UL Lafayette and the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce want to invite you to the inaugural conference of the university's homeland security and disaster management institute, NIMSAT.
The conference will be held April 22-24 in New Orleans
Web Portals
While Louisiana is focusing upon jobs for truck drivers, transportation, ship builders and service industry in its current package of job training and jobs being discussed in the current legislature, here is a comparative bill signed by a competitive state:
The information is from the “Government Technology”
“Nebraska Helps Web Portals”
Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman yesterday signed LB 895, the Nebraska Super Advantage, into law. The bill was created to help communities take the next step in advancing economic development and business recruitment efforts throughout the state.
"With today's bill signing, we are taking a quantum leap forward in our efforts to create quality jobs in Nebraska," Heineman said. "By creating a new tier of incentives that encourage companies to bring higher-paying jobs here to our state, we are increasing our competitiveness and increasing opportunities for Nebraskans, especially our young people."
LB 895 modifies the state's existing set of business incentives by adding a new layer of incentives to the five tiers that comprise the current Nebraska Advantage. The Nebraska Super Advantage is focused on attracting companies ready to create higher-paying jobs in the state.
The new tier provides tax incentives to businesses creating new jobs paying at least 150 percent of the state average wage or 200 percent of the average wage in the county where the business is located, whichever is greatest. The state average wage is $33,800, so a company would have to create jobs paying at least $50,700 to meet the 150 percent threshold.
To qualify, companies will need to create 75 new jobs and make a $10 million capital investment, or create at least 50 new jobs and make a $100 million investment in capital.
Qualifying businesses will be eligible to receive a 15 percent investment tax credit and a 10 percent wage credit, in addition to sales tax refunds on purchases associated with expansion and a 10 year exemption on personal property.
LB 895 also updates parts of the original Nebraska Advantage legislation by allowing Internet Web portal companies to qualify for incentives. It also expands the Nebraska Rural Advantage to include companies located in any village or small town, regardless of county size and areas of extreme poverty in the Omaha area, and invests an additional $1 million in Rural Advantage funding, bringing the total available beginning in FY 2009-10 to $4 million.
State Tax Commissioner Doug Ewald said, "This proposal provides attractive incentives to help companies do business in our state and gives them greater flexibility to use the incentives contained in the original Nebraska Advantage legislation."
Louisiana does have a Digital Media Law passed during the Blanco administration. However, that law does not specifically refer to web portals.
Louisiana Business: LWCC, Rainbow Coalition,
LWCC
Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corporation’s “A” (Excellent) rating by A.M. Best Company has been reaffirmed for 2008. In addition, LWCC has moved up from Financial Size Category IX to Financial Size Category X.
A.M. Best is the leading provider of ratings, news and financial data for the insurance industry worldwide. The “A” (Excellent) rating is assigned to companies that have excellent financial strength and operating performance, as well as favorable market position when compared to industry standards that A.M. Best has established. Best’s ratings represent an objective quantitative and qualitative evaluation of an insurer’s ability to meet ongoing obligations to its policyholders.
LWCC (www.lwcc.com) is a private, nonprofit mutual insurance company. It is Louisiana’s largest writer of workers’ compensation insurance, covering about 22,000 policyholders in the state. For six consecutive years, LWCC has been named one of the top 50 property and casualty insurance companies in the nation—out of more than 2,700—by Ward Group, the leading authority on insurance industry benchmarking.
Rainbow Coalition Economic Development Program
(Courtesy of Vincent Sylvain)
THURSDAY, May 15, 2008
Day Theme: COMMUNITY DAY
1:00PM - 5:00PM CONFERENCE REGISTRATION
1:00PM - 4:00PM CAREER FAIR
3:00PM-5:00PM TOWN HALL MEETING
POST KATRINA: THE STATE OF THE RECOVERY - - Representatives from federal, state and local government will discuss the state of the post Katrina recovery. Issues include the questions of where the billions of reconstruction dollars are earmarked to be spent, how communities and locally owned businesses can participate in the rebuilding efforts and how the various government entities coordinate their efforts in order to make certain that redundancy does not occur and that the various dollars have their optimum effect.
