On the surface: The Coast Guard says an oil sheen off Louisiana’s coast is breaking up and is much smaller than when it was first spotted on Wednesday, about 130 miles southeast of New Orleans. The sheen initially was reported to be about 10 miles long and a mile wide. No source has been determined for the oil. A Coast Guard spokesman today says the sheen is dissipating and at last report was about five miles long and about 100 yards wide. The sheen was in the area of two Shell production platforms, but Royal Dutch Shell says it is confident its operations were not the source. The Coast Guard says it will have a pollution investigator aboard a Shell flight over the site today.
In the tank: The DeSoto Parish School Board has backed away from plans to add three compressed natural gas buses to its fleet after finding out the purchase price. The Shreveport Times reports school system officials wanted to use the buses in the Mansfield area after a CNG station opened there this year. Schools Superintendent Walter Lee said it made sense to take advantage of the locally produced resource. But when bids were opened, the lowest price—from Ross Bus & Equipment Sales in Alexandria—was $147,395 each. The same company bid $83,069 on a 72-passenger diesel engine bus. The board will purchase 10 of those instead. Lee says the system may try in another year to get a better price on CNG buses.
Getting on board: To help kick off the new season of the Live after Five downtown concert series today—and provide a little support for the struggling Capital Area Transit System—Baton Rouge artist Christopher Turner will create a CATS-inspired painting to be auctioned off. Along with auctioning off the painting created today, Turner say he’s also considering a limited edition signed lithograph, with proceeds also to benefit CATS. Live after Five takes place from 5 to 8 p.m. For complete details, click here.
Today’s poll question: Which of these live music events are you planning to attend this weekend?
