A new chapter: Demolition of the River Center library at 120 St. Louis St. in downtown Baton Rouge began Wednesday, a month-and-a-half after closing its doors and moving to a temporary location. The demolition should wrap up by Oct. 4, absent any rain delays, says the East Baton Rouge Parish Library System. The new, $19 million River Center branch that will be constructed on the site should be completed in the summer or fall of 2018. The downtown branch is temporarily being housed in the Kress Building, 447 Third St., across from Matherne’s Supermarket.
Peace of mind: U.S. Sen. David Vitter says the Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide Louisiana with $6.8 million to fund crisis counseling for flood victims, The Associated Press reports. The money is for counseling, education and development of coping skills. The state will be responsible for distributing the money from FEMA’s Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training Program. Program funds generally go to community-based shelters, community centers and churches. In some cases, in-person services are made available at survivors’ homes. Earlier this week, FEMA announced funding for free crisis counseling for storm-affected children, administered by the state health department.
On life support: LSU’s medical school in Shreveport has been placed on “fiscal watch” by a Board of Regents committee, a development that has sparked conflict about who’s at fault, The Shreveport Times reports. LSU President F. King Alexander says that if the school’s financial condition gets any worse it will “be out of business.” He blamed the medical school’s financial troubles on its public-private partnership with Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana. The foundation assumed management of the teaching hospital and another in Monroe, both operated by University Health Hospitals, as part of then-Gov. Bobby Jindal’s plan to privatize the state’s charity hospital system in 2013. Steve Skrivanos, chairman of University Health, challenged Alexander’s assertions, saying the hospital’s difficulties stem from a “losing financial model” at the school for more than a decade, since long before Biomedical Research’s involvement. Read the full story.
