Live mascot: Raising Cane’s has a new mascot. The chicken finger chain introduced Raising Cane III, a yellow Labrador retriever, as its official restaurant mascot during Washington Mardi Gras. Cane III follows predecessor Raising Cane II, a certified pet therapy dog who died in 2016 at the age of 16. Cane II attended community events and visited hospitals around the country with Gwen Graves, wife of Raising Cane’s CEO Todd Graves. But at just nine weeks old, Cane III isn’t expected to make an appearance or begin training as a therapy dog for some time. The restaurant chain is named after Todd Graves’ yellow Labrador retriever.
Tax time: It’s officially tax time in Louisiana, with taxpayers able to start filing their 2017 personal income tax returns. Louisiana’s revenue department began accepting the tax filings today, the same day the IRS started taking federal income tax returns. Louisiana taxpayers are encouraged to file state taxes online through the state’s free web portal for individual tax filers. But they can also download paper tax forms from the revenue department website or file returns through other tax preparation software.
Labor issues: Louisiana’s labor department hasn’t cleaned up all the problems from a troubled computer system that went online in 2015 to manage the state’s unemployment program, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office says in a new report. The computer system couldn’t produce reliable financial reports and didn’t have strong security controls. It’s the second year the legislative auditor has raised concerns about the Louisiana Workforce Commission system that was rolled out by former Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration even after it had not passed testing. The Edwards’ administration has said it’s working to improve the system’s functioning, but auditors still found problems. Read more.
