Local

A Shreveport auction firm will be featured on the Feb. 13 episode of the cable TV show “Baggage Battles” on the Travel Channel. Lawler Auction Company president Danny Lawler said the show shot two episodes at auctions he conducted in December. The show's auction experts bid on items, and then seek appraisals to reveal the true worth of the items they buy. Lawler said the Travel Channel crew filmed an auction in which hundreds of items were up for bid, mostly surplus from various government agencies in northwest Louisiana.

The city of Nacogdoches has pocketed more than $1 million since it centralized its effort to get rid of surplus equipment and vehicles. Gary Baisden, the city's purchasing and risk manager, took over the surplus effort in June 2009. Since then, he said, he’s sent more than 175 items to auction, including a parcel of land. Baisden said he posts the items to the website GovDeals. Buyers have come from all over, even as far away as Canada.