Louisiana
School and Senior Meal Solutions Manufacturer Focus Foods Announces 100-Job Expansion
Focus Meals, a meals options producer that has supplied greater than 25 million meals to colleges, households, care services and catastrophe areas since 2019, introduced a $1.7 million growth and relocation from its Celtic Studios base of operations to a bigger website in Baton Rouge.
The undertaking will create 100 direct new jobs with a mean annual wage of $45,000, plus advantages. Focus Meals is retaining 333 jobs, and Louisiana Financial Growth estimates the undertaking will end in 220 oblique jobs in Louisiana’s Capital Area.
Focus Meals started as a community of former meals truck house owners who merged their expertise and abilities to develop and manufacture easy-to-prepare frozen meals. At first of the pandemic, the corporate prioritized meals for in-home consumption supplied to elementary and highschool college students who had switched to a digital or at-home setting.
“Within the face of challenges, Louisiana entrepreneurs put forth improvements that drive options,” Gov. John Bel Edwards mentioned. “Focus Meals did precisely that when the pandemic created an pressing want for meals choices for college kids and different prospects. This growth demonstrates the significance of Louisiana’s assist for small enterprise house owners, whose entrepreneurial spirit can spur funding, drive job creation and strengthen communities.”
Focus Meals plans to maneuver its company headquarters and manufacturing operations into the 75,000 square-foot former Valluzzo-McDonald’s distribution plant in August. It would add 15,000 sq. ft to the ability for an industrial culinary kitchen and a shelf-stable meals manufacturing heart.
“This growth of our infrastructure will permit us to broaden the constructive influence that our firm has on meals insecurity wants for Louisiana’s youngsters and aged,” Focus Meals Chief Advertising and marketing Officer Ned Fasullo mentioned.
The corporate gives 30,000 meals for Ok-12 college students throughout seven parish faculty districts every week by means of the U.S. Division of Agriculture’s Little one & Grownup Care Feeding Program. Along with faculty and residential supply, Focus Meals operates eight owned distribution websites and 50 companion websites throughout 11 parishes.
“I’m elated to see the growth of Focus Meals in our neighborhood right here in East Baton Rouge Parish,” East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome mentioned. “This service not solely meets the wants of our neighborhood by means of their meal preparation providers, but it surely additionally introduces new job alternatives throughout a season when a lot of our residents are looking for employment alternatives.”
To safe Focus Meals’ growth in Baton Rouge, the State of Louisiana supplied the corporate with a complete incentive package deal that features the providers of LED FastStart, the No. 1 statewide workforce improvement programming the U.S. Focus Meals is predicted to take part within the state’s High quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption packages. The corporate additionally will obtain a $100,000 award from the state’s Financial Growth Award Program.
“Not solely is that this an thrilling financial improvement undertaking, bringing 100 new jobs to the area in a quickly increasing sector, but it surely’s additionally a feel-good neighborhood story,” mentioned President and CEO Adam Knapp of the Baton Rouge Space Chamber. “BRAC has been happy to assist Focus Meals’ evolution from native startup to main employer, and we sit up for partnering on their future success.”
For the first time in two years and the third time overall, Texas will face Louisiana Monroe in what could be another day at practice for the Longhorns if the Warhawks admit their defeat from the get-go.
Texas powered over ULM in both of their previous meetings, having an advantage of nearly 40 points in both games. The Longhorns stand as one of the most difficult opponents for the Warhawks, as the ULM football schedule ranks fourth from last in college football toughness, while Texas ranks within the top three.
However, a spotlight for ULM has been put on its new head coach Bryant Vincent, and the talent he newly signed back in February. Vincent carries vast coaching experience in offense, and his expertise will be necessary in order for the Warhawks to see a higher-scoring game this time around.
This year will mark Vincent’s debut for the team and his first time in Austin, where the intimidating atmosphere of Darell K. Royal Stadium awaits. But with returning rushing yards leader Hunter Smith in his rotation, who is familiar with the environment after playing against Texas in 2022, Vincent won’t be left completely in the dark.
Texas is looking to be the obvious favorite for this matchup, but anything can happen in college football. Here are the keys for each team in order to secure a win in week 4.
…it shows up.
