US Economy

Orders for U.S.-made factory goods fell 0.5% in May, the Commerce Department estimated Tuesday. Orders for nondurable goods increased 1.6% .

Louisiana Incumbent Worker Program

The Louisiana Department of Labor today announced that its Incumbent Worker Training Program, which has upgraded the skills of more than 184,000 workers, will soon offer pre-employment training opportunities for expanding businesses.  This additional feature of the program was recently signed into law by Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco.

“By using our pre-employment training program, businesses will be able to tap into a job-ready workforce,” said Labor Secretary John Warner Smith.

“We are making it easier than ever to match skilled workers with companies ready to hire them.”

IWTP is designed to benefit business and industry by assisting in the skill development of existing employees, while the Small Business Employee Training Program (SBET) provides this same type of training for businesses with 50 or fewer employees.

To participate in the pre-employment training program, businesses must meet standard IWTP requirements, which include operating in Louisiana for at least three years and contributing to the Unemployment Insurance system.

The key difference is that the pre-employment training focuses on job readiness skills prior to hiring, while traditional IWTP targets those already on the job.

Pre-employment training may include screening, skills assessment, testing, remediation, and occupation and technical training.

“We are excited to be able to offer this training program to Louisiana businesses,” said IWTP Director Michael Harris.  “This initiative will be an outstanding economic development tool for our state.”

To qualify for participation in the pre-employment training program, a business must be committed to expanding within the state. The business is also asked to provide up to a 50 percent match for training funds allocated to them and is expected to hire a portion of the trainees.

For more information on the Incumbent Worker Training Program, visit www.LAWORKS.net.

Educators

Trinity Christian Community, an AmeriCorps Partner Agency, is seeking tutors to work in New Orleans Public and Public Charter Schools in the 2007-09 academic years.

            Earlier this year, Trinity received a grant to fund the program for two years.  Participants will be assigned to six schools in the New Orleans area beginning in August and will assist elementary-age students with their reading skills.  Improving literacy benefits students in a variety of ways, enhancing not only their academic performance but their ability to engage in active citizenship throughout their lives.

            Applicants must be at least 18 years old with a high school diploma or GED, have U.S. citizenship, and pass a background check.  Although classified as AmeriCorps volunteers, accepted participants will receive a stipend of $11,100 for 10 months of work and a $4,725 education award upon completion of 1,700 hours of service.

            Interested applicants should contact Project Manager Laurie Cannon at 504.482.7822.

Terror Money

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt announced a total of $430 million in awards to states, territories and four major metropolitan areas to strengthen the ability of hospitals and other health care facilities to respond to bioterror attacks, infectious diseases, and natural disasters that may cause mass casualties.

"These grants are an important addition to national security because our hospitals and other health care facilities play such a critical role in responding to a terrorist attack, an infectious disease outbreak, and natural disasters," Leavitt said. "States and communities can use these funds to improve emergency care during a health crisis." 

Major cities such as New York, Washington DC, Chicago and Los Angeles received the grants.

LSU Health

Yumei Feng, MD, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Pharmacology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, has been awarded an Annual High Blood Pressure Research Conference Travel Award by the Council for High Blood Pressure Research of the American Heart Association. These awards honor and provide travel assistance for new and emerging investigators at the trainee level (graduate students, postdoctoral fellows) and junior faculty level (instructor, assistant professor) who attend the American Heart Association's Annual High Blood Pressure Research Conference to present abstracts and only 10 were awarded nationally this year.

Queen Bee Computers

Louisiana’s supercomputer Queen Bee, the centerpiece of the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative, or LONI, is the 23^rd most powerful supercomputer in the world. The ranking follows the release of the annual Top500 Supercomputer Sites list this week during the International Supercomputing Conference in Dresden, Germany.

Louisiana’s Queen Bee is ranked fourth among the supercomputers owned by higher education institutions in the United States.  According to LONI Executive Director Charlie McMahon, this ranking gives Louisiana a competitive edge in advancing research through cyberinfrastructure.

“We comfortably assumed it would rank in the top 25 worldwide based on early projections, but our standing in higher education is exciting,” remarks Charles McMahon, executive director for LONI, “Our ranking will hopefully help attract and retain top researchers to our universities .”   

