County leaders approved $29 million in new spending on rebuilding a long-awaited hospital in South Los Angeles on Tuesday, but held back from paying all that county officials had sought. The action brings the total price tag of the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital to $281.4 million. The funding will pay for "unforeseen" problems in the inpatient tower, such as repairing water damage, bringing utilities up to seismic codes and rebuilding deteriorating sewer pipes. Three floors of the inpatient towers were occupied as planners designed the project, so the problems were not discovered until renovation of the tower began.
