In politics: A Louisiana-based super PAC is once again taking aim at Gov. John Bel Edwards. On Thursday, Truth in Politics launched a two-week multimarket campaign attacking Edwards’ policies and criticizing his leadership. The 30-second television ad features a “Dear John” narrative format, with a voice addressing the governor on state spending, threats to vital Louisiana services and partisanship, a news release says. The ad will appear in markets across Louisiana and on social media. Truth In Politics was started in March with funding from a group of donors that includes Cajun Industries founder Lane Grigsby and a fundraising operation headed up by Allee Bautsch Grunewald.
Going up: Initial unemployment insurance claims for the week ending June 3 increased to 2,965 from the previous week’s total of 2,907, the Louisiana Workforce Commission says. For the comparable week a year ago, 3,590 initial claims were filed. The four-week moving average of initial claims—the less volatile measure—increased to 2,832 from the previous week’s average of 2,754. Continued unemployment insurance weeks claimed for the week ending June 3 increased to 22,765 from the previous week’s total of 22,563. Continued weeks claimed were below the comparable figure of 23,596 for the same week one year ago.
Rising: The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. rose by 11 this week to 927. As The Associated Press reports, Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes says 741 rigs sought oil and 185 explored for natural gas this week. One was listed as miscellaneous. A year ago, just 414 rigs were active. Among major oil producing states, Louisiana gained one rig to bring its total rig count to 64 this week. Pennsylvania, Utah and Wyoming each gained one. Oklahoma added five rigs and New Mexico gained four, while West Virginia and Ohio tacked on two each. Texas lost three rigs, Alaska shed two and Colorado lost one. Arkansas, California, Kansas and North Dakota all remained unchanged. The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. It bottomed out in May of 2016 at 404.
