Further down the line: A design and engineering team led by HNTB scored higher than a team led by Aecom at Thursday’s meeting of the city-parish engineering selection committee, which is evaluating proposals to do the design and engineering work for the planned Nicholson Drive streetcar, Tramlink BR. Still, both companies will advance to a final round of interviews with the committee, which will ultimately recommend one of the two be awarded the estimated $10 million contract. Five of the six members of the selection committee ranked the HNTB-led team ahead of the Aecom group. Interviews will be held Dec. 8. The Metro Council, which appropriated money for the design contract earlier this year, must ultimately approve the contract.
Working together: Ochsner Health System and McComb, Mississippi-based Southwest Health System have announced a new partnership, The Associated Press reports. The medical entities say the partnership is patient-centered, and each system will keep its own assets and employees. Southwest board president Renan Richmond says that even before the partnership was announced, more than 100 new cancer patients were able to get treatment from Ochsner specialists in southwest Mississippi. Specialists in diagnosing and treating heart rhythm abnormalities also are available. The new partnership will also provide remote health care services such as live clinical consultations.
By the numbers: The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by 12 this week to 569, The Associated Press reports. A year ago, 771 rigs were active. Depressed energy prices have sharply curtailed oil and gas exploration. Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc.’s weekly tally shows 450 rigs sought oil and 117 explored for natural gas this week. Two were listed as miscellaneous. Among major oil- and gas-producing states, Texas gained six rigs, Oklahoma was up three, Louisiana and North Dakota increased by two each and Colorado added one. Alaska declined by one. The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. It bottomed out in May at 404.
