Back in business: Ochsner Health Center–Denham Springs has reopened one year after widespread flooding devastated the greater Baton Rouge area. The clinic on La. 16 north of Lea’s Tire & Automotive provides primary care and specialty services like cardiology and diabetes education. “Serving the health care needs of the families in our area is our highest priority,” Dr. Arif Qureshi, a lead physician at Ochsner Health Center–Denham Springs, says. “We are thrilled to re-open this facility.”
Snagged: The Gulf is full of crab, shrimp—and plastic. Nola.com reports a survey of the amount and types of plastic in the Gulf has found concentrations approaching the highest reported in world. An LSU survey team began collecting samples in four locations in the northern Gulf in 2015. The high concentration of plastic in the Gulf waters is on par with the Mediterranean and Black seas and the mouth of China’s Yangtze River, Nola.com reports. LSU Oceanographer Mark Benfield, who led the team, says he didn’t expect to find such extreme levels. Researchers snagged plastic in drag nets and took water samples from as deep as 50 feet. Read the full story at NOLA.com.
In red: The Lincoln Memorial was vandalized with red spray paint early Tuesday, The Washington Post reports. The graffiti—which was difficult to read—was found on a column at the memorial around 4:30 a.m, the National Park Service says in a statement. Additional graffiti, which also was illegible, was found in silver spray paint on a Smithsonian sign on Constitution Avenue. The park service says the graffiti at the Lincoln Memorial was to be removed with “a mild, gel-type architectural paint stripper that is safe for use on historic stone.” Read the full story in The Washington Post.
