No PCs for you: The Jindal administration has stalled plans for a $102 million upgrade to state government computer systems. Commissioner of Administration Angele Davis, Gov. Bobby Jindal’s top budget advisor, says the project is under review now that the state faces a large budget shortfall next year. Davis says she hasn’t ruled out funding the project later. But the upgrade isn’t included in the governor’s 2009-10 budget proposal, despite previous statements from administration officials that state agencies’ outdated computer systems were at risk of failure. The project would mean state departments use one computer system to do their budget, accounting, state purchasing, inventory, contracting and facility management work.
Not so high cotton: U.S. cotton farmers are expected to plant 8.8 million acres this year, their fewest since 1983, with low prices for the crop and high production costs being blamed. Farmers planted about 9.5 million acres in 2008. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in a report based on farmers’ planting intentions, said the largest percentage declines from 2008 are expected in four states, including Louisiana and Mississippi, where the acreage forecast would be the lowest on record. Officials say the cotton acreage lost has shifted to the biofuels market — crops like corn and soybeans. As recently as 1995, Louisiana farmers planted more than 1 million acres of cotton. This year, cotton farmers in the state expect to plant 240,000 acres.
No April Fool’s joke: Supporters of government-funding for the arts are planning a “Jazz Funeral for Louisiana Arts and Culture” at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at Lafayette Park, across from the Shaw Center. The event is being held to protest Gov. Bobby Jindals’ decision to cut state arts funding by 83%. Participants plan to march in a jazz funeral from Lafayette Park, down Third Street, to Spanish Town Road.
