Back in business: Nearly a year after being shuttered due to last August’s flood, Whitney Bank will celebrate the reopening of its Greenwell Springs Road financial center with a ribbon cutting and luncheon at 11 a.m. on Thursday. The bank says the financial center, near the Monterrey Village Shopping Center, took on six feet of water during the flood. A mobile facility immediately opened, and now the financial center has been fully restored and updated. Officials with the Baton Rouge Area Chamber and community leaders will join Whitney Bank in celebrating the reopening.
Here’s the deal: Shoppers will pay 3% state sales tax instead of 5% Friday and Saturday on most items, including back-to-school supplies, electronics and appliances. As The Associated Press reports, the exemption covers $2,500 of the price on each eligible item during the sales tax holiday. The exemption doesn’t apply to vehicles that must be titled and licensed, or to restaurants or taxable services such as laundry or hotel rooms.
Hot commodity: Cheniere Energy, the only company sending America’s shale gas overseas, has begun liquefying the fuel at a fourth plant in Lake Charles, sources tell Bloomberg. The plant at Cheniere’s Sabine Pass complex in Louisiana is chilling and condensing gas into a liquid so it can be loaded onto tankers. The Houston-based company is already producing liquefied natural gas from three plants at the terminal and is working to bring the fourth fully into service by the end of the year. Read more.
