Winning over: Obamacare advocacy groups seeking to keep the federal law intact are hoping to convince Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy to oppose the Senate health care plan unveiled Thursday. As The Associated Press reports, Cassidy has indicated he has problems with the GOP health care bill that won passage in the House. The bill was the building block for the newly-unveiled Senate legislation. Critics of the Senate bill are hoping to leverage Cassidy’s earlier concerns and convince him to oppose the new plan. Read the full story.
Going up: Weekly unemployment insurance claims in Louisiana for the week ending June 17 increased to 2,922, from 2,822 the same week a year ago, reports the Louisiana Workforce Commission. The four-week moving average—the less volatile measure—increased to 2,924 from the previous week’s average of 2,883. Ongoing unemployment claims for the week ending June 17 increased to 23,492 from the previous week’s total of 23,109, but were below last year’s comparable figure of 26,898. See the full report.
Plus two: The weekly tally of active oil and gas rigs in Louisiana increased to 67 this week, up from 65 one week ago, according to the latest count by oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The Bayou State had 41 rigs for the comparable week one ago. The nation’s rig count increased to 941 this week from 933 one week ago. Among major oil producing states, Oklahoma gained five active rigs while North Dakota added three. California and Colorado gained one rig each while Alaska lost two. New Mexico and Utah both lost one rig.
