• B.R. scores major video game company
BATON ROUGE -- Couch potatoes and video game addicts take note: You can make a living doing what you like most right here in Louisiana.

• Gulf lease sale brings top dollar
An annual sale of oil and gas leases in the western Gulf of Mexico drew more than $487 million in high bids Wednesday, the most the area has generated in a decade.

• N.O. firm ranked on magazine's growth list
Travel and entertainment booking engine iSeatz is ranked No. 494 on this year's Inc. Magazine list of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the nation, the magazine announced Wednesday.

• Carnival to upsize cruise-ship presence
Carnival Cruise Lines will bring a bigger ship to New Orleans late next year and could add a second vessel by 2011.

• Fair Grounds work progresses
The Fair Grounds' permanent slot facility will open in mid-November along with three restaurants and VIP sections for racing fans, Austin Miller, the facility's vice president told the Louisiana Gaming Control Board on Tuesday.

• Orpheum owners plan repairs
A pair of Texas developers who bought the Orpheum Theater just two months after Hurricane Katrina plan to renovate the historic performance venue for possible use by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, among other musicians and entertainers.

• River pilots oversight board starts new era
The Board of River Pilot Review and Oversight met Tuesday morning for the first time since receiving a $185,000 nest egg from Baton Rouge.

• Benson buys into production company
New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson promised that his May purchase of local Fox affiliate WVUE-Channel 8 was just the first of several film and video ventures for his new Louisiana Media Co.

• Lab project poised to rise in N.O.
Construction should begin in the coming weeks on the New Orleans BioInnovation Center, a business incubator on Canal Street that will help researchers at the city's major universities take their findings from the laboratory to the marketplace.

• After 4 years, pilot board launches
A state board created to police Louisiana river pilots officially gets off the ground today after languishing for four years without the money to pay for its operations.

• Big test is faced on 'early' payout
Question: I have been debating whether to start taking my Social Security now or wait to take it later. Can you give me some guidelines to help me make this decision?

• SUNSHINE SUPER-GRIDS
hen the lights go out in Central City, they stay on in parts of the Dryades YMCA where people can gather safely in an emergency.

• Retail giant slumbering for now
As a Georgia real estate company accumulated a wide sweep of land for a major retail project in Mid-City last year, neighborhood groups grew fearful that an outsized development of chain stores would degrade their historic and largely residential corner of the city.

• Oreck moves its office from Harahan
With virtually no fanfare, Oreck Corp. has moved its corporate headquarters from Harahan to Nashville, citing rising fuel costs and the good business sense of centralizing.

• Elevation money off-limits to IRS
The Answer Spot addresses post-Hurricane Katrina questions. To submit a question, send it to insurance@timespicayune.com.

• 401(k)s can't soar on autopilot
Freedom of choice in making investment decisions is often touted as the best thing about 401(k) retirement plans and similar options for government workers.

• BUSINESS CALENDAR
THIS WEEK

• 401(k)s can't soar on autopilot
Freedom of choice in making investment decisions is often touted as the best thing about 401(k) retirement plans and similar options for government workers.

• BUSINESS CALENDAR
THIS WEEK

• BUSINESS PEOPLE
ACADEMIA

• Retail giant slumbering for now
As a Georgia real estate company accumulated a wide sweep of land for a major retail project in Mid-City last year, neighborhood groups grew fearful that an outsized development of chain stores would degrade their historic and largely residential corner of the city.

• Judge dismisses Citizens lawsuit
A federal lawsuit alleging that board members and former executives of Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. engaged in racketeering, money laundering, wire fraud and mail fraud for their own enrichment was dismissed Friday.

• BUSINESS PEOPLE
ARCHITECTURE

• EAST JEFFERSON REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS
E. JEFFERSON

• NEW ORLEANS REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS
NEW ORLEANS

• ST. BERNARD REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS
ST. BERNARD

• ST. JOHN REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS
ST. JOHN

• ST. TAMMANY REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS
ST. TAMMANY

• WEST JEFFERSON REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS
W. JEFFERSON

• Value of state's exports up 64 percent this year
The value of Louisiana exports climbed 64 percent in the first half of 2008, buoyed by the high prices of oil and grain, according to a report released Thursday by the World Trade Center of New Orleans.

• N.O., Alabama law firms join forces
One of New Orleans' largest law firms, the 240-lawyer Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denegre LLP, announced Thursday that it will combine with a boutique banking firm from Alabama.

• Oil-spill hearings wrap up for now
The Coast Guard has put an indefinite hold on public hearings examining last month's collision of a tank ship and fuel barge on the Mississippi River after two days of testimony from crew aboard the ship Tintomara.

• EXTREME SUCCESS
When it first began brewing a beer called Andygator in the late 1990s, Abita Brewing Co. considered it an occasional beverage line.

• Dome officials ponder mall buy
State officials expect to decide by Oct. 3 whether to exercise their option to buy the former New Orleans Centre shopping mall and an adjoining office tower and 3,000-space parking garage.

