 BY DOUG GRAHAM | Staff writer With the Super Bowl coming Sunday in New Orleans, Baton Rouge is getting a taste of tourism dollars, too. Many of the full-service hotels in the metro area are “really booked up” for the weekend, says Jill Kidder, president and CEO of Visit Baton Rouge. And of the hotels that had rooms available during the middle of the week, rates were eye-popping. The people who are staying in Baton Rouge are here because they couldn't get a hotel room in or near New Orleans, so they are spending most of their time in New Orleans and sleeping in Baton Rouge, Kidder said. That lessens the economic impact, but it is still in line with an early season LSU home game. Read more about the area's tourism benefits from the event.
Officials in the River Parishes want to build a 56-bed juvenile jail in Lafourche Parish that would focus on rehabilitation, which officials say is especially needed amid high juvenile incarceration rates. To make the project happen, they are seeking more than $36 million from the state. But some question whether a facility of that size is really necessary. Read more about the issue here.
Celebrity chef Guy Fieri is in Louisiana for Sunday's Super Bowl in New Orleans. But in advance of the big game, he spent two days in Baton Rouge, shooting segments for "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" and stopping for a meet-and-greet event at a local liquor store to sign bottles of his and rock star Sammy Hagar’s Santo Tequila brand. Read more about Fieri's time in the Red Stick City. | 
