On air: The Baton Rouge Area Chamber has opened registration for its January lunch meeting, featuring MESH Director of Digital Strategy Jacob Jolibois. The lunch is on Tuesday, Jan. 9, at the East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library at Goodwood. Networking begins at 11:30 a.m., with Jolibois’ presentation, “Why Podcasts are the Next Big Business Hack,” to follow at noon. He will discuss five reasons smart companies are starting podcasts before their competitors do and provide a step-by-step guide for how you can get started. Online registration for the lunch ends on Friday, Jan. 5. The lunch is $20 for BRAC members and $30 for non-members. Get more information.
Key to the city: Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo recently presented Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan with a key to his city, The News-Star reports. Farrakhan, 84, met with Mayo and other Monroe community leaders at the city’s regional airport. He was recently in town for his granddaughter’s graduation from Grambling State University. The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies Nation of Islam as a black separatist hate group hostile to Jews, Catholics, LGBT people and whites. A spokesman for the city says Mayo is aware of the viewpoints people hold about Farrakhan but describes the minister’s brief visit to Monroe as positive.
Tax bill: House Republicans passed the biggest rewrite of the federal tax code in more than 30 years on Wednesday. To help you understand the ramifications of the bill, online media site Axios has a compiled a list of changes that are about to become a reality in the short- and long-term. Starting next year, most individual tax rates will be lower, the corporate tax rate will go down, and lots of other tax benefits will kick in. But the Affordable Care Act will be disrupted, some medical research could suffer, and the new tax rules will require intensive planning by everyone from businesses and tech companies to the health care and energy industries. The bill still has to be signed by President Donald Trump. Read more.
