Pen pals: State Senate Health and Welfare Chairman Fred Mills, R-St. Martinville, says Louisiana‘s health department should be pressing harder to correct problems found by auditors alleging the agency does a poor job overseeing billions in Medicaid payments. In a letter to Health Secretary Rebekah Gee, Mills asks how the agency will correct shortcomings. Gee responded in a three-page-letter, saying the agency is working on system upgrades. Read the full story.
Harvest time: The U.S. Senate passed a Farm Bill Thursday that contains U.S. Sen. John Kennedy’s amendment to prevent the National Flood Insurance Program from expiring in the middle of hurricane season, The Washington Post reports. The bill extends the program for six months. The bill also keeps tariff-rate quotas on sugar cane imports. A House version of the legislation that passed narrowly last week with no Democratic support imposes strict new work requirements on able-bodied adults seeking food stamps. The Senate version does not include major changes to food stamps. Read the full story.
New life: The former owners of a Louisiana nursing home where 35 patients died during Hurricane Katrina have opened an assisted living facility on the same property, The Associated Press reports. Former St. Rita’s nursing home owners Salvatore and Mabel Mangano have partnered with Kelly and King Barber to open The Village at St. Bernard in Violet. The Manganos were acquitted of negligent homicide and cruelty charges in 2007. The family says they chose to re-open an assisted living facility because the community needed living space for the elderly, but faced opposition from some on social media who said it was in poor taste. Read the full story.