5:30PM - 7:00PM OPENING RECEPTION
FRIDAY, May 16, 2008
SHERATON NEW ORLEANS HOTEL - 500 CANAL STREET, NEW ORLEANS, LA 70130
Day Theme: BUSINESS, THE CHURCH AND THE SUBPRIME CRISIS
8:00AM - 9:30AM WOMEN'S BREAKFAST
"Taking Her Place At The Leadership Table: Changing the Game"
Women leaders have traditionally had to navigate a complex labyrinth of challenges, including vestiges of prejudice, leadership style, life, family and family responsibilities. It is no wonder that many women leaders feel they are caught in a game where winning is only a remote possibility. The long-term legacy of this losing game has led to a pronounced lack of women in positions of power and authority. Recent research indicates that, in Fortune 500 companies, women make up only 15% of the boards, 6 % of senior managers, and mere 2% of the CEOs. With a looming shortage, especially in obtaining key leadership position, it is time to change the game. Now the ball is in the women's court, since by some calculations the "Women's Economy" is the third largest in the world. This luncheon will spotlight phenomenal women leaders that have made outstanding achievements and inroads toward their professions and their communities. Our speakers will discuss their impact and how women can achieve power to satisfy their corporate, government, social, political goals and personal goals.
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITY ROUNDTABLE
Meet & interact with procurement and supplier diversity officers to learn about current procurement needs specific to Tier One and Two supplies. (Invited)
Exxon Mobil
JPMorgan Chase
Home Depot
LOWE'S
HUD/Housing Authority of New Orleans
Sewerage and Water Board
City of New Orleans
FEMA
US Army Corp of Engineers
State of Louisiana
Louisiana Recovery School District
12:00 NOON - 1:30PM ONE THOUSAND CHURCHES CONNECTED LUNCHEON
From Wall Street to Main Street " The Foreclosure Crisis: Failures and Remedies"
The foreclosure crisis has led to hundreds of thousands of homeowners losing their homes, community destabilization and the overall downturn in the nation's economy. The panelists will discuss the multiple points of failure and will focus on regulatory, government and industry solutions.
2:00PM - 3:00PM COLLECTIVE APPROACH TO CHURCH GROWTH AND EMPOWERMENT
In this session, our panelist share their church and community's successes, challenges and opportunities as they recount the benefits of employing a collective approach to banking, building and development, multi-level community capacity building and public policy initiatives as follows: Collective Banking (borrowing and investments - to include a perspective on the present United States mortgage crisis) Collective Building and Development, Collective Empowerment (Providing education, training and utilizing all of the resources of the church and community including its influence on public policy).
3:00PM - 4:00PM STATE TREASURER: ACCESS TO CAPITAL
The State Treasurer's office manages billions of dollars in State of Louisiana funds. This session will discuss how to include minority asset managers, bond attorneys and minority banks in contracting opportunities for this office.
LNG
The Sabine Pass liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal (Louisiana, on the Gulf of Mexico) built by Cheniere Energy, Inc. was inaugurated today.
Total (Paris:FP) (LSE:TTA) (NYSE:TOT) is pleased that the terminal has now come on stream. The Group had reserved rights to 10 billion cubic meters a year in regasification capacity beginning in April 2009.
Capacity at the facility will be increased from a current 26 billion cubic meters per year to 40 billion after phase 2 is commissioned, making it the largest LNG terminal in the United States.
After opening the LNG terminals in Hazira, India in 2005 and Altamira, Mexico in 2006 and ahead of the commissioning of the terminals in South Hook, UK and Fos Cavaou, France, Total is pursuing its LNG strategy by developing access for its production in the world’s leading gas markets.
Total and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)
Total has entered into agreements to obtain long-term access to LNG regasification capacity on the three continents that are the largest consumers of natural gas: North America (United States and Mexico), Europe (France and the UK) and Asia (India), and is studying a plan for a terminal in Croatia. This diversified access to markets allows Total to develop new liquefaction projects, in particular in the Middle East and Africa, while strengthening its own LNG supply portfolio. In recent months, the Group has acquired stakes in the Brass LNG project in Nigeria, in the Ichthys LNG project in Australia and in the Qatargas 2 project in Qatar and signed a cooperation agreement with Gazprom to study the development of the first phase of the Shtokman field.
Total is one of the world’s major oil and gas groups, with activities in more than 130 countries. Its 96,000 employees put their expertise to work in every part of the industry – exploration and production of oil and natural gas, refining and marketing, gas trading and electricity.
