Public health officials say 12 states, including Alabama, now have respiratory illness caused by an uncommon virus, Enterovirus 68. CDC officials have 130 lab-confirmed cases. All are children. No deaths have been reported. Health investigators say it's not year clear what triggered the outbreak or whether it's worsening. The respiratory ailment prompted Montgomery school personnel to sanitize classrooms and common areas on Monday.
LAMP Move
Montgomery's top academic school, Loveless Academic Magnet Program is moving to a temporary location. Montgomery County School Superintendent Margaret Allen has informed parents that the LAMP program will be moved to the former Houston Hill School building on Hall Street near Cramton Bowl. Allen sent a letter to LAMP parents Wednesday and said students and staff would be moved by Thanksgiving. MPS officials and engineers have determined the current LAMP school on West Jeff Davis is no longer structurally sound and needs costly repairs. Mayor Todd Strange and school board member Melissa Snowden has told the Advertiser newspaper that they expect the LAMP program will be permanently relocated in the Parisian Department store in the old Montgomery Mall.
Funding Healthcare
The National Governors Association say Alabama, Nevada and Washington will participate in a year-long project to examine way to spur changes in how states pay for Medicaid and other health care services. Alabama is trying to change its Medicaid program from a fee-for-service model to manage care through regional care organizations. Governor Bentley says the regional care organizations should provide better care at less cost.
Caretakers Sentenced
Two Montgomery women will serve prison terms following their convictions for severely burning a baby in their care. Al.com reports that at a recent court haring Linda Holmes received a 15-year prison sentence and co-defendant Constence Gilbert was ordered to serve a two-year sentence and also under a mental evaluation. According to court records, Holmes and Gilbert were arrested in August 2013 on child abuse charges after a toddler, who was 16 months old at the time, was hospitalized with severe burns to 35 percent of his body. Prosecutors said the toddler was burned while taking a bath.