Snuffing it out: In a move to protect the health of musicians and late-night workers, the New Orleans City Council has voted unanimously to ban smoking in bars and gambling halls. The Associated Press reports New Orleans had been one of the last major American cities to allow people to smoke tobacco in bars. Smoking at indoor restaurants is no longer permitted. The new ban is expected to take effect in three months. The ban was tweaked some before being approved. For instance, New Orleans police won’t have to enforce the ordinance and smoking will be allowed within 5 feet of bar entrances—not 25 feet away, as originally proposed.
A chilly forecast: The number of onshore land rigs operating in the U.S. could fall by 30% this year, research firm Wood Mackenzie says in a report published today. As FuelFix.com reports, The study comes at a time when the number of rigs operating in the U.S. has already started to fall precipitously. The number of land rigs operating in the U.S. has dropped by nearly 14% in just two months to 1,622 as of last week, an indication of a rapid slowdown in drilling activity. That slide is poised to continue, according to the firm’s projections. Wood Mackenzie forecasts the U.S. land rig count could fall from an average of 1,800 in 2014 to less than 1,300 in 2015. Read the full story.
Up and down: The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week from a seven-month high, pointing to continued improvement in labor market conditions. The Labor Department announced today that initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 307,000 for the week ended Jan. 17. The figure fell short of economists’ expectations for a 300,000 reading, but it reversed the bulk of the prior week’s increase, which had pushed claims to their highest level since early June. As Reuters reports, state-level data for the week ending Jan. 10 showed an increase in claims in the oil-producing states, including Louisiana, Texas and North Dakota. Read the full story.
