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Gov. John Bel Edwards and Cabot Corporation Senior Vice President Bart Kalkstein announced Cabot will make a $90 million capital investment to enhance the performance of its plant in Ville Platte, Louisiana. The facility manufactures carbon black, a key material that extends the life of tires and other rubber products.

Jennings, LA - JD Bank is pleased to announce the promotions of Commercial Lenders, Kevin Caswell, Lafayette, Tina Vidrine, Opelousas, Mike Comeaux and Chad Hebert, both of New Iberia, to Senior Vice President. Caswell, Vidrine, Comeaux and Hebert joined JD Bank’s Commercial Lending department in 2014. “JD Bank has a talented Commercial Lending team in our Acadiana market and these promotions are well-deserve,” said Bruce W. Elder, JD Bank President and CEO.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. & LAFAYETTE, La., July 2, 2020 -- First Horizon National Corp. ("First Horizon") (NYSE: FHN) and IBERIABANK Corporation ("IBERIABANK") (NASDAQ: IBKC) today announced completion of their previously announced all-stock merger of equals. The combined company, with $79 billion in assets, $60 billion in deposits and $58 billion in loans as of March 31, 2020, will be headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee and operate under the First Horizon name.

The Acadiana region is seeing improvement in several economic areas, but the area is still feeling the effects of COVID-19 and the restrictions put in place to slow the spread, data compiled by One Acadiana shows.

The report from One Acadiana — the chamber of commerce for Lafayette Parish and an economic development group for the nine-parish region — looks at several different parts of the economic recovery: unemployment, retail sales, oil and gas prices, and hotel occupancy, among others.

The month-long First Extraordinary Session was extraordinary indeed, with the adoption of the $35 billion State budget, a major tort reform bill, and COVID-19 recovery measures like temporary tax relief and enhancements to economic development incentives. Here is a summary of some of the priority legislation 1A was engaged on.

Today (Monday, June 29) is expected to be a big day at the Capitol, with action on the State budget, tort reform, and other measures as the Special Session nears adjournment by Tuesday. Here is some of the priority legislation 1A has been engaged on.

Tort Reform to Lower Auto Insurance Rates

The Legislature is hitting the homestretch of the Special Session, which started June 1 and must adjourn by June 30.

Louisiana's economic recovery could drag into 2022, with Acadiana and Houma experiencing a slower recovery than the rest of the state, according to a recent study.

"The baseline projections, and even the most optimistic projections, are highly unfavorable at this time," wrote Gary Wagner, economics professor at University of Louisiana at Lafayette's B.I. Moody III College of Business Administration. "Much like the national economy, Louisiana is projected to experience a recession more severe than the economic impacts of Hurricane Katrina and the Great Recession."

Construction projects in Acadiana -- including improvements to the Lafayette Parish Courthouse, renovations on college campuses and I-49 South construction -- would receive more than $405 million in state funding under a proposal sent to Gov. John Bel Edwards.