Hail to the chief: Pledging to empower America’s “forgotten men and women,” Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States today, taking command of a deeply divided nation and ushering in an unpredictable era in Washington. As The Associated Press reports, his victory gives Republicans control of the White House for the first time in eight years. Looking out over the crowd sprawled across the National Mall, Trump painted a bleak picture of the nation he now leads, lamenting “American carnage,” shuttered factories and depleted U.S. leadership. President Barack Obama, the man he replaced, sat behind him stoically.” Read the full story.
Bean machines: CC’s Coffee House has its sights on an aggressive growth plan, The Advertiser reports. The Louisiana company plans to have 50 locations by the end of the year and triple the size of the company in three to five years, according to the newspaper. The 2013 split of CC’s Coffee House from parent company Community Coffee served as a catalyst for growth, the company says. “It was time,” says CC’s CEO Celton Hayden Jr. “We had learned all we needed to know about the business, and the industry continues to grow. We have a great concept, and we’re highly sought after as a franchising, licensing opportunity. The timing was right.” Initial expansion will focus on increasing the chain’s presence in south Louisiana through a mix of corporate and licensed locations, which operate similarly to franchises. Read the full story.
No gains: Louisiana’s weekly tally of active oil and gas rigs is unchanged this week, according to oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The Bayou State’s tally of 51 is the same as last week, though the state did lose one offshore rig but gained a rig on land in north Louisiana. Meanwhile, The Associated Press reports that the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. leaped by 35 this week to 694. A year ago, 637 rigs were active. Baker Hughes says 551 rigs sought oil and 142 explored for natural gas this week. One was listed as miscellaneous. The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed out in May at 404.
