Todd Cranson,
the band director for Archbishop Shaw High School and graduate of its 1993 class, will travel to Rome to perform as a featured solo tubist at the city's Rome Festival next summer. Cranson secured his place at the Rome Festival after winning a national competition of musicians vying for the honor. The Rome Festival is a month-long event featuring international musicians performing a variety of musical styles.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
of Metairie celebrated its one-year anniversary as the only Krispy Kreme franchise in south Louisiana by donating all the profits from one day, Dec. 15, to the nonprofit advocacy agency The Children's Bureau. Store owner Alan Herbert estimates the Metairie shop sells an average of 25,000 doughnuts per day. The Children's Bureau serves families in trauma and at risk, offering crisis relief and counseling services.

Kenner city officials
made a number of improper actions in a public campaign to inform residents of a 1999 election, and can't account for a fifth of the campaign funds, says a recent report by the state Legislative Auditor. The audit says Mayor Louis Congemi and some council members also accepted free or low-cost personal services from the accounting firm that has performed city audits. Congemi says city officials did nothing illegal or unethical.

Historic Restoration Inc. Management
offered tenants of its apartment buildings a chance to win a free day of housekeeping for signing cards supporting HRI's proposed redevelopment of the St. Thomas housing site. HRI says property managers used the raffle to obtain responses before a scheduled City Council meeting on the plan, which includes a Wal-Mart. HRI says neither its president, Pres Kabacoff, nor Wal-Mart knew about the raffle. Still, the offer cheapened what should have been a voluntary exercise of free speech and political participation.