Baton Rouge news

• Love triangle ends in drive-by shooting, arrest

  06-03-2015 20:26 via wbrz.com
  
  ZACHARY - A woman was grazed by a bullet that pierced the wall of her apartment after a man opened fire in the parking lot this week.Details of the incident were revealed Friday. Tavares Smith, 20, was booked into jail in connection with the shooting. Smith faces four counts of attempted first degree murder and assault.Investigators said Smith drove by the house of his ex-girlfriend who recently reunited with her husband and sprayed the apartment with bullets. Damage was visible Friday aroun
  
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• Union members spend Friday voting on pay plan

  06-03-2015 20:23 via wbrz.com
  
  BATON ROUGE - The Baton Rouge Police Union has yet to reveal the outcome of a vote dealing with a labor contract with the city.Friday, union members voted at the new police headquarters. Voting ended at 10 p.m.The city offered police officers an increase ranging from two to four percent.An officer, new to the force but with some experience working the street makes about $32,300.There are about 720 union members. Five-hundred were expected to vote during the day Friday.WBRZ.com will update thi
  
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• Governor's LSU prayer rally cost $10,289 in police overtime

  06-03-2015 20:22 via wbrz.com
  
  BATON ROUGE - A prayer rally at LSU cost about $10,289 to pay overtime for state police officers.The rally, called The Response, was at LSU's Pete Maravich Assembly Center (PMAC) on January 24. The governor was a large supporter and promoter of the event.The Associated Press reported Friday night, a New Orleans-based news website tabulated the cost of security. State Police said a large contingent of officers was needed because it was not clear what type of safety issues might arise at the ra
  
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• LSU drops over-budget contractor of engineering hall

  06-03-2015 17:06 via wbrz.com
  
  BATON ROUGE - Renovations to one of the oldest buildings on LSU's campus could be pushed back longer than expected after the university recently dropped its current contractor.The State Facility Planning and Control withdrew their contract with Skanska-Mapp Construction to build LSU's Patrick F. Taylor engineering building. The company was recently found to be $6 million over budget for only half of the work they were hired to complete."When that happens we have two choices," said Roger Husser,
  
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• Warning letters sent to homeowners in floodways

  06-03-2015 16:14 via wbrz.com
  
  BUTTE LAROSE - People who live along the Atchafalaya river and floodways have to brace themselves once again.The Army Corps of Engineers sent out warning letters to residents to remind them that they are responsible for their properties in case of a flood.People who live in the small town along the river said that even if they have to evacuate, they're always going to come back."I'm not going nowhere," said Charles LeBlanc, who moved to the area in 2011 after the Morganza Spillway flood happene
  
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• St. George organizers call mailer 'sketchy, desperate and illegal'

  06-03-2015 15:32 via wbrz.com
  
  BATON ROUGE - Voter manipulation, or an easy way out?That's the most current debate between organizers of the proposed city of St. George and Better Together, a group of citizens against the breakaway. The heated controversy is boiling over because of a mailer that was sent out to people who had signed the St. George petition in support of the proposed city.The people who sent the flyer out say they were trying to give people, who already wanted to withdraw their name, an easy way to d
  
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• St. Martin Parish school board employee arrested

  06-03-2015 14:40 via wbrz.com
  
  ST. MARTINVILLE - A 27-year-old St. Martin Parish School Board employee is accused of molesting a juvenile.
  
  The St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office tells KATC-TV that Kaylyn Huval, of Breaux Bridge, was arrested Friday for molestation of a juvenile after an investigation began when her employer contacted authorities about a complaint involving Huval.
  
  The sheriff's office declined to release the age of the alleged victim.
  
