 BY VICKI FERSTEL | Staff writer The East Baton Rouge Metro Council is mulling over ways to address salaries for city-parish employees that a consultant labeled abysmal. Minimum salary for a Baton Rouge police officer is some $36,300. That figure should be closer to $52,600, according to the consultant's study. Head Start coaches in Baton Rouge start at $27,828, about 20% less than the $35,000 recommended by the study. Could revising a benefits package help? Some say yes, others say no. Staff writer Patrick Sloan-Turner delves into the debate.
A grave matter. The Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation has built a database of 8,500 historic cemeteries across the state and is inviting people to submit information about gravesites yet to be documented. "It's especially important in the southern part of the state," said Brian Davis, executive director of the nonprofit trust. "Because of erosion and rising sea levels, some cemeteries are going underwater, especially in lower Lafourche Parish." Staff writer Ellyn Couvillion has more on the story here.
Cigar box guitar comeback? Evidence of wooden cigar boxes being used as instruments dates back to the mid-1800s. But what was once unfashionable has been having a resurgence. Mike Snowden, a Lafayette native, musician and cigar box guitar craftsman, has sold thousands of these guitars worldwide, including to artists such as Ozzy Osbourne. And Creole musicians such as Canray Fontenot started out on handmade cigar box fiddles, according to the St. Landry Parish Visitor Center, which is hosting an exhibit of these instruments. Some fascinating Southern culture from staff writer Ja'kori Madison. | 
