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Officials are letting a fire burn inside a chemical plant about 10 miles west of Baton Rouge. Crews are monitoring several containers of a chemical used for welding.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Planning groups in Baton Rouge and New Orleans have set aside money to study building passenger rail service linking the two major metropolitan areas.

The Advocate reports that the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Planning Organization last week approved spending $105,000 in federal money for a feasibility study of a commuter rail service to New Orleans.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Gov. Bobby Jindal's legislative package takes strong measures against convicted sex offenders. A handful of bills targeting sex offenders are making steady progress through the Legislature, including the state's attempt to keep sex criminals from social networking websites. 

NEW ORLEANS — The head of an advocacy group in New Orleans is expressing frustration with delays in the effort to get recognition for sites where levee breaches led to catastrophic flooding after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The Army Corps of Engineers has jurisdiction over one of the sites and has the right to say whether it believes the sites belong on the National Register of Historic Places. But the corps has held back on giving its view, saying the matter involves facts that are still at issue in lawsuits.

BATON ROUGE, La. — A bloc of conservative Republicans in the House couldn't stall a budget bill that taps into one-time dollars to help piece together spending plans year after year.

The House voted 63-38 Thursday to send the bill to the Senate, raising questions about whether the coalition was fracturing and would be unable to hold together in negotiating a final version of next year's $25 billion operating budget with the Senate.