FEMA approves more for Katrina-damaged Charity Hospital

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has announced that it has approved $150 million for Hurricane Katrina-related damage to Charity Hospital. The amount is far less than the $492 million that Louisiana claims the damage is worth but considerably more than the $23 million that FEMA previously had said it was willing to pay. The federal reimbursement is critical to the state's efforts to pay for a $1.2 billion teaching hospital it wants to build in downtown New Orleans. Any money the federal government puts up reduces the amount of debt that the new hospital must carry.