Archive for the ‘Community’ Category

Until the start of LSU Football season. First game is on Saturday, September 5 at Washington in Seattle, WA. Kickoff at 9:30 PM CST. Broadcasting on ESPN and the LSU Sports Radio Network.

Time recently published an article on the South’s growing obesity rate:

So there you have it. Southerners have little access to healthy food and limited means with which to purchase it. It’s hard for them to exercise outdoors, and even when they do have the opportunity, it’s so hot, they don’t want to. To combat this affliction, some Southern states have adopted programs to fight rising obesity. In 2003, Arkansas passed a school body mass index–screening program that assesses weight and sends the results home to parents. Tennessee encourages its schools to buy fresh ingredients from local growers. And in 2007, Mississippi adopted nutritional standards for school lunches. Most of these programs are relatively new, so it will be a few years before experts can determine their efficacy. “I think there’s reason for optimism,” says Barrett. “But it’s likely that the Southeast will lag behind the rest of the country for some time to come.”

There’s some good points in this article. Obviously culture does play a huge part in obesity for Louisiana, but some of these other factors are huge players as well. One factor that the article didn’t mention is race, which according to extrapolation CDC data plays significantly into these rates as well.

Currently Louisiana has an obesity rate of 28.3%, which puts us at number 6. The Department of Health and Hospitals does have a separate council on obesity called the Louisiana Council on Obesity Prevention whose main goal is to reduce the obesity rate. There’s also the popular “Louisiana 2 Step” marketing campaign sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana. Also, Pennington Biomedical Research Center is one of the foremost obesity and nutrition research centers in the world. Needless to say, Louisiana is quite invested in this issue.

Continue reading the article on Time.com →

About a month ago we reported that Baton Rouge was under consideration to be the filming location of a new sci-fi movie featuring Aaron Eckhart. Today it was announced through the efforts of Mayor-President Kip Holden and the Baton Rouge Film Commission that Baton Rouge would be the filming location for the movie Battle: Los Angeles.

IMDB has a little more information about the movie, and has been updated with the filming location.

In our last report we mentioned rumors of parts of North Boulevard and I-110 being used as filming locations. I haven’t seen confirmations of this. We’ll keep you updated with all movie-related information.

Update
@visitbatonrouge sent us a link to a video of the official announcement. See the video below.

The traffic court in Baton Rouge has begun a traffic amnesty program for anyone with an unresolved traffic matter. The period lasts for two weeks, beginning July 20, 2009; the Court will open on Saturday, July 25, 2009 from 9 AM to 1 PM for payment only. During this period, Judges have waived any late fees and bench warrant fees for anyone who handles their outstanding traffic matters in the Court. Note that this doesn’t include court fines or court costs, which still must be paid.

You can check if you’re eligible by referring to this list →

Baton Rouge has been nominated for the Best Tennis Town in America. After a vetting process by a panel of USTA judges and several nominating letters from Mayor-President Kip Holden, BREC Superintendent and others, Baton Rouge has made it into the top 10. The prize is $100,000 towards any community wide tennis programming or facility enhancements.

You can view the Baton Rouge profile and vote for our great city here →

Recently buzzfeed.com posted a screen grab of “Louisiana’s News Channel” WAFB apparently letting us all know that our state promotes drunk driving! See for yourself!

As much as I love Donna Britt, this is a pretty bad jab at Louisiana’s already hurt image. Between Hurricane Chris and promoting drunk driving, we really don’t need anymore of these typos popping up. You can find the link to the original post on buzzfeed.com right here.

Happy Fourth of July! Have a great day celebrating the 233rd birthday of our beloved country. Have some BBQ and spend time with your family, and make sure you head downtown to the Baton Rouge levee on the Mississippi River to catch the annual July 4th fireworks, sponsored by the City of Baton Rouge. The show is always spectacular and filled with really, really cool fireworks. It starts at dark (usually around 9 PM, if I remember correctly), but get there early to find a parking spot. You can park downtown or at the levee lots on Gourrier Rd at LSU (although those are quite a bit away, they’re usually fairly empty). The best place to watch the show is on top of the letters on the levee. Have fun and be sure to let us know how you’re Fourth went. As always, if you have news or pictures from the event, share them with us!

From everyone here at the Baton Rougean, have a safe and wonderful Independence Day!

I got an email from a dedicated reader this morning pointing me to a Twitter account which masquerades as a timely news source for Baton Rouge. After doing some digging, she realized that this account is linked to a deep spam and referral scheme—basically, it’s a fraud. I actually found the account a few weeks ago when they started following my accounts on Twitter, but I didn’t do the thorough research to determine it’s fake. I didn’t follow it, but only because I was indignant that someone would try to steal my thunder. In any case, I wanted to point out a really great source of Baton Rouge Twitter accounts for news. The site is Newstwit: Baton Rouge. Of course, this is a site that I developed in conjuncture with Baton Rouge-based Liquid Ventures, but I hand-selected the accounts featured on the Baton Rouge page and I guarantee the relevancy of their tweets.

Thanks for the tip, Becky!

LSU is holding a welcome home celebration for the newly crowned LSU Tigers. The celebration starts at 4 PM at Alex Box Stadium. Gates open at 2 PM and admission and parking is free.

Be sure to drop by and welcome home our hard working baseball team. I’ll be there, so look out for me if you stop by.

Faithful reader Becky sent me some tips today about deals you can cash in on Father’s Day. Most locations in the area are honoring these promotions, but your mileage may vary. Drop me a comment or hit me up on the tips line if this information is inaccurate.

• Chick-fil-A is giving free 14oz shakes to Dads with their kids on Saturday.
• Free cup or cone for Dad at TCBY on Sunday.
• Carrabba’s: Write up a Toast to Dad on their web site and you’ll receive a free appetizer with the purchase of an entree.
• Outback Steakhouse: Take Dad to eat on Sunday and he’ll get a $10 gift certificate toward a future visit. More info here.
• Great American Cookies: free regular cookie with any purchase through 6/22 with this coupon.
• McDonalds to give Dad’s free Extra Value Breakfast on Father’s Day. [I'm not sure about all of the locations, so just ask the cashier about the promo before assuming it's available.]

Thanks again to Becky. If you have information, hit up our tip line.