, similar to the screening of most travelers’ laptops. Officials say it gives X-ray screeners a clearer picture of the devices. The change won’t apply to precheck lanes. The Transportation Security Administration says the new procedure will go nationwide in the coming weeks and months. TSA has been testing it at 10 airports for more than a year.
