On the run: U.S. Rep. John Fleming, a Republican who represents northwest Louisiana, has launched his campaign for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by David Vitter. The Associated Press reports Fleming made the announcement in a video posted today, saying in it he believes “America is much better than the leadership we have in Washington.” He describes himself as willing to challenge not only President Barack Obama, but Republicans in Washington who don’t follow “conservative principles.” Fleming has made his interest in the seat known for months. U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, a Republican who represents southwest Louisiana, also has said he will announce his Senate campaign soon. Other well-known Republicans eyeing the race are Treasurer John Kennedy and Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle. Vitter, a Republican, announced he wouldn’t run for re-election in 2016 after losing the governor’s race last month. Read the full story.
Taking the pulse: Gov.-elect John Bel Edwards announced his new health care transition committee today, saying in a news release he wants it to develop a plant to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, re-examine public-private partnerships of Louisiana’s hospitals and find ways to continuously improve Bayou Health. Among the 44 members, a number are from the Capital Region, including Dr. William Cefalu, executive director of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center; Teri Fontenot, president and CEO of Woman’s Hospital; John Paul Funes, president of the Our Lady of the Lake Foundation; Dr. Steven Kelly of Baton Rouge Cardiology; Mark Slyter, president and CEO of Baton Rouge General; Terri Sterling, executive vice president of Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center; and Todd Stevens, president and CEO of Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center. Gannett Louisiana has more on the health care committee and its members.
All about speed: AT&T launched its GigaPower Internet service in a pair of California metro areas today and says it will offer the service in Baton Rouge and 38 other U.S. metro areas by the end of next year. GigaPower provides Internet speeds of 1 gigabit per second, which AT&T says means customers can download 25 songs in less than a second, a TV show in three seconds and an HD movie in less than 36 seconds. The first metro area to receive the service two years ago was Austin, and since then 19 more metro areas have been added. Aside from Baton Rouge, metro areas slated for service expansion next year include Shreveport and the North Shore area. A press release from AT&T has more details.
