Louisiana Government Working to Keep Hornets in Town

New Orleans’ basketball team isn’t just a problem for the NBA, it’s also on the minds of local politicians. The Times-Picayune reports: “Gov. Bobby Jindal’s chief budget architect has quietly formed an interagency task force aimed at coming up with ways to keep the National Basketball Association New Orleans Hornets in Louisiana for the long term. ‘We’re looking at a number of things that we’re not ready to talk about,’ Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater said last week. With the state facing an expected $1.6 billion budget shortfall, it’s unlikely the state will have any general fund tax dollars available for an incentive package, but Rainwater said there are other ways to structure a deal. ‘We’ve been talking to the team, and we’ve been talking to the NBA and potential buyers for some time now about keeping the Hornets (in New Orleans),’ Rainwater said. ‘We’ve discussed some creative ideas to keep them here in Louisiana. We’re not going to do anything that jeopardizes funding for higher education and health care.'”