Now open: Patient Plus Urgent Care is opening a third Baton Rouge location today. The 3,200-square-foot clinic is located at the corner of Perkins Road and Lee Drive, across from Walgreens. Patient Plus also has locations on Jefferson Highway near Lobdell Avenue and on Florida Boulevard near Baton Rouge General in Mid City. The Southdowns location will be open seven days a week and will treat minor illnesses and injuries like sniffles, rashes, fevers, aches, breaks and other conditions that deserve prompt treatment, but aren’t serious enough for an ER trip.
Dirty work: Garbage workers are far more likely to die on the job than police officers or professional firefighters, Governing reports. One of the biggest dangers garbage collectors face is being hit by other drivers swerving to pass the trucks along their routes. In response, lawmakers in 16 states have passed “Slow Down to Get Around” laws that increase penalties for drivers who hit garbage collectors. In many cases, the laws also require drivers to treat garbage trucks the same way they would treat emergency vehicles: by changing lanes or traveling at 10 to 15 mph slower than the posted speed limit. The legislative push comes at a time when fatality rates for trash workers are on the rise: They hit their highest point in a decade in 2015, the last year for which federal data is available. Read more.
On second thought: Consumer Reports has removed its coveted “recommendation” designation for four Microsoft Surface laptops it had previously blessed with such status. As USA Today reports, the publication says the issue with the laptops is the “predicted reliability” of the Microsoft machines compared to most other brands, which Consumer Reports said was worse by a “statistically significant margin.” Consumer Reports based its decision off the results of an annual subscriber survey about the products such people own and use. It estimates Microsoft’s laptops and tablets will experience breakage rates of 25% within two years of ownership. Read more.
