Road to recovery: State officials are asking Louisiana small businesses impacted by last year’s flood to take a statewide survey in an effort to gather data to help craft additional aid programs. The Associated Press reports the survey takes around 10 minutes to complete, doesn’t require supporting documentation and can be submitted anonymously. A $43 million small business assistance program remains open for eligible flood-impacted businesses and organizations. That program offers no-interest loans with money provided from Congress.
On and off the field: LSU has landed a spot on a new Forbes ranking of the 25 top U.S. colleges that “dominate” in both academics and athletics. Despite ranking lowest in Forbes’ top colleges ranking—at No. 219 overall—LSU’s robust athletic programs boosted the school to the No. 20 on the list for both athletics and academics. Forbes used the number of Division I team NCAA championships and football national championships to grade each school on athletics. Nearly 70% of the schools that made the cut were large, state-run institutions. Stanford University, UCLA and University of Southern California made up the top three on the list. The only other SEC schools on the list are Florida (No. 12) and Georgia (No. 17). Check out the full rankings.
Oil aboard: Officials from oil-producing countries are meeting today and tomorrow to try to bolster a previous agreement to cut production and artificially increase oil prices, The New York Times reports. The meeting in Abu Dhabi, with officials from OPEC-member countries as well as others, will focus on increasing compliance with the production cuts, which went in effect last year. Brent crude is currently at around $52 a barrel. Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, are reported to be producing well over their quotas, and OPEC officials hope to increase pressure on those countries. U.S. production has also undermined the effort to cut production, as the U.S. is not a part of the agreement. Read the full story.
