What a busy Friday! This just came in...

Rep. Jim Tucker of Algiers, the House Speaker, has just introduced a bill that would remove LSU Health Sciences Center as sole overseer of the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans (MCLNO), meaning Charity Hospital and University Hospital of New Orleans. H.B. 850 would instead establish an independent board of directors "to possess, use, control, and manage" MCLNO.

Bills introduced by the Speaker generally don't languish in committee for long. This is a pretty striking development. One wonders if LSU's lackluster testimony to the Appropriations Committee earlier in the week prompted the move.

Check out the bill here.