Stay the night: Visit Baton Rouge reports that hotel occupancy tax collections in November totaled $341,755, an increase of roughly 11% compared to the same month in 2011. Year-to-date, occupancy tax collections were up 27% over the 11-month total in 2011. Meanwhile, the tourism promotion agency has also appointed new officers for 2013, including: Andy Blouin, chairman; Mark Drennen, vice chairman; Claude Reynaud, secretary/treasurer; and Otis Washington, immediate past chairman. 2013 board of directors members are Flynn Foster, Ralph Ney, Cherri Kieschnick, Francis Grayson, Maury Drummond and C. Denise Marcelle.
No (hired) hands required: Three years after Google invented one, automated cars could be on their way to a freeway near you. Just one problem: What happens to the millions of people who make a living driving cars and trucks—jobs that always have seemed sheltered from the onslaught of technology? “All those jobs are going to disappear in the next 25 years,” predicts Moshe Vardi, a computer scientist at Rice University in Houston. “Driving by people will look quaint; it will look like a horse and buggy.” The final story in an Associated Press three-part series on the loss of middle-class jobs in the wake of the recession, and the role of technology in that loss, can be found here.
Getting a close-up: The episode of American Idol filmed in Baton Rouge aired Thursday evening, and the reviews are pouring in this morning. Most reviewers happily report the show was focused more on the talent of the contestants than on the drama embroiling the show’s judges. The Hollywood Reporter‘s complete recap can be found here; People magazine has coverage here; and Yahoo! Music has its take here.
Today’s poll question: Did you watch American Idol on Thursday to see the auditions held in Baton Rouge?
