It’s show time: At 9 p.m. Central Time tonight you can check out Raising Cane’s founder Todd Graves’ reaction to the massive treehouse he had built for him by Animal Planet’s “tree whisperer” Pete Nelson, when the season finalise of Treehouse Masters airs. As first reported by Daily Report, Graves and his family were joined by friends at their Baton Rouge home on the LSU lakes early last week for the unveiling of a 1,200-square-foot, three-level treehouse built by Nelson over the course of a month.
Help wanted: The state labor department says in a press release issued today that first-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending Feb. 28 increased to 2,559 from the previous week’s total of 2,144. For the comparable week a year earlier, there were 2,125 initial claims. The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, decreased to 2,541 from the previous week’s average of 2,570. Continued unemployment claims for the week ending Feb. 28 increased to 21,273 compared to 20,939 the previous week. The four-week moving average for such claims fell to 21,243 from the previous week’s average of 21,364.
On the way down: Oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. says the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in Louisiana fell by two this week to 100. Both rig losses came in north Louisiana, where the Houston-based firm reports there are now 30 active rigs. Another 48 rigs in Louisiana are located offshore; the rest are situated either on land or in coastal waters of south Louisiana. In its weekly report released today, Baker Hughes says the the number of U.S. oil rigs fell by 64 this week to 922, which is the lowest number of oil rigs in use since the week ending on April 21, 2011. Combined oil and gas rigs fell by 75 to 1,192, the lowest since the week ending December 31, 2009. The U.S. oil and gas rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed at 488 in 1999.