  St. Martin Parish Schools Superintendent Lottie Beebe wou
  
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• Ag broadcaster Mike Danna dies at 54

  06-03-2015 14:01 via wbrz.com
  
  ZACHARY - Louisiana agriculture broadcaster Mike Danna died Friday after a battle with cancer. He was 54.The Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation said on their Facebook page that Danna passed away peacefully in his sleep Friday morning.Danna was the longtime host of "This Week in Louisiana Agriculture," Farm Bureau's agri news program. An LSU alumni, Danna worked as a reporter for the News Star World in Monroe before joining Farm Bureau in 1985.Over the next 30 years Danna reported on agriculture n
  
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• Ascension Parish offers haven for fire victims

  06-03-2015 13:53 via wbrz.com
  
  PRAIRIEVILLE - One special house in Ascension Parish gives victims of fires a place to live after disaster strikes.Along Highway 621 in Prairieville the Ascension Fire House helps fire victims begin the road to recovery. In the past five years nearly two dozen families have used the house as a safe haven. The two-bedroom house gives families a place to stay while they try to rebound from fires.Right now a family of eight are staying there at no cost after a fire damaged their Gonzales home and
  
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• States say Obama administration misled judge on immigration

  06-03-2015 13:24 via wbrz.com
  
  HOUSTON - A coalition of states suing to stop President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration alleges the government misled a judge about not implementing part of the plan before the judge temporarily halted it.
  
  The allegation was made in court documents filed Thursday in response to a Justice Department filing that acknowledged some deportation reprieves were granted before the Feb. 16 injunction.
  
  Government attorneys had previously said officials wouldn't accept such requ
  
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• Feds: Hackers stole 1 billion email addresses in spam scheme

  06-03-2015 12:47 via wbrz.com
  
  ATLANTA - Federal authorities say hackers stole an estimated 1 billion email addresses from marketing companies and used them to send recipients spam.
  
  John Horn, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, announced the case Friday as "one of the largest reported data breaches in United States history." He said three people indicted in the case netted $2 million in commissions from sales of software and other products bought by recipients of the spam messages.
  
  That wo
  
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• New Orleans School Board member indicted

  06-03-2015 12:27 via wbrz.com
  
  NEW ORLEANS - A New Orleans school board member faces a federal charge in an alleged bribery scheme.
  
  U.S. Attorney Kenneth Polite announced the charge against Ira Thomas at a Friday news conference.
  
  Polite says the charge arises from a scheme involving a school system janitorial services contract.
  
  He added that the investigation is ongoing but did not say if more charges are expected.Image: Orleans Parish School BoardPermalink| Comments
  
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• US consumers increased their borrowing by $11.6 billion

  06-03-2015 12:18 via wbrz.com
  
  WASHINGTON - Consumers increased their borrowing in January at the slowest pace in more than a year with borrowing on credit cards actually declining for the second time in the last three months.
  
  The Federal Reserve reports that consumer borrowing expanded $11.6 billion in January following a $17.9 billion gain in December. It was the smallest monthly increase since borrowing rose by $8.3 billion in November 2013.
  
  Borrowing in the category that includes credit cards actually decline
  
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• I-110 traffic backed up after fertilizer spill

  06-03-2015 11:45 via wbrz.com
  
  BATON ROUGE - Traffic officials said a disabled fertilizer truck spilled its load on I-110 and blocked traffic around noon Friday.DOTD said the center and right lanes of I-110 South were blocked past Airline Highway because of the spill.A dump truck's trailer split open and spilled fertilizer on the interstate, according to officials on the scene. Workers are still offloading the busted trailer's load into another truck.Congestion behind the wreck had passed Harding Boulevard just before 2 p.m.
  
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• BP ends attempt to oust oil spill claims administrator

  06-03-2015 11:36 via wbrz.com
  
  NEW ORLEANS - BP has ended its effort to have courts remove the administrator of claims arising from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
  
  A federal district judge had refused to remove Patrick Juneau from the job. The oil giant then went to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In court, BP had made allegations of mismanagement by Juneau, and argued that he had failed to disclose an alleged conflict of interest prior to taking the administrator job.
  
  On Friday, however, a filing at th
  
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• Father of Ohio teen poisoned by caffeine powder files suit

  06-03-2015 11:15 via wbrz.com
  
  LORAIN, Ohio - The father of an Ohio teenager who died after ingesting caffeine powder is suing online retailer Amazon.com and companies that distribute the powder, blaming them for not providing proper warnings about its dangers.
  
