Someone told me the streets in downtown Lake Charles were once made from brick? Is this true?

It is.

Streets throughout downtown Lake Charles were paved with brick in the early decades of the 20th century.

Over the years the brick streets were overlain or replaced with concrete, but two streets — Pithon and Ford — featured bricks until 1981.

“Despite the street having endured 70 years of traffic from horse-drawn carriages to the internal combustion machine, the city considers the bricks too difficult to maintain,” reads a June 18, 1981, American Press story on the removal of bricks from Ford Street.

“Concrete is durable and more easily withstands the passage of heavy trucks and the like, officials said.”

The bricks, along with century-old trolley tracks, on Hodges Street were exposed about 10 years ago so the road could be repaved. Since then, patches of the road’s surface have worn away, exposing bricks here and there.

Online: http://libguides.mcneese.edu/archives.

Work hours figure in health care law

How many hours does an employee have to work to be considered eligible for benefits?

The law generally leaves that up to employers.

But starting next year the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will require businesses with 50 or more workers to provide health insurance to full-time employees or face fines.

The law defines “full-time employees” as those who work an average of 30 hours a week. Hours put in by part-time employees count toward determining whether the law applies to a business.

“To determine the number of full-time equivalents, add up the number of hours that part-time workers performed during the month and divide that number by 120,” reads the website of the Society for Human Resource Management.

“Add the resulting number to the number of employees who work more than 30 hours a week.”

If the sum equals or exceeds 50, the law applies.

Online: www.shrm.org.

Ejected players barred from field

When a football player is ejected from a game does he have to leave the field for the dressing room or can he simply sit on the bench for the rest of the game and not participate?

Players ejected from games must leave the field, which includes the sidelines and bench area.

The Informer answers questions from readers each Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. It is researched and written by Andrew Perzo, an American Press staff writer. To ask a question, call 494-4098, press 5 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com

A section of Hodges Street showing the old brick. (American Press Archives)