On the agenda: The Livingston Parish Chamber of Commerce is co-sponsoring a forum for gubernatorial candidates next month that is expected to feature all four major candidates in the race. The forum is set to take place on Wednesday from 8 to 9 p.m. at Southeastern Louisiana University’s Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts in Downtown Hammond. For those who can’t attend, the forum will be broadcast live on Louisiana Public Broadcasting. A number of other Louisiana chambers of commerce and economic development organizations are also co-sponsors of the forum, which is open to the public. Get complete details.
Fields of gray: After consecutive prosperous years, Louisiana rice growers are struggling with a crop that needed more sunshine this summer. Steve Linscombe, professor and director of the LSU AgCenter’s Rice Research Station near Crowley, tells Gannett Louisiana that 2015’s output is no disaster, but after a record-setting rice crop in 2013 and one almost as good in 2014, this year represents a downturn. “We’re going to be off,” perhaps 10%, Linscombe says, noting rice growers in north Louisiana—which accounts for 20% of the crop—are still harvesting. Rice growers in southern Louisiana, meanwhile, have largely gathered what they’ve sown, and are reckoning with smaller yields and lower prices. Read the full story.
Pushing back: A Ruston businessman is among a group of small business representatives accusing the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of trying to gut the payday lending industry. The Shreveport Times reports Mickey Mays, along with six others, has asked Sen. David Vitter and Rep. Steve Chabot of Ohio to stop the CFPB attempts to implement a proposed new rule requiring lenders to ensure borrowers can pay back loans. Vitter, who’s running for governor, is chairman of the committee on small business and entrepreneurship. Chabot is the chairman of a committee on small business. Read the full story.
