Remembrance: Christmas Eve 1989 was the night a deadly explosion rocked the Exxon refinery, the nation’s second-largest petrochemical refinery at the time. Gas from storage tanks ignited and exploded around 1:30 p.m. The blast blew out windows at the State Capitol and it could be felt some 40 miles away. Read and watch a recent WAFB-TV feature looking back at the explosion here.
The Amazon effect: Total U.S. retail sales for Nov. 1 through Christmas Eve rose 3.4% from a year earlier, The Wall Street Journal reports. Online sales continued to set the pace, rising 18.8% during the period, compared with growth of 1.2% for in-store sales. Digital’s 14.6% share of total sales was a new high. Read the full story.
Twas the season: Instead of chemicals, a crop duster rained down holy water across Cow Island in Vermilion Parish on Christmas Eve, Patch.com reports. The Diocese of Lafayette posted to Facebook to let parishioners know about the sprinkling. Read the full story.
