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WELSH — A recent project to upgrade electrical components at the town’s substation was deemed successful and swift.

ELTON — Officials here met with the local sheriff to discuss ways to offset the cost of having parish law enforcement monitor the small community after the police force was disbanded earlier this year.

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is flirting with its alltime high. The S&P 500 rose 0.5% Friday and is on track to squeak past its record closing level. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 238 points, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.6%. If the S&P 500 finishes the day at an all-time high, it would be just the latest time the U.S. stock market has powered past what seemed to be a debilitating set of worries. Ulta Beauty helped lead the market after delivering a better profit than analysts expected and offering encouraging signals about the holiday shopping season. Treasury yields held relatively steady.

LAKE ARTHUR — After receiving several key shipments, work has finally begun on the $2 million waterline replacement project.

The Jeff Davis Parish Landfill Commission is facing a significant reduction in trash service revenue. Commission members answering to stakeholder governing bodies are proactively looking at options for managing the significant loss of cash flow.

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal vaccine advisory committee has voted to end a longstanding recommendation that all U.S. babies get the hepatitis B vaccine on the day they’re born. For decades, the government has advised that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection right after birth. The shots are widely considered to be a public health success for preventing thousands of illnesses. But U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s committee voted Friday to recommend the birth dose only for babies whose mothers test positive. For other babies, it will be up to the parents and their doctors to decide if a birth dose is appropriate.