Tigers to the top: The nomination period to be included on the fifth annual LSU 100: Fastest Growing Tiger Businesses list will close in one week. Anyone can nominate a company for the LSU 100. Individuals may also nominate themselves, colleagues, clients or former classmates. Nominations will close on Friday, May 1; the last day to submit an application is June 12. An event to honor those on this year’s list will be held on Oct. 23 at L’Auberge Casino & Hotel. Get the complete eligibility requirements and make your nominations online.
Another quarter: New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s plan to charge extra sales taxes in the French Quarter to pay for more policing has cleared the city council. The Associated Press reports the city council unanimously voted Thursday to create a taxing district, a first step toward placing the measure on the Oct. 24 ballot. Should French Quarter voters agree, the measure would create an “economic development district” that could collect an extra quarter-cent sales tax in New Orleans’ premiere tourist spot. Landrieu has estimated the tax could generate $2 million a year.
On shaky ground: More than a dozen areas in the United States have been shaken in recent years by small earthquakes triggered by oil and gas drilling, a government report released Thursday says. As The Associated Press reports, the man-made quakes jolted once stable regions in eight states, including parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas, according to researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey. Experts say the spike in seismic activity is mainly caused by the oil and gas industry injecting wastewater deep underground, which can activate dormant faults. A few instances stem from hydraulic fracturing, in which large volumes of water, sand and chemicals are pumped into rock formations to free oil or gas. Read the full story.
