RSS Feed

DEAR ABBY: My sister and I are best friends. She has always been caring, empathetic and passionate about helping others. Now, however, COVID has turned her into a real piece of work.
Since the pandemic began, she has become increasingly selfish. She interrupts other people’s conversations to talk about herself and complains nonstop about how COVID has ruined her life, as if the rest of us weren’t experiencing this too.
She shouts hysterically at me when the Wi-Fi stops working and refuses to volunteer for the most basic household tasks. At first I tried to be patient because I understand it’s a reaction to an incredibly stressful time in her life. However, after 10 monster months of this, I’m at my wits’ end.
We live together, go to college together and share the same friends. How can I tolerate her self-centeredness until the pandemic is finally over? And what if this new version of her never goes away?
IRKED IN IDAHO

DEAR IRKED: I wonder if the friends you share with your sister are having the same reaction as you are to being interrupted and having their conversations hijacked. If the answer is yes, a group intervention may jolt her back to reality and help her recognize how obnoxious it is.
As to the rest of your complaints about her behavior, the next time she comes screaming to you about the Wi-Fi failing, tell her you’ll be glad to help IF she agrees to pull her share of the workload around the apartment. It goes without saying that when you can make other living arrangements — perhaps in the fall — you find a roommate more compatible than your sister. If you do, your relationship with her may improve because you will be exposed to her less often.

DEAR ABBY: My husband and I have two children. We have been married for 14 years, the last six of which have been sexless and loveless. We tried counseling, and I have threatened divorce, but nothing has changed.
After I finally realized that I couldn’t change him, I changed myself. I started stepping out and having sexual relations with other men. He recently found out about my affairs but hasn’t said a word about it to me. I’m to the point that I wish he would confront me and divorce me, but he acts like nothing is wrong in our marriage! I’m confused. What do you recommend I do next?
LOOKING AHEAD IN KANSAS

DEAR LOOKING AHEAD: It’s time to decide what YOU want to happen. Do you want a divorce? Is the status quo acceptable to you? If it’s the latter, do nothing different than you have been doing. However, if it isn’t, talk to your husband about what you are thinking.
You need to figure out why the change in your marriage happened and if it can be fixed. He may have become impotent or have someone he is seeing on the side. If it’s possible to repair your marriage, counseling would be an option. However, if it’s not, it might be healthier for both of you to talk to a lawyer and arrange an amicable divorce.
***
To receive a collection of Abby’s most memorable — and most frequently requested — poems and essays, send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $8 to: Dear Abby — Keepers Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447.

Bollinger Shipyards said Tuesday that the privately owned company has acquired Gulf Island Fabrication Inc.’s shipyard facilities in Houma, expanding Bollinger’s new construction and repair capacity and capabilities “to better serve its key defense and commercial customers,” according to the company.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Bollinger said this acquisition creates expanded opportunities for Bollinger to better serve and deepen its relationships with key defense and commercial customers with an increased capacity for new projects and footprint, access to a larger workforce skilled in steel construction, improved efficiencies and enhanced economies of scale.
Current customers for Bollinger include the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, General Dynamics-Electric Boat, and non-defense and commercial customers servicing energy production to dredging. Gulf Island had been building the Towing, Salvage and Rescue Ships for the U.S. Navy and Regional Class Research Vessels for the National Science Foundation and Oregon State University. These projects conveyed with the transaction.
“The addition of the new Houma shipyard further strengthens our position within the U.S. defense industrial base as a leading shipbuilder and vessel repair company,” said Ben Bordelon, CEO and president of Bollinger Shipyards.
“For 75 years, we’ve developed a deep expertise in and proven track record of building reliable, high endurance steel vessels for the Coast Guard, Navy and our commercial customers. As the needs of these customers change and grow, we are constantly looking for ways to invest in and expand our capabilities and innovative solutions so that we can continue to provide them with the highest levels of quality, support and service in our industry.”
Bordelon continued, “For three quarters of a century, Bollinger’s greatest strength has and continues to be our people and their American ingenuity and quality craftsmanship. I am excited to welcome the Gulf Island Shipyard employees into the Bollinger family. Together, we will ensure that the ‘Bollinger Standard’ will be the high bar we measure ourselves against for superior quality and safety as we work to deliver the next generation of American-made high- performance vessels for our government and commercial customers.”
The new Bollinger Houma facility encompasses 437 acres on the west bank of the Houma Navigation Canal, of which 283 acres is unimproved land that is available for expansion.
The facility includes 18,000 square feet of administrative and operations facilities, 160,000 square feet of covered fabrication facilities and 20,000 square feet of warehouse facilities. It also has 6,750 linear feet of water frontage, including 2,350 feet of steel bulkheads.
Located just 30 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, the strategic location provides short and unrestricted access to the newly acquired Houma facility from open waters.
The acquisition also includes a 15,000-short ton drydock, a 4,000-short ton drydock, a 3,000-short ton drydock and a 1,500-short ton drydock.
Bollinger’s acquisition increases the shipyard’s growing new construction and repair portfolio. In December of last year, Congress appropriated funds for Bollinger to build four additional Sentinel Class fast response cutters for the U.S. Coast Guard.
In addition to construction of the cutters, Bollinger is under contract to construct an ocean transport barge and floating dry dock for General Dynamics Electric Boat Division.
In addition, Bollinger is participating in industry studies for five government programs, including the U.S. Coast Guard’s Offshore Patrol Cutter program, the U.S. Navy’s Common Hull Auxiliary Multi-Mission Platform program, the U.S. Navy’s Auxiliary General Ocean Surveillance program, the U.S. Navy’s Large Unmanned Surface Vehicle program and the U.S. Navy’s Light Amphibious Warship program.