• Hearing tackles VA med center location
What would serve the greater good -- building a new veterans hospital where the vacant Lindy Boggs Medical Center now stands, or tearing down a neighborhood so the hospital can be close to the downtown medical schools and the city's nascent bioscience corridor?

• Utility panel declares first energy emergency
The Louisiana Public Service Commission on Tuesday unanimously declared the state's first "energy emergency," a move that allows elderly, low-income and disabled customers to defer paying portions of their electricity bills for as long as a year. The commission also called on the state to appropriate $20 million for energy assistance and efficiency programs.

• Stewart weighs takeover offer
Thomas Kitchen prefaced his keynote address to a local business group Tuesday with the announcement that he would not discuss the acquisition offer his company, Stewart Enterprises, is weighing.

• Navy aborts new line of ships
The Navy has canceled a line of combat ships after commissioning just two of the DDG 1000s, a technologically advanced class of vessel that has been plagued with budget problems.

• State set to declare energy emergency
Gov. Bobby Jindal said Monday he believes that Louisiana families are being hit too hard by the high cost of electricity and that he supports the Louisiana Public Service Commission declaring an energy emergency to give people more flexibility in paying their bills.

• La. businesses getting another shot at recovery grants, loans
The second phase of the Louisiana Business Recovery Grant and Loan program generated nearly 2,000 applications, about three-quarters of which are eligible for a portion of the $90 million allocated for the program.

• Don't play politics with your investments
Question:What impact will the election have on the stock market? Should I consider making any changes to my portfolio to anticipate the election outcome?

• SHOPPING SCHOOLING
Ashleigh Bourgeois says she's lucky 4-year-old girls tend to be built an awful lot like 4-year-old boys.

• Local hotels say business not so bad
Air travel is chaotic. Housing prices continue to fall. And the cost of gas, though falling, is still budget-busting. But, New Orleans hoteliers and other tourism industry companies say this summer, so far, has not been nearly as bad as expected.

• N.O. could see homes values rise
Homes in New Orleans never made gaudy price gains the way they did in San Francisco and Los Angeles, but neither did they bleed value as the housing bubble began to deflate late last year.

• BUSINESS CALENDAR
THIS WEEK

• BUSINESS CALENDAR
THIS WEEK

• Don't file amended tax returns just yet
The Answer Spot addresses post-Hurricane Katrina questions. To submit a question, send it to insurance@timespicayune.com.

• Mortgage bailout not for everyone
The recent bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac doesn't mean automatic salvation for individual homeowners struggling with large mortgage payments and trying to avoid foreclosure.

• BUSINESS CALENDAR
THIS WEEK

• BUSINESS CALENDAR
THIS WEEK

• BUSINESS PEOPLE
ACADEMIA

• Local hotels say business not so bad
Air travel is chaotic. Housing prices continue to fall. And the cost of gas, though falling, is still budget-busting. But, New Orleans hoteliers and other tourism industry companies say this summer, so far, has not been nearly as bad as expected.

• Mortgage bailout not for everyone
The recent bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac doesn't mean automatic salvation for individual homeowners struggling with large mortgage payments and trying to avoid foreclosure.

• Hand up for beggars leads to Nobel
Small-scale entrepreneurialism can lead to self-sufficiency and boost local economies, according to Vidar Jorgensen, adviser to the Bangladesh bank that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

• LOCAL BRIEFS
--- Lawsuit becomes class action ---

• Firm ready to build St. James iron plant
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Nucor Corp. plans to build a 500-employee iron plant in Convent and wants to break ground in January, as long as Louisiana grants the necessary environmental permits and the Legislature backs an incentives package crafted by the administration of Gov. Bobby Jindal, the steelmaker's chief executive officer said.

• BUSINESS PEOPLE
ACADEMIA

• EAST JEFFERSON REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS
E. JEFFERSON

• NEW ORLEANS REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS
NEW ORLEANS

• ST. BERNARD REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS
ST. BERNARD

• ST. CHARLES REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS
ST. CHARLES

• ST. JOHN REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS
ST. JOHN

• ST. TAMMANY REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS
ST. TAMMANY

• ST. TAMMANY REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS
ST. TAMMANY

• WEST JEFFERSON REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS
W. JEFFERSON

• Personal income surges in N.O.
The personal income of residents of the New Orleans metropolitan area was the third-fastest growing in the nation, according to a report released Thursday.

• GULF GATHERING
The 12th Annual Gulf of Mexico Symposium got under way Thursday at the Hilton Riverside in New Orleans. The two-day event, which is presented by three local technical societies of the oil and gas industry, draws professionals and management representatives from all aspects of the industry.

• Second fuel tank sent to NASA site
The latest external fuel tank for the space shuttle is en route to Kennedy Space Center.

• LOCAL BRIEFS
--- H&E chalks up gain ---