Up or down: Today is “do or die” for the Louisiana Legislature as lawmakers reconvene in an attempt to reach a compromise on bills that would solve the state’s looming financial shortfall, The USA Today Network of Louisiana report. House Speaker Taylor Barras, R-New Iberia, says the chamber will take up or down votes, vowing not to “leave any stone unturned.” Gov. John Bel Edwards called lawmakers into this 17-day special session to fill a $1 billion budget hole. The special session cratered Thursday night after a sales tax bill—a key instrument of the session—was soundly defeated. Read more.
Hands of time: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has spent $42 million on a clock designed to run for 10,000 years, reports Hodinkee, an online wristwatch magazine. The Clock of the Long Now—which the magazine calls a grandfather clock on steroids—is an initiative of the Long Now Foundation, created in 1996 to provide a “counterpoint to today’s accelerating culture and help make long-term thinking more common.” Bezos, who took interest in the project six years ago, recently shared a time-lapse video of the clock’s construction. The clock is being installed inside a mountain in western Texas. Read more.
Trade war: President Donald Trump took to Twitter this morning to insist “trade wars are good, and easy to win,” a bold claim likely to find many skeptics, including those on Wall Street and even some Republicans. Trump has declared that the U.S. will impose punishing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, escalating tensions with China and other trading partners and raising the prospect of higher prices for American consumers and companies. After the announcement Thursday, stocks closed sharply lower on Wall Street. China has expressed “grave concern.” Read more.
