New and old faces: An LSU public health professor is Gov.-elect John Bel Edwards’ choice to lead Louisiana’s health department, the largest agency in state government. Dr. Rebekah Gee was named today as Edwards’ secretary for the Department of Health and Hospitals, The Associated Press reports. In that role, she’ll oversee a $9.7 billion agency that accounts for more than one-third of the state’s budget. She’ll also be the figurehead for Edwards’ plan to expand Louisiana’s Medicaid program as allowed under the federal health care law. Gee is an assistant professor at the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans and the Medicaid medical director for the state. Edwards also announced that he was keeping Jimmy LeBlanc as Louisiana’s corrections secretary and appointing former transportation secretary Johnny Bradberry to lead the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority.
Another home: The Redeemed Christian Church of God’s Jesus Assembly Parish in Baton Rouge is building a new $131,000 church at 1460 Blount Road. The Rev. Joshua Adetona says the church hopes to begin work soon on the 6,400-square-foot building, and construction is expected to take about one year. Adetona says the church already has one location on 7715 Tom Drive, but church leaders wanted to build a new center to be closer to congregants and some of the neighborhoods they serve. The Tom Drive location will continue to to operate. According to the construction permit, the Blount Road church will be 6,049 square feet with a 346-square-foot drive-thru canopy and will be able to hold nearly 200 people.
Red flags: Moody’s Investor Service hiked its measure of economy-wide financial stress today to the highest level since 2010 and warned that more defaults are coming among oil and gas companies this year. FuelFix.com reports the debt rating agency raised its oil and gas liquidity stress index, a gauge of how easily companies can access capital markets, from 19.3% in November to 19.6% in December. A higher reading indicates companies are having a harder time raising money. For the wider economy, Moody’s bumped the liquidity stress index up to 6.8% in December, up from 6.5% in November. The hike puts the financial stress measured by the index at the highest level since February 2010. Read the full story.
