Flood preparation: In preparation of today’s severe weather risk, Baton Rouge city leaders have made sandbags available at the following locations: BREC Alsen Park at 601 Old Rafe Meyer Road, BREC Cadillac Street at 6117 Cadillac Street, BREC Doyles Bayou Park at 7801 Port Hudson-Pride Road, BREC Hartley-Vey at Gardere Park at 1702 Gardere Lane and BREC Memorial Stadium at 1702 Foss Street. Residents are urged to bring their own shovels to fill the sandbags.
Clean hands: Fear of the coronavirus has led people to stock up on germ-killing gel hand sanitizer, leaving store shelves empty and online retailers with sky-high prices set by those trying to profit on the rush. More is on the way, although it’s not clear how long it will take retailers to restock. Sales of hand sanitizers in the U.S. were up 73% in the four weeks ending Feb. 22 compared with the same period a year ago, according to market research firm Nielsen. Read the full story.
Stricter policy: As many as 31,000 of Louisiana’s food stamp recipients could lose their benefits under a new Trump administration rule starting April 1 that enacts stricter work requirements on childless adults, according to estimates released Wednesday by the state social services agency. Food stamp recipients in 14 parishes—largely in northeast Louisiana—will not be affected by the changes. Louisiana received a waiver from the federal government for those parishes because they have unemployment rates significantly higher than the national average. Read the full story.