The Louisiana House's tax-writing committee narrowly advanced most of a complex tax overhaul Tuesday that even skeptics called “bold,” though one piece of the package didn’t quite make the cut.
House Bill 526 and the associated bills by Rep. Richard Nelson, R-Mandeville, would amend the Louisiana Constitution to phase out income taxes and corporate franchise taxes; impose sales taxes on residential utilities, medicine and food for home consumption; significantly lower the state’s homestead exemption to allow local governments to collect more in property taxes; phase out a $90 million fund that sends payments to local governments; and cut state spending for K-12 education.
Broadly speaking, the goal is to create a tax structure similar to the one in Texas and push more money and authority from Baton Rouge to the local level. Nelson said he was trying to fix problems that started during the 1930s under former governor and senator Huey Long, whose goal was to centralize power in the state Capitol so that “if anybody wanted to pay for anything in Louisiana, you had to come here and beg for it.”
Nelson is proposing to increase the state sales tax from 4.45% to 6.1% but enforce a local sales tax cap of 3%. Louisiana currently has an average combined state and local sales tax rate of 9.52%, second-highest in the nation behind Tennessee’s 9.55%, according to the Washington-based Tax Foundation.
Nelson also wants to broaden the property tax base by slashing the homestead exemption from $75,000 to $20,000, noting that in some parishes, the vast majority of properties are tax-exempt under the current system. He also would sunset the state’s industrial property tax exemption program, which he called a “Band-Aid on our broken tax system.”
Nelson's package would reduce the state’s baseline allocation for K-12 education, known as the Minimum Foundation Program or MFP, by about one-third, while allowing for an automatic creation of a property tax millage for local governments to replace the lost revenue. It would shift funding for some health care costs to local taxpayers and prohibit state capital outlay funding for nongovernmental organizations.
House Bill 520, which called for phasing out corporate income and franchise taxes, failed to advance on a 7-7 vote. That proposal would have cost state finances about $239 million over five years, according to the Legislative Fiscal Office estimate.
The LFO noted it could not put a dollar value on some of the proposed changes, such as those related to how local governments would respond.
“The annual net revenue and expenditure consequences to the state and to local governments can not be readily determined,” the LFO said of the total package.
The House Ways and Means Committee has approved several significant and competing tax changes that members will have to sort out on the House floor. Gov. John Bel Edwards has said he supports restructuring the state’s tax structure but will not sign off on any overhaul that doesn’t collect about the same amount of money as the current system.

Bobby Escort, 66, a native and resident of Morgan City, died Thursday, April 15, 2021 at Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City.
Visitation will be Friday from 10 a.m. until services at 11 a.m. at Jones Funeral Home in Morgan City. Masks and social distancing required. Burial will follow in Morgan City Cemetery.
He is survived by his parents, Leonard Escort Sr. of Patterson and Juanita Escort of Morgan City; brothers, Leonard Escort Jr., Allen Escort and Clifton Escort, all of Morgan City, and Andrew Escort of Birmingham, Alabama; sisters, Deatrel Hunter, Ruth Crachain, Mary Johnson and Caroline Green, all of Morgan City, Lille Escort of Berwick, and Juanita Escort of Houston; and a host of other relatives.
He was preceded in death by his brother, and maternal and paternal grandparents.
Jones Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.