UPDATE: HURRICANE RELIEF

More than 5,000 people were treated this week at a free clinic set up in the New Orleans zoo to help ease the medical-care crisis that has erupted after last year’s hurricanes, reports the Los Angeles Times. Nearly half of the city’s hospitals are closed, many medical and dental offices are shuttered, and thousands of doctors have relocated elsewhere following the storms. About 500 doctors and nurses have volunteered at the clinic, which was organized by the City of New Orleans and Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps, a Tennessee nonprofit group.