  An Amazon.com Inc. spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit.
  
  Eighteen-year-old Logan Stiner, a prom king and high school wrestler, died May 27 at home in LaGrange, southwest of Cleveland. A coroner said the caffeine in his system was 23 times the amoun
  
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• National Unplugging Day wants you to embrace reality

  06-03-2015 10:48 via wbrz.com
  
   As we continue to spend more and more time completely enthralled by our electronic devices on a daily basis, the annual "National Day of Unplugging" aims to get Americans to put their smartphones and tablets down, if only for a day.The National Day of Unplugging begins tonight at sundown and will last until the sun sets of Saturday. The goal is to provide a brief glimpse into the sort of lifestyle "letting go" of your smartphone or tablet once in a while can afford.
  
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• Ferguson leaders, DOJ officials to meet again

  06-03-2015 09:32 via wbrz.com
  
  ST. LOUIS - Ferguson city leaders will meet with Justice Department officials in about two weeks and provide a plan for ways to improve the police department following a scathing report released this week.
  
  Mayor James Knowles III told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that the goal is to work out an agreement for a plan forward. A specific meeting date has not been set.
  
  Knowles says city leaders are still going over the report "line by line." Asked about Police Chief Tom J
  
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• Manhunt underway in WBR after traffic stop

  06-03-2015 09:25 via wbrz.com
  
  GROSSE TETE - Authorities in West Baton Rouge Parish swarmed an area of I-10 where a man and woman took off running after a traffic stop Friday morning.A sheriff's office spokesperson said deputies stopped a vehicle on I-10 East between LA-415 and Grosse Tete and spotted drugs inside. The man and woman in the car then took off running according to the sheriff's office.Deputies said they are waiting for Angola search dogs to assist with the search at this time.News 2 will have more information a
  
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• Man caught after manhunt in West Baton Rouge

  06-03-2015 09:25 via wbrz.com
  
  PORT ALLEN - Deputies in West Baton Rouge Parish said they caught a man who fled after he was stopped on the interstate and deputies spotted drugs in his vehicle.A spokesperson for the sheriff's office said searchers found the man behind a roofing company near Port Allen.Authorities started a manhunt after they said the man and a woman with him both ran from the vehicle after they were stopped along I-10 in West Baton Rouge Parish. Search dogs from Angola Prison were brought in to assist, and t
  
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• Mississippi man charged in Exxon plant incident

  06-03-2015 08:28 via wbrz.com
  
  BATON ROUGE - Louisiana State Police released the name of a man who witnesses said fired a gun wildly from his car before charging into an Exxon plant in the north of part of East Baton Rouge Parish Friday.Trooper Jared Sandifer said 28-year-old Telvin Henyard of Woodville, Miss. faces charges of attempted carjacking, illegal use of a weapon, aggravated assault, resisting arrest and disturbing the peace while intoxicated.Sandifer said a Department of Public Safety officer saw Henyard driving er
  
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• New Orleans murder suspect arrested in Florida

  06-03-2015 05:16 via wbrz.com
  
  NEW ORLEANS - Authorities in Florida have a man in custody accused of killing a mother and her 8-year-old daughter and injuring another woman in a shooting Tuesday in New Orleans.25-year-old Dwayne Martin was picked up near Pensacola. He's accused of breaking into a home in Santa Rosa County, where the homeowner chased him off the property with a hammer.  The family dog also went after Martin.
  
  Deputies say Martin surrendered after a foot chase, that's when they learned he was want
  
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• Southern University president-chancellor search begins

  06-03-2015 05:08 via wbrz.com
  
  BATON ROUGE -  Advertisements for Southern University's newly created president and chancellor position could start appearing in national publications as early as next week.
  
  The panel that has been charged with identifying a new leader for the system and Southern University's Baton Rouge campus hopes to identify three finalists for the post by June. The full system board will make its pick by July 1.
  
  Outgoing President Ronald Mason's contract expires June 30, and the Baton
  
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