Going down: First-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending Oct. 3 decreased from the previous week’s total, The Associated Press reports. The latest data the state labor department released today shows that initial claims fell to 2,379 from the previous week’s total of 2,443. For the comparable week a year earlier, there were 2,341. The four-week moving average, which is a less volatile measure of claims, decreased to 2,405 from the previous week’s average of 2,577. Continued unemployment claims claimed for the week ending Oct. 1 decreased to 25,211 compared to 25,602 the previous week. The four-week moving average for such claims decreased to 26,556 from the previous week’s average of 27,290.
A little better: For the second straight week, Louisiana added one rig to its weekly oil and gas rig count, according to Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The company says Louisiana now has 42 active rigs, compared to 41 a week ago and 40 the week before that, The Associated Press reports. Nationwide, the U.S. rig count increased by two this week to 524. A year ago, 795 rigs were active. Depressed energy prices have sharply curtailed oil and gas exploration. Baker Hughes says that 428 rigs sought oil and 94 explored for natural gas this week. Two were listed as miscellaneous. The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed out in May at 404.
Talk it out: Settlement talks that one attorney describes as “fruitful” could resolve a lawsuit that Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson and others filed against the city of Baton Rouge over their arrests during protests of a deadly police shooting, The Associated Press reports. A court order today says attorneys have reached an “agreement in principle to amicably resolve the matter,” but plaintiffs’ attorney Roy Rodney Jr. disputes that characterization of the negotiations. Rodney says “fruitful discussions” with city attorneys haven’t produced a tentative settlement agreement yet. Mckesson was among nearly 200 protesters arrested after the July 5 death of 37-year-old Alton Sterling, a black man who was shot during an encounter involving two white police officers. The federal class-action lawsuit accuses police of using excessive force and violating protesters’ constitutional rights.
