BATON ROUGE- Consumer and business spending in East Baton Rouge Parish rose by 5.6 percent in June, breaking a string of two months where economic activity was lower than the year before.
    
According to figures released by the city-parish Finance Department, businesses and consumers spent nearly $728.5 million in June. That compares with $690.1 million in June 2014.
    
A big jump in manufacturing spending helped boost the June numbers. According to city-parish figures, sales tax collections from manufacturing activity were 65 percent higher than in June 2014.
    
Service spending was up 8.6 percent from June 2014, while sales tax collections at food service and drinking establishments fell by 0.4 percent from June 2014.