Done deal: Lafayette-based home health care provider LHC Group Inc. says it has completed its acquisition of the home health service line of Addus HomeCare Corp. The deal, announced Feb. 7 and completed today, involves 19 home health agencies and two hospice agencies in five states. The purchase price was $20 million for Addus HomeCare, based in Palatine, Ill. LHC Group now operates at more than 300 locations in 23 states.
Highly combustible situation: The head of the Louisiana State Police’s explosives unit says the state has been unable to find a way to unload 10 million pounds of improperly stored material at an explosives recycling company in northwest Louisiana. Capt. Taylor Moss says the state appears to be stuck with the military propellant because no company or facility has agreed to take the material. The comments came today as the House homeland security committee received an update on the storage of the explosive material. The full story is here.
Out to sea: The Coast Guard says a repair barge is heading to a wellhead damaged earlier this week off Plaquemines Parish, but it’s not clear when it’s expected to arrive. The wellhead owned by Swift Energy Co. was damaged Tuesday evening by a crewboat belonging to the same company. Officials say the wellhead is releasing approximately 840 gallons of oil a day. A statement from Swift says the well was producing about 18 barrels—756 gallons—of oil a day in January 2008, when it was shut in. Skimmer boats are working to collect the spilled oil, and boom has been laid out to protect marshes.
