Road Home:  Funding

The state of Louisiana has approved the first allocation of Long Term Recovery Program funds for the city of Lake Charles to demolish the old Sears Building. Today LRA Executive Director and Lake Charles native Paul Rainwater joined Mayor Randy Roach in the parking lot of the structure as it was demolished, signifying the commencment of Lake Charles' downtown revitalization project, which citizens identified as their top long-term recovery project in the days following Hurricane Rita.

The $338,000 demolition is the first project approved from Calcasieu Parish's $5.6 million allocation and will jumpstart its plans for downtown Lake Charles. The demolition of the Sears Building is an economic development project for the city, which will work to place a business on the location.

"The LRA realized early on that hurricane recovery was a regional process. The city of Lake Charles was proud to be included in the regional planning effort," said Lake Charles Mayor Randy Roach. "The LRA produced a redevelopment plan for southwest Louisiana centered around a remodeled Downtown/Lakefront. Once the plan is fully implemented, it will anchor long-term economic development for our entire region."

"This demolition in Lake Charles is the culmination of months of planning that began after Hurricane Rita and allowed the community to identify the downtown area as its top long term priority for the city," said Paul Rainwater, Executive Director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority. "As the old Sears Building crashes down and new businesses sprout up, we can all be proud of this citizen-led rebuilding in southwest Louisiana, which is exactly what we'd hoped for when we started planning for our state's future."

The LRA approved Calcasieu parish's long term plan in September 2007. Under the Long Term Community Recovery Program, parishes submit projects to the Office of Community Development for review. Once projects receive state approval, local governments can begin drawing down funds.

Parishes underwent months of planning with the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency's ESF #14 Long Term Planning Division and Louisiana Speaks, the LRA's long term planning initiative.

"We're pleased to have played a small enabling role through our early long term recovery staff planning efforts," said Jim Stark, acting associate deputy administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Gulf Coast Recovery Office. "We commend the people of Lake Charles and Mayor Roach on their success and look forward to the continued partnership in recovery efforts."

The state's Long Term Community Recovery Program provides funds to support implementation of local long-term recovery plans in the most heavily impacted communities in the state. In February, the LRA approved reallocating $500 million to the program, bringing the total amount of funding that will be available to the parishes to $700 million. Funds from this program will be distributed among parishes in the most heavily impacted areas of the state according to a formula that is based on estimated housing and infrastructure damages inflicted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This is the same formula which was used to distribute the original $200 million to the districts.

For a by-parish breakdown of proposed funding, click here.

The Action Plan reallocating the $500 million has been approved by the Legislature and the LRA and is pending final approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

DEQ Announces Assistant Secretary

The Departments of Environmental Quality and Natural Resources announced today that the agencies are making changes at the assistant secretary position. DNR Secretary Scott Angelle announced Louis Buatt is taking the position of Assistant Secretary of the Office of Coastal Restoration and Management. DEQ Secretary Harold Leggett said that Paul Miller has been named as Assistant Secretary of the Office of Environmental Assessment, the position Buatt is leaving.

Miller is an environmental engineer who has a Bachelor of Science from Louisiana Tech. He has more than 11 years of experience in the electric utility industry, six years of experience at DEQ and has worked in the timber and wood products industry. In total, he has nearly 30 years of professional experience in various environmental fields.

“Paul is going to play an important role in this assistant secretary position, and a large part of that role will be in the air-quality arena,” Leggett said. “Paul has experience in this area, and his involvement in recent DEQ air-quality initiatives has been invaluable. His experience in state government and private industry will be a key to the Office of Environmental Assessment, and to DEQ as a whole.”

Buatt has more than 14 years of state service. In addition to his position as assistant secretary, Buatt has also been general counsel for DEQ, an attorney for the Office of Environmental Assessment and, prior to his state service, he was in private practice in Lake Charles and in Houston. Buatt has a Bachelor of Science in geology from Louisiana State University, a Juris Doctorate from Southern University and a LL. M., advanced law degree, in Energy and Environmental Law from the University of Houston. Angelle said Buatt will be a leader in coastal management for the state.

“The Jindal administration considers the loss of our coastal lands as the largest environmental problem facing the state,” Angelle said, “I believe Lou is perfectly suited with his years of environmental experience to play a major role in reversing this problem as a member of the coastal team.”

Debate

The Vieux Carré Property Owners, Residents, and Associates, Inc. (VCPORA), French Quarter Citizens and the Lower Quarter Crime Watch  are holding a District Attorney debate/forum this Wednesday, August 20, 6-8pm at the Royal Orleans Hotel, 621 St.Louis St., in the French Quarter.  The event will be  moderated by WWL-TV’s Dennis Woltering and is free and open to the public.   All four D.A. candidates — Linda Bizzaro (I), Leon Cannizzaro (D), Ralph Capitelli (D), and Jason Williams (D) are expected to be in attendance.

The candidates will be doing a meet-and-greet from 6-6:50 pm, where audience members will have the opportunity to turn in questions to be asked during the forum. The forum itself will take place from 7-8 pm.

Lafayette Chamber

Lafayette, are you ready for your close-up?

The Chamber's Eggs 'N' Issues breakfast series is proud to present the Lafayette Entertainment Initiative.

