Trending down: Initial unemployment claims decreased during the week ending Feb. 27, the Louisiana Workforce Commission says. Figures released today show the number of claims filed for the week dropped to 2,792, down from the previous week’s total of 2,958. By comparison, 2,559 initial claims were filed for the week ending Feb. 28, 2015, the commission says. The four-week moving average of initial claims decreased to 2,785 from the previous week’s average of 2,858, according to the commission. Meanwhile, continued unemployment insurance claimed for the week ending Feb. 27 increased, the commission says, to 22,955 from 22,849 from the previous week. However, the four-week moving average for continued weeks claimed declined from 23,018 to 22,935. See the full report.
Not good: Louisiana lost one active rig this week, bringing its total rig count to 46, according to Baker Hughes, a Houston-based oil services company. The state has 17 active rigs in north Louisiana and five in south Louisiana, as well as two inland water rigs and 22 offshore oil and gas rigs. There were 100 active oil and gas rigs in Louisiana this time one year ago. Nationally, the United States lost 13 active oil and gas rigs, bringing its total rig count to 489. Last week there were 502 active oil and gas rigs in the United States, Baker Hughes says. Comparatively, there were 1,192 this time one year ago.
Going under: NASA is providing nearly $3 million for an LSU geologist and a team of scientists to develop an ice-penetrating robotic vehicle that will search for life in Antarctica’s lakes and oceans. Peter Doran and Bill Stone, founder of Stone Aerospace, have assembled a team that will develop, integrate and field test SPINDLE—or Sub-glacial Polar Ice Navigation Descent and Lake Exploration. SPINDLE is an autonomous cryobot that will melt through thick ice to access the water beneath Antarctica, LSU says. The university notes SPINDLE will be the first cryobot system to carry a hovering autonomous underwater vehicle, or HAUV, to conduct reconnaissance, life search and sample collection, then uplink data and return the samples to the surface for further study. Read the full story.
