New name: Spectrum Monterrey, one of the city’s oldest fitness centers, is now the Sports! A Spectrum Training Center. To celebrate the name change and its 30th anniversary, the fitness center, which has been open since 1986 at 3103 Monterrey Blvd., will have a party at 4 p.m. on April 25 at the Monterrey location. According to a news release, Sports! is the original location of Spectrum Fitness, which now has six affiliated locations in the greater Baton Rouge area.
Third place: A group of students from LSU’s E. J. Ourso College of Business finished third in the 2016 ARGUS Software University Challenge. More than 40 real estate programs from national universities competed in the annual conference, which is in its sixth year. The team was challenged to overcome the kinds of trials real estate professionals encounter on a daily basis. The LSU team was made up of Robin Day, Jacob Kerr and Alysha Meadors, all of Baton Rouge; Jason Wyman of Gretna; and Eddie Saa of Houston. The team was coached by Justin Landry, an adjunct faculty member in the LSU Department of Finance and Real Estate Research Institute. LSU finished behind the University of San Diego, which also won last year’s competition, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Real Estate.
New approach: Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration is reworking its approach to hiring the staff needed to handle a Medicaid expansion effort after getting pushback from lawmakers. The Associated Press reports the agency initially proposed adding nearly 250 new workers to handle enrollment of the thousands of people expected to qualify for Medicaid under an eligibility expansion. But the plan was put on hold in January as the Democratic governor’s administration ran into concerns from Republican lawmakers resistant to adding new workers to state payroll amid continuing budget shortfalls. Under a revised plan, the Edwards administration intends to beef up an outside contracting deal with the University of New Orleans to augment the health department’s staff. Read the full story.
