Flying high: Brad Brandt, director of the aviation division of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, will be the guest speaker at the Press Club of Baton Rouge on Monday. Brandt will speak about the aviation activity in the state and recent legislation that is funding the aviation industry at its highest level ever, allowing the state to take advantage of a federal 20-to-1 match program. The Press Club meets on Mondays in the ballroom at Drusilla Place Catering, with doors opening at 11:30 a.m. and the program beginning at 12:15 p.m. See more about the event. Winner, chicken dinner: Baton Rouge-based Raising Cane’s received a nod from CNBC as it reported on the winners and losers of the restaurant industry for 2024. As the publication writes, fast-food chains that focused on chicken, such as Raising Cane’s, performed the best in 2024. Read more from CNBC. ‘In the dark’: A Democratic legislator is criticizing the Louisiana House of Representatives’ leadership for their lack of transparency about the chamber’s selection of a future state ethics board member. Only one person, former state lawmaker Mike Huval, a Republican from Breaux Bridge and longtime friend of Gov. Jeff Landry, was nominated for the House’s board seat that opens up in 2025. With no competition, Huval wins the post by default, but state Rep. Candace Newell, D-New Orleans, claims more ethics board candidates weren’t proposed because House members were in the dark about the nomination process. Read more from the Louisiana Illuminator.