Jumping in: Retired Air Force Col. Rob Maness is running for the open House District 77 seat recently vacated by Rep. John Schroder, who resigned to seek the state treasurer’s office. In a statement issued this morning, he says he wants to change how things work in Baton Rouge, which he also calls broken. “It’s clear that sending a Republican to Baton Rouge is not enough, we must send leaders that will not give in to the special interests,” says Maness, who lives in St. Tammany Parish. Maness has previously ran and lost bids for the Louisiana governor’s office and the U.S. Senate.
Relief: Farmers and ranchers in 51 parishes—including East Baton Rouge, Ascension and Livingston parishes—could be eligible for recovery grant money as a result of last year’s flood events in March and August. The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry says it will administer a $10 million grant funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The funding is part of the $1.6 billion in congressional aid appropriated for Restore Louisiana. Informational sessions will be held across the state to help producers apply for the grant funding. Meeting times and locations will be released at a later date. Producers with pre-storm annual gross farm revenue of $25,000 in 2014, 2015 or 2016 are eligible to apply. Get complete details.
Modest rise: Americans enjoyed a healthy increase in income last month but didn’t spend much of the gain, The Associated Press reports. New data from the Commerce Department shows personal income rose 0.4% in May, up from a 0.3%in April. But consumer spending rose just 0.1% last month after climbing 0.4% in both March and April. Economists monitor consumer spending closely because it accounts for about 70% of U.S. economic activity. Despite the modest rise in May, analysts remain confident that consumers picked up their spending overall this quarter and will be eager to spend their savings and higher incomes this summer. Read more.
