HumidCity

Please come out and enjoy these great upcoming events and help support Chris & Otter at the same time! And please help spread the word…

Thanks to all - and especially to the folks at HumidCity for bringing me on board, very glad to be here!

Andrea Garland (aka NOGoddess)

Artisan Cheese & Wine Tasting
Featuring Hand Made Cheeses
by Chef Sheana Davis of The Epicurean Connection (sheanadavis.com)
and Wines From Wines Unlimited

- A Benefit for Chris & Otter -

$18.00 per person, includes cheeses and a glass of wine.
Additional wine for sale by the glass or bottle.
Proceeds go to help pay Chris & Otter’s medical debt.
At Bacchanal Wine Shop • Thursday, April 17th, 7:30pM
600 Poland Avenue • BacchanalWine.com • Tel: 504.942.9111
For more info, please visit ChrisAndOtter.com

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From the T-P:

The Jindal administration’s plans to reassess the details of a proposed $1.2 billion, 484-bed teaching hospital in downtown New Orleans are raising some concerns about the future of the facility designed to replace the city’s hurricane-damaged Charity Hospital.

Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine said this week that he wants to hire outside experts to “challenge the assumptions” in a business model developed last year that said the new hospital would be financially viable.
Levine, who is Gov. Bobby Jindal’s point man on the project that Louisiana State University would build in partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, said he is worried that the hospital’s current configuration is too expensive and might not qualify for bond financing.

He did not identify which consultant he plans to use, nor did he lay out a time frame for when the review might be finished. He said the money to pay the consultants would likely come from a $74.5 million financing pool that the Legislature approved last year for land acquisition and design of the hospital.

“I don’t think it’s a lot to ask to make sure that the project makes sense financially,” Levine said, adding that he wants to make sure there is enough money to not just build the hospital, but also to cover its operational expenses over the long haul.

“You’re talking about 1.2 billion dollars. You’re talking about effectively encumbering our state’s safety-net money for 30 years. So I don’t think it’s inappropriate to ask,” Levine said.

But some lawmakers, noting that the original report was commissioned by the state and touted as an independent assessment by a major consulting group, said another review raises questions about the Jindal administration’s commitment to the project.

“There are rumors that this is a delaying tactic,” Sen. Edwin Murray, D-New Orleans, said Friday. “We know that LSU is now solidly behind the project, but after the session the governor will be able to make new appointees to the LSU Board (of Supervisors).”

Senate President Joel Chaisson II, D-Destrehan, said he didn’t know the details of Levine’s plans for a review, “but I don’t know how you go against the findings of a reputable consultant.”

Who stands to gain? Just follow the money.

- Bigezbear

That’s the number of vacancies in the LSU Hospital System, the entity in charge of Louisiana’s charity hospitals.

Unfortunately, those vacancies cannot be filled at this time because Piyush Jindal has imposed a hiring freeze on all state agencies, regardless of need. I suppose it’s a matter of ethics, don’t you know.

I imagine since he couldn’t finish dismantling our healthcare system during the time he was Secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals under Mike Foster, he’s going to do what he can to lower the census now. The man has the empathy and soul of a rock.

No, that’s unfair to the rock.

- Bigezbear