Limited access:Gov. Bobby Jindal’s inauguration Monday will shutter portions of River Road, as well as Government and Third streets, from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Closures include:
• Government Street/River Road from St. Phillip Street to Florida Boulevard. However, westbound Convention Street traffic will be able to continue to access northbound River Road.
• North Boulevard from River Road to Fourth Street. Northbound traffic from St. Louis Street will be able to access eastbound North Boulevard. Westbound traffic on North Boulevard will be managed at Fifth Street by city police.
• Lafayette Street from Convention Street to North Boulevard;
• Third Street from North Boulevard to Convention Street.
On the down low: First-time claims for jobless benefits dropped slightly in Louisiana last week. The Louisiana Workforce Commission says there were 3,219 initial claims for the week ending Dec. 31. That’s down from the previous week’s total of 3,270. For the comparable week ending Jan. 1, 2011, the state recorded 3,512 first-time claims. The four-week moving average of initial claims fell last week to 3,640 from the previous week’s average of 4,032. Last week, those still looking for work filed for an additional 43,247 weeks of benefits—up slightly from the previous week’s 43,080. For the comparable week a year ago, the unemployed filed for an additional 50,407 weeks of benefits.
All of the lights: Wondering what people are saying about the Allstate BCS National Championship game? Look no farther than the top of the Entergy building in downtown New Orleans. The Times-Picayune reports Entergy is taking a cue from the new LED system illuminating the outside of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and is putting on its own light show on its 28-story Loyola Avenue office tower. Eight high-definition projectors will display 3-D images and animated graphics touting the long-awaited rematch, complete with real-time score updates and a rolling marquee showing some of what fans are saying on Twitter as the LSU Tigers take on the Alabama Crimson Tide. The full display, which measures almost half the size of a football field, was created by the Solomon Group, the same company that designed the new Superdome lighting. Read the full story here, and check out a video rendering of how the display will work here.
