Around the table: The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry is hosting the Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy’s upcoming roundtable discussion on how federal regulatory issues impact small businesses in a variety of industries. The regulatory roundtable, one of many around the country, will take place at 8 a.m. on June 7 in LABI’s Conference Center, 3113 Valley Creek Drive. The event is free, and Louisiana Congressional offices and key federal agencies have been invited to attend. The SBA is hosting regional regulatory reform roundtables across the country to hear from small businesses first-hand about what federal regulations most concern or impact them. The roundtables are a part of the SBA’s Regulatory Reform Action Plan, developed in response to executive orders President Donald Trump signed earlier this year. Those unable to attend are asked to respond to a survey about the impact of federal regulations. Get more information.
Changing the narrative: Retailers and shopping center owners are gathering in Las Vegas this week prepared to send a message: The demise of the American mall has been greatly exaggerated. As Bloomberg reports, the message is a hard story to sell. Store closures are accelerating, stocks are sinking and investors are speculating which struggling chains might be next to file for bankruptcy, while consumers buy more and more of what they need online. But industry executives who will be attending the International Council of Shopping Centers’ annual convention—the industry’s biggest—insist that perception is overly pessimistic and that the bricks-and-mortar business is healthy enough to weather the storm. Read more.
End of era: The final curtain fell late Sunday on the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, known widely as “the Greatest Show on Earth.” USA Today reports Ringling streamed the final show on its website and on Facebook Live, where at least 19,000 viewers watched at one point. The circus last January said it would end its run after 146 years. The move came as circuses and animal-performance shows across the country have struggled with declining attendance, shrinking attention spans and shifting social pressure brought to bear by activists who have argued the animals are sometimes poorly treated. The circus, which traces its lineage back to showman P.T. Barnum’s traveling museum in the 1800s, performed its final show at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y. Read more.