The Longhorns are overqualified for the job at hand, but that should be even more of a reason to go in for another dominating win rather than take it as an excuse to be sloppy and relaxed on the field. Head coach Steve Sarkisian shouldn’t automatically see the Warhawks as an “easy” opponent and should take this opportunity to show what his team is capable of in all areas of the game.
Another home-field advantage for Texas will also be helpful in making sure that the Longhorns stay in their element and stay focused, so fans should still show up and make the stadium loud and proud.
…fate intervenes for the Warhawks.
ULM is going to have to rebuild with the introduction of Vincent at the helm, and it could take years for the Warhawks to make an impression in the college football world. Heavy preparation will be necessary just to go up against Texas alone, and it’s unlikely that Vincent will turn around his program in just a few months.
But a win for the Warhawks is still possible if they put their best players on the field, such as Smith, Carl Glass Jr., and potential quarterback Hunter Herring. Texas would also have to make some notable errors on both offense and defense for ULM to get the lead or the win.
A victory for ULM would be historic in all aspects, while a loss for Texas would leave a devastating situation for a top tier team.
BATON ROUGE, La. (KALB) – A report released by the Louisiana Workforce Commission on June 25 revealed how unemployment rates changed in Louisiana in May.
According to the LWC report, with data directly sourced from the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 2024 unemployment rate in Louisiana decreased to 4.1% from April to May.
The unemployment rate saw a total decrease of 0.2% when compared to April’s rate of 4.3%. Despite an improvement between months, the unemployment rate was lower in May 2023, sitting at 3.4%.
The number of unemployed workers in May of 2024 was 86,120 individuals, an increase of over 16,000 people since May 2023.
The industries with the highest increase in jobs between May of 2023 and 2024 were construction with 6,500 jobs, government with 3,600 and professional & business services with 1,600 jobs.
According to the LWC from May 2023 to May 2024:
- Alexandria gained 600 jobs (61,900 jobs)
- Baton Rouge gained 6,800 jobs (423,800 jobs)
- Hammond gained 100 jobs (49,700 jobs)
- Houma gained 900 jobs (85,900 jobs)
- Lafayette gained 600 jobs (205,400 jobs)
- Lake Charles gained 1,700 jobs (96,800 jobs)
- Monroe lost 1,500 jobs (76,700 jobs)
- New Orleans lost 1,700 jobs (565,700 jobs)
- Shreveport lost 1,900 jobs (177,100 jobs)
All data cited from the Louisana Workforce Commission are ‘seasonally adjusted statistics’. Seasonally adjusted data are used to reflect how employment and unemployment measures change from month to month without the inclusion of season pattern influences such as holidays, agricultural harvests and school schedules.
You can view all unemployment data in Louisiana here.
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Copyright 2024 KALB. All rights reserved.
The following has been provided by the La Illuminator:
Louisiana Colleges will soon see more freedom in how they set tuition and mandatory fees, thanks to a bill that has now been put into law, without the governor’s signature.
House Bill 862 by Rep. Jason Hughes, D-New Orleans, would allow boards for Louisiana’s four university systems to set differential tuition for any graduate, professional or high-cost undergraduate programs. The bill would also give the boards complete control over mandatory fees.
The legislation was amended to align its effective date with a 2022 law that exempts certain graduate assistants from mandatory fees.
Differential tuition is an amount charged on top of base tuition for more expensive academic programs, such as lab-heavy curricula in science or engineering. The Board of Regents, the state oversight board for all higher education, would identify which programs are considered “high-cost.”
Louisiana requires a two-thirds of the Legislature to sign off on any tuition changes at its public colleges and universities. Most other states leave this decision up to higher education management boards.
Hughes’ bill would not allow university systems to raise fees and differential tuition more than 10% every two years. It also allows schools to lower tuition and fees without limits. The ability to lower tuition has been sought for some high-demand fields such as teaching. The bill would not have an impact on the cost of TOPS, which provides state-funded student aid to many Louisiana students, as the amount of the award is no longer directly tied to the cost of tuition.
The proposal also gives university systems control over mandatory fees for any program. Tuition and fees at Louisiana universities increased drastically during the 2010s, when the burden to finance higher education was shifted from the state to students.
Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and X.
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Copyright 2024 Louisiana Illuminator. All rights reserved.
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