Following the money: Venture capitalists invested $48.3 billion into companies located in 160 metro areas last year, according to a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association that is based on data from Thomson Reuters. The report shows Baton Rouge completed one venture capital deal in 2014, with the investment at about $380,000. That figure placed Baton Rouge No. 152 on the list of the cities with the most venture capital investment last year. New Orleans is at No. 56 on the list, with two deals completed last year valued at roughly $42.3 million. The San Francisco metro area led the nation in venture capital investments last year, with 876 completed deals valued at $15.7 billion. See the full report and rankings.
Power in numbers: Nine of the most conservative House Republicans are forming a caucus to push policy further to the right, the group announced Monday. The Wall Street Journal reports the caucus—which includes U.S. Rep. John Fleming of Louisiana—is likely to take a more in-your-face stance with GOP leaders. Its aim is to promote “an agenda of limited, constitutional government in Congress,” the group says in a joint statement. Other members include GOP Reps. Raul Labrador of Idaho, Scott Garrett of New Jersey, Matt Salmon of Arizona, Justin Amash of Michigan, Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, Ron DeSantis of Florida, Mark Meadows of North Carolina and Jim Jordan of Ohio. Read the full story.
On the stand: BP “conducted an extraordinarily effective response” to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill, the company’s first witness testified Monday as the oil producer sought to minimize potential pollution fines. BP immediately mobilized people and equipment and recovered spilled oil at the highest-ever rate, retired Coast Guard Captain Frank Paskewich told U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans. The rate of recovery was almost five times better than in the response to the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, Paskewich testified. “The record is overwhelmingly clear and supportive that BP did what it needed to do, stepped up to the plate,” said Paskewich, who testified as a witness for BP. Bloomberg has the full story.
