A fighting chance: New Orleans could actually be a contender for Amazon’s a new headquarters, The Washington Post reports. In a new analysis, the newspaper found that the Crescent City is one of a few dozen U.S. metro areas that actually fit the criteria the tech giant is seeking in a city that could be the home of its planned second North American headquarters. The ideal site, Amazon has said, would be easy to fly to and have enough space for years of growth. The Post used data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the United Nations and flight-booking services to winnowed down potentially hundreds of urban areas from Canada, Mexico and the United States. The result: 39 cities closely match Amazon’s guidelines for a second home. Read the full story.
Making the rounds: After meeting with business leaders in Baton Rouge and Houma, Gov. John Bel Edwards stopped in Alexandria today to discuss the state’s budget and looming $1 billion fiscal cliff with business executives. Edwards has been meeting with business leaders in recent weeks in hopes of getting buy-in on a package of tax ideas from the executives and local governments, who could pressure the House GOP leaders to pass his proposals. The governor also plans to host roundtables in New Orleans and Shreveport. Read more.
Extreme measures: Roughly 143 million Americans have had crucial personal information like social security numbers and bank accounts exposed by Equifax’s data breach. Now analysts tell The Associated Press it may be time for consumers to take extreme measures to lock down their personal information. Aside from diligently checking credit reports, the strongest possible option a person can take immediately is placing what’s known as a credit freeze on their credit files with the major credit bureaus—Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. A credit freeze locks down a person’s information, making it impossible to open new accounts and bank cards in their name. But be warned, locking your credit also locks you out from opening new accounts as well. Read more from The Associated Press.
