Tea time: The Northshore Tea Party says Newt Gingrich came out on top of a straw poll it conducted in Abita Springs on Saturday with about 300 people. The poll was taken following speeches from representatives of the four leading GOP presidential candidates, with Gingrich getting 34%, Ron Paul 30.5%, Rick Santorum 29.5%, and national front-runner Mitt Romney 6%. The Northshore Tea Party says the poll is an early indication of how Tea Party affiliates across Louisiana will vote in the March 24 primary.
On the rolls: The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals is hosting a meeting from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. today at Dr. Leo Butler Community Center, located at 950 East Washington St., to assist people who have questions about enrolling in Bayou Health, the state’s new health care plan for 865,000 of its 1.2 million Medicaid and LaCHIP recipients. At the meetings, residents will be briefed on five health plans offered through Bayou Health and will have the opportunity to register for one of their choosing. A second Baton Rouge meeting will be held from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at Earl K. Long Medical Center, 5825 Airline Hwy. A meeting at the West Baton Rouge Library, 830 North Alexander Ave. in Port Allen, will be held Thursday from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Get more info about Bayou Health at its website here.
Recovering: The Orleans Parish Hospital Service District A has reached a cooperative endeavor agreement with Daughters of Charity Services of New Orleans to build a primary-care facility in eastern New Orleans—an area that hasn’t had a full-service hospital since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. The Hospital Service District will lease the Daughters of Charity land at the former Methodist Hospital site to build a 15,000-square-foot building. Construction is expected to be complete by late 2013. Daughters of Charity will begin providing primary-care services at a site in eastern New Orleans within 60 days.
