Daily Report

The CATS board will interview two candidates next week for the position of interim CEO: John Conroy, owner of the local pest-control company Pestop Baton Rouge; and Robert Mirabito, the former chief information officer for the Baton Rouge Radiology Group. A CATS board committee selected Conroy and Mirabito at a special meeting today from a list of 10 applicants. "Based on the process, those two candidates got the majority of the votes," says CATS board Chairman Isaiah Marshall, explaining the committee’s decision. CATS is hiring an interim CEO to run the agency for the next six-to-nine months while it conducts a national search to replace former CEO Brian Marshall, who resigned in April amid mounting public criticism of his ability to implement service upgrades and improvements. The interim CEO should be on the job by the middle of June, according to Isaiah Marshall, who is not related to Brian Marshall. That’s just a month or so before a new program manager is supposed to be in place to begin implementing an overhaul of the CATS hub-and-spoke route system. The board is outsourcing management of the transition from a hub-and-spoke to a grid system, a major change that is expected to improve efficiency and reduce passenger wait times. The deadline for requests for qualifications for the project manager was 3 p.m. today. At press time there was no word on how many RFQs were submitted. —Stephanie Riegel

People who rely on the state for health care and educational programs traveled to the Louisiana Capitol today to ask senators to pay for those services in next year's budget. For hours, the Senate Finance Committee heard requests for cuts to be reversed, for programs to be continued, and for spending to increase on services with long waiting lists. It was the day for public testimony, as senators decide what changes they want to make to the 2013-14 budget proposal forwarded by the House. People pleading for their causes spilled into the halls, waiting their turn. Some women wept as they spoke about the dollars they sought for disabled children, domestic violence shelters and the state's voucher program. The Finance Committee will craft its version of the budget next week.

Louisiana is about to get its very own superhero, thanks to LSU alum and Los Angeles screenwriter Mark Landry, who is poised to release a new graphic novel series called Bloodthirsty. Set in a mythical, post-Katrina New Orleans, Bloodthirsty: One Nation Under Water follows a Cajun Creole named Virgil LaFleur, who finds himself swept up in a vile plot to destroy the Big Easy while he hunts for his brother's killers. Featuring corrupt cops, soulless politicians and a ruthless magnate with a mysterious gift of eternal youth, Bloodthirsty recasts the city as a dark fantasia, hauntingly familiar, exhilarating and surprising. Read the complete article by Editor Jeff Roedel and interview with Landry in the current issue of 225 here.

Laurie Aronson, president and CEO of Lipsey's wholesale firearms distributor, is turning her attention in a more sartorial direction. Aronson is planning to revamp family-owned Haspel, the Louisiana-based purveyors of classic seersucker suits and other menswear. "She's in the middle of totally reorganizing that company," says Aronson's father, Richard Lipsey. "We've decided to change direction with it a little bit, so not only has she got her hands full here, she's got her hands full … reorganizing our clothing company, which we are looking for some great things out of in 2014." Aronson was tight-lipped with details but promises to unveil the new direction of Haspel in the coming months. Aronson's great-grandfather started Haspel in 1909, but it was sold by her grandfather in 1977. Lipsey bought Haspel back in the mid-1990s, and Aronson now serves as president of the company. Haspel claims to be the originator of the seersucker suit. —April Castro

Editor's note: This story has been changed since its original publication to correct the time Lipsey bought Hapsel back and the founder of Hapsel. Daily Report regrets the errors.

Louisiana has the highest rate of gun violence in the nation and the weakest gun safety laws, according to a recent national study, and state lawmakers are moving to expand the already permissive statutes. According to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a nonprofit group that tracks gun regulations around the nation, Louisiana's push is contrary to a national trend toward strengthening firearm laws after the recent Newtown, Conn., mass school shooting. "It puts Louisiana in the same category as a minority of states that spend time on largely symbolic measures," says Laura Cutilletta, senior staff attorney for the Law Center. "These laws clearly are not going to be upheld. It's something the courts will have to decide, not the states." The most far-reaching gun proposals in the Louisiana Legislature seek to preempt federal law, as a states' rights issue. They have been easily approved in the House and await action in the Senate. Meanwhile, according to a study by the left-leaning Center for American Progress, Louisiana had more deaths per capita from guns than any other state from 2001 to 2010. The study indicated that Louisiana has the highest gun-homicide rate among residents 19 years old and younger. The center recently gave the state an F, ranking it 45th out of 50 states in terms of gun safety. The Associated Press has the full story here.

Herb Vincent is leaving LSU to take over as associate commissioner for communications at the SEC, the university announced today. Vincent, who's currently the associate vice chancellor for university relations and senior associate athletics director at LSU, will begin his new job in September. For Vincent, the move marks a return to the SEC. He was previously on its staff in 1986 and 1987 as assistant director of public relations. "His experience at LSU and other levels of sports and sports television will be a tremendous addition to the team," says SEC Commissioner Mike Slive in a prepared statement. "We are excited to have him back in Birmingham as a part of our conference staff, and I know he's excited to get to work on making the SEC family even stronger. In his new role, Vincent will be responsible for developing, implementing, and managing the overall communications strategies and efforts for the conference, as well as serving as spokesman for the SEC and acting as the primary liaison between the conference office and campus communicators. LSU has more on the announcement here.

Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile: Happy, Happy, Happy, the new autobiography by Phil Robertson, the star of reality TV show Duck Dynasty who's also known as The Duck Commander, has debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list of hardcover nonfiction works. Read about the contents of Robertson's briskly selling book here.

On file: First-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending May 18 increased from the previous week's total. The state labor department figures released today show that initial claims increased to 2,738 from the previous week's total of 2,327. Initial claims were below the comparable week a year earlier, when 3,547 were filed. The four-week moving average, which is a less volatile measure of claims, increased to 2,518 from the previous week's total of 2,488.

One by one: Louisiana gained one oil rig this week, bringing the state total to 107, according to Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas nationwide, meanwhile, dropped by seven this week to 1,762. Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, Texas gained three rigs, while Pennsylvania and Wyoming were also each up one. Colorado and North Dakota each declined by five, Alaska fell by three and Oklahoma one. You can access the complete report here.