Join us as we highlight the exciting recent growth of the entertainment industry in Acadiana. While this unique program is sure to entertain and inform you, it's our local businesses that will steal the show. How?

You won't want to miss the exciting announcement!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Cajundome Convention Center

Festival Ballroom

7:00 - 9:00 AM

Blue Cross

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana received 13 awards for 13 entries in the 2008 Lantern Awards competition sponsored by the Southern Public Relations Federation (SPRF). The awards were given on July 29 at the 2008 SPRF Conference in Destin, Fla.

The Lantern Awards competition attracts entries from top companies and advertising agencies throughout Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida panhandle. Judges evaluate communications and PR materials on not only their design and quality but also the research, planning and strategy that go into making them a success. Three levels of awards are given: the Lantern Award itself is the highest in any category, followed by the Award of Excellence and the Certificate of Merit.

Blue Cross

Blue Cross received six Lantern Awards, topping the following categories:

Annual Report

Organizational Identity/Logo Design

Signage: for its extra-large Louisiana 2 Step signs on the company’s headquarters building facing Interstate 10

Writing for Public Relations: for a white paper released on the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

Web Site Development/Internet: For both the Louisiana 2 Step website, www.Louisiana2Step.com, and www.2Step4Kids.com

The company also received three Awards of Excellence:

Internal Communication Program – Short-term: for an employee wellness contest

Special Public Relations Program – Short-term: for a walking challenge designed for the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI)

Writing for Public Relations – Opinion/Editorial

Last but not least, BCBSLA brought home four Certificates of Merit:

Media/Press Kit – Print

Organizational Identity/Logo Design: for the 2 Step 4 Kids program logo

Public Service Program – Long-term: for the Louisiana 2 Step public education campaign

Special Events: for the second annual (2008) National Walk@Lunch Day event

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana is Louisiana-owned and -operated. Marking its 74th anniversary this year, the company is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. It is a tax-paying mutual company, owned by its policyholders. Headquartered in Baton Rouge, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana also has district offices in Alexandria, Houma, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe, New Orleans and Shreveport. The company’s subsidiaries include HMO Louisiana, Inc. and Southern National Life Insurance Company, Inc. For more information, visit www.bcbsla.com.

ATM

U.S. Bank, lead bank of U.S. Bancorp has signed an agreement to purchase the ATM and kiosk terminal management services, cash management and vault cash operations of the Electronic Banking Solutions (EBS) Division of Palm Desert National Bank (PDNB). PDNB’s network merchant processing, prepaid stored value cards and ACH services are not part of this transaction and will remain with PDNB. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The new business will become part of Elan Financial Services, a business of U.S. Bank that provides electronic funds transfer (EFT) and payments services to banks, credit unions and independent sales organizations nationwide. As a result of the transaction, Elan will become the nation’s leader in providing ATM and kiosk vault cash, ATM operational support, and other related services, which Elan has provided since 1997 and PDNB EBS has provided since 1994. EBS manages nearly $1 billion in vault cash in more than 22,000 ATMs and advanced function kiosks nationwide. Approximately 60 PDNB employees will become employees of U.S. Bank as part of the acquisition.

“This acquisition brings together two premier and respected ATM industry leaders who fully complement each other and will enable U.S. Bank to provide an extensive array of ATM solutions to an even broader cross-section of clients,” said Rick Hartnack, vice chairman of consumer banking at U.S. Bancorp. “We’re proud of our leadership position in this evolving industry and look forward to realizing the success that will result from the union of these two powerful and growing businesses.”

“Elan is a leader in the industry and shares our strategy of providing quality products and top rate customer service. We are proud that they recognize what PDNB EBS has done in building this business by focusing on customers and we know that same philosophy will be maintained," said Kevin McGuire, chief executive officer and chairman of Palm Desert National Bank.

PDNB EBS has operations centers in Palm Desert, Calif. and Lafayette, La., where its sophisticated automation and infrastructure allows it to offer complete terminal management and vault cash solutions to clients of any size. PDNB EBS also developed the propriety TRAKKERSM software program, which automates all back room management functions from cash forecasting and ordering to reconciliation and settlement, and can be customized for specific ATM and kiosk client needs.

Rex Energy

Rex Energy Corporation announced today the appointments of Timothy P. Beattie as Senior Vice President, Appalachian Regional Manager, F. Michael Lynch as Vice President, Reservoir Engineering and the resignation of Michael S. Carlson as Vice President and Appalachian Basin Regional Manager.

Mr. Beattie will be responsible for all activities in the Appalachian Basin and will be located at Rex Energy’s corporate headquarters in State College, Pennsylvania. He will report directly to William L. Ottaviani, Rex Energy’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

Mr. Beattie has over 24 years experience in reservoir engineering and operations management with extensive knowledge of Reservoir Modeling and Project Management. Mr. Beattie comes to Rex Energy from Woodside Energy (USA), Inc. in Covington, Louisiana, where he served as Engineering & Operations Manager. His responsibilities were primarily focused on Exploration lease sale analysis, Development Project Planning, Business Unit Production forecasting and evaluation of Acquisitions and Divestitures. Prior to Woodside Energy (USA) Inc., Mr. Beattie worked for Dominion Exploration & Production as a Senior Staff Reservoir Engineer and he was also responsible for all regulatory matters necessary for Development Project approval.