Behind the cameras: WBRZ has named Trey Schmaltz as its assistant director of news. Since 2011, Schmaltz has served as the Baton Rouge TV station’s executive producer in the news department. In his new role, he will oversee broadcast news production and news content on the station’s website. “This is another step toward building WBRZ as the primary place for news and information on both TV, Internet and social media,” says WBRZ News Director Lee Polowczuk in a news release. “WBRZ News 2 has big plans for 2016 and I’m confident we have the right person to lead our team.”
A leg up: Cardiologists at the Cardiovascular Institute of the South in Baton Rouge and Zachary became the first in the area this week to begin using a new technology for the treatment of venous disease. The institute says in a news release that the VenaSeal technology is a cyanoacrylate-based medical adhesive used for the closure of greater and lesser saphenous veins in the legs. “This is an almost painless to treat varicose veins and thus very unique in that sense, since traditional treatments involve potentially painful local anesthesia,” says Dr. Satish Gadi, interventional cardiologist at CIS in Baton Rouge, in a prepared statement.
Making the rounds: Louisiana’s new economic development secretary will tour the state over the next two weeks, meeting with regional organizations that work to draw business to their areas. Don Pierson’s visits to the local economic development groups begin Monday, when he’ll visit Tallulah, Delhi and Alexandria. Over the course of the two weeks, he’ll travel to Lafayette, New Orleans, Thibodaux, Shreveport, Monroe and Lake Charles. He’ll wrap up the tour on Feb. 5 with a meeting with the Baton Rouge Area Chamber. Pierson’s visits are aimed, according to his office, at discussing the importance of collaboration between the state department and the regional chambers of commerce.
