Going up: Our Lady of the Lake will hold a topping ceremony for its Children’s Hospital on Monday, signifying completion of steelwork on the facility. Construction began last year on the $230 million project, and builders started work on a $14.5 million medical office attached to the facility this fall. Located on a 66-acre tract between Bluebonnet Boulevard and Essen Lane near Interstate 10, the facility is a key part of the nascent Baton Rouge Health District. The beams that will top off the facility on Monday were signed by more than 1,000 people, including current and former patients and clinicians. OLOL is also touting a virtual reality system that will let viewers walk through the new hospital before it’s completed.
Here’s the plan: Recommendations will be released today for what to do with the old Charity Hospital building in New Orleans, which shuttered in the wake of Hurricane Katrina 12 years ago. The Associated Press reports the nonprofit Urban Land Institute, a real estate organization that draws on the expertise of developers and engineers, will release a study today in partnership with LSU Health New Orleans and the LSU Real Estate and Facilities Foundation. The 20-story, million-square-foot art deco building remained in operation from 1939 until 2005. Since then, several ideas for redeveloping the property—including transforming it into a new City Hall and court complex—fizzled out.
Cutting back: At the same time state governments are trying to get a better grip on their finances, many states have cut funding for auditing and oversight, Governing reports. Surprisingly, Louisiana is not one of them. The Bayou State is one of just 17 states to increase funding for its auditing agencies over the past decade, as much of the country shed auditing positions in the wake of the recession. One auditor argues the trend exacerbates the perception among many voters that government is rife with waste and abuse. In total, states have cut funding for auditors by an average of 7% in the U.S. Louisiana, on the other hand, posted the sixth-largest increase in funding for its budget watchdogs—a 21% gain—behind South Carolina, Vermont, Washington, Colorado and California. Read the full story.
