Decade in Review: 2020s

2020

While telemedicine isn’t new, the COVID-19 pandemic leads to a surge in virtual visits as local hospitals and clinics close their doors to all nonemergency procedures. Local startup Relief Telemed, a health care delivery platform, doubles its initial revenue projection as a result of the pandemic. But the boom doesn’t last and the company now finds itself in bankruptcy amid mismanagement allegations.

Gov. John Bel Edwards pushes for changes to the state’s Industrial Tax Exemption Program to let manufacturers appeal to the Board of Commerce and Industry if a local government denies their request for a tax abatement, shifting the ITEP balance of power from local governments back to the state.

Baton Rouge-bred Marucci Sports is acquired by a Connecticut-based publicly traded investment trust, Compass Diversified Holdings, for $200 million.

The coronavirus hits Louisiana, wreaking economic havoc across the region as restaurant dining rooms are closed and businesses must adapt to the “new normal” created by the pandemic.

$4.2 million

Amount of Main Street Recovery Program funds distributed to East Baton Rouge businesses through mid-September in an effort to offset some of the economic destruction from the pandemic

68,000

Baton Rouge homes without power the day after Hurricane Delta hit • Women come forward with allegations that Derrius Guice raped them just months apart in 2016, when Guice was a star freshman running back on the LSU football team, raising questions and spawning several investigations into how the school handles its sexual assault cases.

Contractors break ground on a nearly 112,000-squarefoot distribution center for Amazon in the Industriplex.

The pandemic prompts Mike Hackley to sell his 20-year-old BBQGuys business—which he founded in the late 1990s as ShoppersChoice— to Brand Velocity Partners.

Former Gov. Mike Foster, who made lasting contributions to Louisiana’s business communities throughout his two terms as governor, dies in October at age 90. Grön Fuels, a portfolio company of Houston-based Fidelis Infrastructure, signs a deal with the Port of Greater Baton Rouge to develop a renewable diesel facility on 141 acres of port property. While plans have shifted for the complex to now produce sustainable aviation fuel instead of diesel, the proposed complex would represent more than $9 billion in investment if fully developed.

$1.6 BILLION

Amount of damage Hurricane Laura caused to Louisiana crops and forests

Sharon Weston Broome begins her second term as mayor-president after defeating Republican challenger Steve Carter with 57% of the vote. Hurricane Ida blows onto the Louisiana shore as a Category 4 storm, leaving parts of the Capital Region without power for more than a week.

Supply chain issues, rising costs and soaring demand are making it difficult for local homebuilders to keep pace.

Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center

announces it’s ending its affiliation with Our Lady of the Lake and will partner instead with an out-of-state network of independent cancer centers. Later, OLOL announces plans to build a $100 million cancer center.

Three-term state representative and former mayoral candidate Steve Carter dies at 77 from COVID-19. Former Gov. Buddy Roemer and longtime Downtown Development District Executive Director Davis Rhorer also pass away in 2021.

2021

With final investment decisions in the works for some $6 billion in Capital Region projects, the petrochemical sector looks to continue as an economic driver of the local economy.

Brand Velocity Partners and BBQGuys announce a planned merger with blank-check firm Velocity Acquisition Corp., with the intention of going public on the Nasdaq. The planned merger would be scrapped in the fall because of ongoing supply chain issues.

The LSU Board of Supervisors in May selects William F. Tate IV to be LSU’s next president— the first Black leader in the university’s history.

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2022

With the NCAA adopting a new policy allowing name, image and likeness, or NIL, deals with student-athletes, LSU athletes are poised to cash in big. As of December, LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne was set to earn more than $1 million in deals. A wicked thunderstorm in the middle of an unusually wet May dumps as much as 13.5 inches of rain on parts of the Capital Region, flooding some properties for a fourth time in recent years.

Scott Wester, Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center local market president, transitions to a new position in the organization in February, overseeing a $170 million partnership with LSU. In May, Wester is named CEO of Memorial Hospital System in South Florida.

After years of sporadic discussion, the Planning and Zoning Commission finally considers regulating short-term rentals.

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Ad hoc Judge Martin Coady rules that the incorporation of St. George is “unreasonable” under state law. St. George incorporation organizers plan their appeal.

$13.1 MILLION

Amount in tax revenue the state has collected from sports betting through the first half of 2022, according to records from the Louisiana Gaming Control Board

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