Gone for good: Louisiana’s remaining federal disaster recovery centers will close by the end of this week, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The first closure will come at 6 p.m. today, when the recovery center at Old Neighbors Bank, 13336 Hooper Road in Central, shuts down. As reported by Daily Report on Monday, centers in Ascension and Tangipahoa parishes will transition their services from recovery mode to Small Business Administration loan support by 6 p.m. Wednesday. The recovery center at Celtics Studios, 10000 Celtic Drive, will close its doors at 6 p.m. Thursday, as will the center at the New Hope Outreach Center at 5925 Greenwell Springs Road. In Livingston Parish, the center at North Park Recreation Center at 30372 Eden Church Road in Denham Springs closes at 6 p.m. Friday. FEMA and the state established the centers shortly after floodwaters in August inundated tens of thousands of homes and businesses in the area. Flood victims who still need help can call FEMA’s hotline at (800) 621-3362 or can visit disasterassistance.gov.
Party time: City-parish officials and representatives from Zipcar are set to formally launch the car-sharing program’s downtown Baton Rouge operations on Wednesday. The city-parish recently inked a deal to bring a four-car pilot program downtown. Zipcar has already found success on the LSU campus. Officials will cut the ribbon at the North Boulevard Town Square at 222 North Blvd. at 10 a.m. Expected to attend are Mayor Kip Holden, Downtown Development District Executive Director Davis Rhorer, Metro Councilwoman Tara Wicker, city-parish Transportation Director Steve Bonnette and Zipcar General Manager Vilaire Lazard. Anyone who wants to RSVP for Wednesday’s ribbon cutting can contact Zipcar spokeswoman Katelyn Chesley by phone at (617) 678-7206 or by email at kchesley@zipcar.com.
Deep impact: The Mississippi River should be dredged to let three southeast Louisiana ports accept the enormous cargo ships built to take advantage of the Panama Canal’s expansion, the Army Corps of Engineers says. As The Associated Press reports, many other U.S. ports either already have completed similar projects or are trying to get them approved. Parts of the shipping channel from just south of Baton Rouge to the Gulf of Mexico are now about 42 to 45 feet deep. The plan calls for increasing that depth to 50 feet, with initial dredging as deep as 54 feet to increase the time between maintenance dredging. The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development would pay $45.7 million of the estimated $88.9 million cost of the proposed deepening project. Read the full story. Read a recent Business Report feature on efforts to deepen the Mississippi River in Louisiana.
