Up in the air: LSU students and researchers will travel to Southern Illinois University in Carbondale for next year’s total solar eclipse. The Southern Illinoisan reports the team, which includes people from two other Louisiana institutions, plans to launch two large weather balloons from a stadium on the SIU campus. The launch will occur about 90 minutes before the total eclipse, set for 1:21 p.m. on Aug. 21. A balloon equipped with a video camera will send real-time images as the moon blots out the sun. That feed will be provided to a NASA television program, which will broadcast from SIU. The eclipse will be the first total solar eclipse over the mainland U.S. since 1979, and southern Illinois will be the site of its longest duration.
Make a wish: Baton Rouge-based Amedisys has announced a new partnership between the Amedisys Foundation and the Dream Foundation, which bills itself as the only national dream-granting organization for terminally ill adults. According to a news release, the newly-formed partnership will enable Amedisys hospice care centers across the nation to turn a terminally-ill patient’s dream into reality. The dream can range from the installation of a lift chair to dinner with family or bedside reunion with a childhood friend. Dreamers must be at least 18 years old, have a life expectancy of one year or less, and lack the resources to achieve their dreams on their own.
Doubtful: Oil prices slipped this morning ahead of a pending U.S. petroleum inventory report and on doubts production cuts promised by Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia will be deep enough to end a supply rebalance the oil market. Reuters reports Brent futures fell 32 cents to $53.61 a barrel. U.S. crude oil fell 46 cents to $50.47 per barrel. The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release crude data for the week that ended Dec. 2 later today. Oil prices surged almost 20% after OPEC and Russia announced last week that they would cut production next year in an effort to prop up markets. But doubts have emerged over whether the planned cuts will be enough. Read the full story.
