After the flood: Elected officials from six Louisiana communities and LSU professionals will participate in a three-day workshop later this week to discuss community resilience after the August 2016 flood. LSU says the officials—from Baker, Zachary, Sorrento, Livingston, Tangipahoa and Ouachita parishes—will develop projects aimed at helping their flooded communities regain resiliency after the flood at The Louisiana Community Resilience Institute. Those projects include hazard mitigation, landscaping and urban planning and designing resilient cities in dynamic environments.
Making waves: Two separate tropical storms are likely to form in Gulf of Mexico and in the Atlantic over the next couple of days. USA Today reports the National Hurricane Center is watching a tropical system that’s drenching Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. The storm has an 80% chance of becoming a tropical storm or depression in the Gulf within the next two days. AccuWeather says residents along the Gulf Coast should prepare for possible flooding downpours, rough seas and locally damaging winds from the storm later this week. Landfall somewhere along the Gulf Coast would likely be around Wednesday or Thursday. In addition to the Gulf storm, tropical development is possible near the equator over the central Atlantic early this week. Read more.
Image reimagined: When Amazon completes its acquisition of Whole Foods, CEO Jeff Bezos will try to keep the grocer’s reputation for premium fresh foods while cutting prices to shed its “Whole Paycheck” image. As Bloomberg reports, Amazon expects to reduce headcount and change inventory to lower prices and make Whole Foods competitive with Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers, That included potentially using technology to eliminate cashiers. An Amazon spokesman denied any job cuts were planned. Amazon, known for its competitive prices, is trying to attract more low- and middle-income shoppers with its grocery push. The Seattle-based company announced Friday that it is acquiring Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. Read more.
