Baton Rouge Business Report

Information may not be reliable

Lombardi pitches tuition, fee hikes to offset cuts
LSU officials are pitching a plan to raise student tuition and fees by more than $220 million across the state's public colleges next year, to offset some budget cuts. Schools would use the increased money from students, a slice of federal education money and other budget maneuvers to help reduce the proposed cut to colleges to $107 million in the new fiscal year that begins July 1. The plan is intended to mitigate a budget cut of up to $438 million, currently on the table. LSU System President John Lombardi presented the plan's particulars today to the Board of Regents. He received general support from the heads of the state's three other university systems, who say they like the concepts but may want to modify the specifics. "These are fees for services," Lombardi says. "These are not tax measures." About $60 million of the tuition hikes already are in place to take effect in the 2011-12 academic year. The rest would need legislative approval.

Locally shot movie set for Sundance
The Ledge, a suspense thriller that was shot in downtown Baton Rouge this spring, will make its world premiere at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. The movie, directed by Matthew Chapman, is one of 16 films selected for the dramatic competition, beating out more than 1,100 submissions. The Ledge, which stars Liv Tyler, Terrence Howard and Charlie Hunnam, is about a man standing on the ledge of a high-rise building who insists he must jump by noon. Sundance has served as a springboard for independent movies and filmmakers for decades, helping start the careers of directors such as Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson and launching movies such as Little Miss Sunshine and The Blair Witch Project. The festival will be held in Park City, Utah, in late January.

AppOne signs deal with Source One
AppOne, a Baton Rouge company that serves as a bridge between lenders and vehicle dealers, has signed an agreement with Source One. Source One is a marine and RV loan origination company that works with more than 800 dealers in the Midwest. AppOne will help the company automate indirect lending, credit approval and compliance processes to speed up the process of arranging a loan to buy a boat or RV.

Newton cleared to play in SEC title game
Auburn quarterback Cam Newton is eligible to play in the SEC championship game this weekend, even though the NCAA says his father broke rules by shopping his son to Mississippi State. The NCAA released its finding in a statement today. The college sports governing body concluded on Monday that a violation of Newton's amateur status had occurred. Auburn declared Newton ineligible on Tuesday and requested his eligibility be reinstated. Newton has been cleared to compete without conditions. Undefeated Auburn plays South Carolina in the SEC championship game Saturday. With a victory, the Auburn Tigers will earn a spot in the BCS National Championship Game.
The NCAA won't say its case is closed on Newton. However, its statement notes that reinstatement likely occurs "prior to the close of an investigation." The NCAA says Auburn and NCAA enforcement staff have agreed that Newton's father and an owner of a scouting service worked together on a pay-for-play scam. Two Mississippi State boosters have accused Cecil Newton and former Mississippi State player Kenny Rogers of trying to get cash payments for Cam Newton to play for the Bulldogs while he was being recruited out of junior college last year.

Benefits of about 61,000 in La. could be curtailed
The failure by Congress to extend an emergency jobless benefits package could affect up to 61,000 unemployed Louisiana residents, a state official says. Who loses benefits and when depends upon several factors, including whether a jobless resident is already on the federal emergency program or still receiving initial benefits from the state program, says Jay Augustine, deputy executive director of the Louisiana Workforce Commission. Currently, an unemployed worker in Louisiana is first eligible for 26 weeks of benefits under a state-administrated program. After that, Augustine says, if still jobless and actively seeking work, the unemployed has recourse to three tiers of benefits in the federal program: 20 weeks, 14 weeks and 13 weeks, up to a total of 73 weeks. After 73 weeks, all benefits end in the state. Augustine says 34,000 jobless Louisiana residents are on the state program, while 27,000 are on some level of the federal program. Those on the state program won't be able to move to the federal program unless Congress acts. Those on each tier of the federal program will be able to exhaust their current benefits, but won't be able to move to the next level, Augustine says. As in other states, post-economic-meltdown job growth in Louisiana hasn't come anywhere close to providing enough new unemployment. Between October 2009 and October, the state recorded a net gain of 19,200 jobs, the Workforce Commission reported. LSU economist Loren Scott says the short-term effect of a cutoff would be to reduce personal consumption spending.

FCC preparing to vote on net neutrality rules
Federal regulators are moving ahead with a plan to prohibit phone and cable companies from blocking or discriminating against Internet traffic flowing over their broadband networks. Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, outlined in a speech today his proposal for so-called network neutrality rules. Despite Republican opposition in Congress, Genachowski plans to bring his proposal to a vote by the full commission by Dec. 21. Net neutrality rules were one of the Obama administration's top campaign pledges to the technology industry and have been among Genachowski's priorities since he took over the FCC more than a year ago. Many big Internet companies, such as search leader Google Inc. and calling service Skype, as well as public-interest groups, insist regulations are needed to ensure broadband companies don't use their control over Internet connections to dictate where consumers can go and what they can do online. But Genachowski has run into substantial opposition from big phone and cable companies, including AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp., which argue that they should be allowed to manage their networks as they see fit. The plan, which builds on a set of FCC principles first established under the administration of George W. Bush in 2005, would require that broadband providers let subscribers access all legal online content, applications and services over their networks. But it would give broadband providers flexibility to manage their systems to deal with problems such as network congestion and unwanted traffic, like spam, as long as they publicly disclose their network management practices.

The enigmatic Les Miles
Miles is one of the most successful coaches in LSU history, with one BCS title and victories over Meyer, Saban and Spurrier, but he receives plenty of criticism for his clock mismanagement and awkward public persona.
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