LONI Chief Scientist Ed Seidel said this ranking represents a substantial achievement for the state and the partner universities.

“We have worked throughout the past three years to create a network and have developed a system that makes Louisiana one of the most well-connected places in the world,” Seidel said. “With LONI in place and the newly formed LONI Institute, we can capitalize on the state’s investments in information technology.”

Queen Bee, a 50-teraflops machine located in the state’s Information Systems Building in downtown Baton Rouge, is the main computer for LONI, a high-speed, fiber optics network that connects supercomputers at the state’s major universities – Louisiana State University, Louisiana Tech University, LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, Southern University, Tulane University, University of Louisiana at Lafayette and University of New Orleans -- allowing greater collaboration on research that produces results faster and with greater accuracy.

The network led to the Board of Regents granting six LONI universities funding under the Post-Katrina Support Fund Initiative to create the LONI Institute, a $15 million state-of-the-art research collaborative to facilitate joint applications tackling complex scientific research problems.

McMoran

McMoRan Exploration Co. today updated its exploration and development activities, including positive drilling results at Flatrock and Cottonwood Point.

The Flatrock exploratory prospect at South Marsh Island Block 212 commenced on March 27, 2007, and is currently drilling below 15,000 feet with a proposed total depth of 16,500 feet. Wireline logs have indicated 22 net feet of hydrocarbon bearing sands in the Rob-L section. Casing has been set to protect this zone. Additionally, log-while-drilling tools have indicated three more resistive zones approximating 190 net feet over an approximate 330 foot gross interval. These zones will be evaluated with wireline logs.

The Flatrock well is the first well drilled in the OCS 310/Louisiana State Lease 340 area by McMoRan or others to encounter multiple apparent hydrocarbon bearing sands in the Rob-L section, several of which are above the well’s primary objective. The Flatrock prospect is three miles north and down dip of the Hurricane discovery in South Marsh Island Block 223, indicating that the Flatrock Rob-L hydrocarbon bearing zones must be structurally or stratigraphically separated from the up dip Hurricane Rob-L production. This information has significant implications in an area where McMoRan has a number of additional drilling opportunities.

McMoRan plans to continue drilling the Flatrock well to evaluate additional Rob-L and Operc objectives and may elect to deepen the well below 16,500 feet. McMoRan has a 25.0 percent working interest and an 18.8 percent net revenue interest in the Flatrock well. If successful, the well could be brought on production quickly utilizing existing infrastructure in the area. Flatrock would be McMoRan’s eighth successful well in the OCS 310/Louisiana State Lease 340 area.

The Cottonwood Point exploratory prospect at Vermilion Block 31 commenced on March 1, 2007, and is currently drilling below 14,400 feet with a proposed total depth of 21,000 feet. Log-while-drilling tools have indicated approximately 60 net feet of resistivity in three sands, indicating the presence of potential hydrocarbons. The well will be drilled to its next casing point and logged with wireline tools to evaluate these potentially productive zones. McMoRan has a 15.0 percent working interest and an 11.3 percent net revenue interest in the Cottonwood Point well.

The Cas exploratory well at South Timbalier Block 70 commenced drilling on January 30, 2007, and is drilling ahead with a planned true vertical depth of 25,000 feet. The Cas prospect is located in approximately 65 feet of water. McMoRan has rights to 5,000 gross acres in this area. McMoRan has a 15.0 percent working interest and a 12.4 percent net revenue interest.

The Mound Point South exploratory prospect at Louisiana State Lease 340 commenced on April 12, 2007, and is currently drilling below 16,000 feet with a proposed total depth of 20,000 feet. McMoRan has an 18.3 percent working interest and a 14.5 percent net revenue interest in the Mound Point South well.

McMoRan also announced today that it has elected to sidetrack the Blueberry Hill well at Louisiana State Lease 340. Attempts to clear the blockage above the perforated interval were unsuccessful during June 2007. The sidetrack is targeting Gyro sands in a down dip position believed to be better developed than the sands seen in the original well. As previously reported, the Blueberry Hill well at Louisiana State Lease 340 encountered four potentially productive hydrocarbon bearing sands below 22,200 feet in February 2005. Testing of this well commenced in the fourth quarter of 2006 following the receipt of special tubulars and casing for the high pressure well.