Going paperless: Louisiana residents receiving unemployment benefits will no longer get paper checks, The Associated Press reports. The Louisiana Workforce Commission says it will discontinue distributing unemployment insurance benefits by paper checks in March. The LWC has issued paper checks since October when JPMorgan Chase stopped providing debit cards for Louisiana state government purposes. The state of Louisiana has since negotiated a new contract with U.S. Bank to provide debit cards for unemployment claimants. Unemployment recipients can either receive benefits through direct-deposit or a prepaid card. The paper check-option for new unemployment claims will end March 13. Claimants who currently receive benefits through paper checks can opt into direct-deposit by updating their payment preferences in their HiRE accounts by March 13. Those who take no action will be automatically transitioned to a prepaid card.
Trending down: Louisiana lost two oil and gas rigs since last week, bringing its total number of active rigs to 45, according to Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc., an oilfield services firm. In comparison, the state had 107 active rigs one year ago. The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. declined by 27 this week to 514, according to The Associated Press. The Houston company says today that 413 rigs sought oil and 101 explored for natural gas amid depressed energy prices. A year ago, 1,310 rigs were active. Among major oil- and gas-producing states, Texas declined by 12 rigs, Oklahoma and North Dakota each dropped three, and Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Wyoming dropped one apiece. Alaska, Arkansas, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah and West Virginia were all unchanged. The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed at 488 in 1999.
Paying extra: One state lawmaker wants to set up a way for people to donate money so Louisiana can dig its way out debt. The Associated Press reports state Rep. Beryl Amedee, a Republican from Gray, has proposed a bill for the special legislative session that would create a new state fund to accept grants or donations to pay down certain state debts. Under the terms of the measure, the donated money would flow to the state “rainy day” fund and would pay down retirement system debt and state borrowing debt. Amedee’s proposal comes in a special session called by Gov. John Bel Edwards to stabilize Louisiana’s finances. This year’s budget has an $850 million to $950 million gap that must be closed by June 30.
