Baton Rouge news

• Louisiana's budget is a hot mess: How we got here

  12-02-2016 23:42
  
  It's hard to imagine, but Louisiana actually had more money than it knew what to do with during the last two years of the Blanco administration.
  
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• SEC Championship Game or bust for Les Miles? Podcast

  12-02-2016 21:49
  
  Will Leonard Fournette win the Heisman Trophy?
  
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• TOPS payments resumed; next year is the issue

  12-02-2016 20:47
  
  Students who receive TOPS were never at risk of losing the funding for the TOPS program.
  
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• No college sports, a distant reality

  12-02-2016 20:29
  
  BATON ROUGE - University athletics are putting a lot of faith in state leaders to right the state budget gap. The state partially reinstated TOPS Friday, following a big scare to Louisiana students and their parents. Many in-state student athletes rely on TOPS.LSU baseball head Coach Paul Mainieri says he's putting his trust in state lawmakers because the future of his team depends on what happens at the Capitol and the special session beginning Saturday."It would impact a lot of teams if the TO
  
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• How losing TOPS would affect LSU athletics: 5 questions answered

  12-02-2016 20:02
  
  LSU football scholarships are fully funded by the athletic department.
  
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• LSU football analyst Chevis Jackson leaving for Ball State

  12-02-2016 19:37
  
  Will coach defensive backs.
  
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• Police: Man shot wife Friday night in apparent domestic dispute

  12-02-2016 19:23
  
  BATON ROUGE - A man is dead after police said he shot himself after first shooting his wife on Wooddale Court Friday night.The shooting happened around 7 p.m. near Airline Highway.  The 27-year-old woman survived the shooting and was taken to an area hospital.  The husband died on the scene, police said in a news release about the situation Saturday morning.WBRZ.com first broke the story Friday night.Police did not release the names of those involved."Any additional information
  
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• TOPS funding shortfall: 5 things you should know

  12-02-2016 18:06
  
  The bigger problem is likely for students who want to use TOPS next year, when the state will only be able to provide a fraction of the funding it will owe to university.
  
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• Edwards to Obama: Scrap offshore drilling money proposal

  12-02-2016 18:06
  
  BATON ROUGE - Gov. John Bel Edwards is asking President Barack Obama to drop his attempt to take offshore drilling money away from the Gulf Coast.In its proposed budget for 2017, the White House recommends repealing a 2006 provision that establishes a formula for sharing revenues from offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico with four Gulf states.The vast majority of those revenues now go to the federal government. Louisiana is estimated to receive $176 million annually when the revenue-sharing f
  
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• Budget threats becoming familiar pattern

  12-02-2016 17:58
  
  BATON ROUGE - The current budget brinksmanship is nothing new in Louisiana politics. Less than a year ago, similar doomsday stories were told about the future of higher education and health care.Both then and now, state leaders emphasized those scenarios would play out if taxes were not raised.And despite a strong rebuttal to Governor Edwards' tax proposal from Republican State Treasurer John Kennedy, his colleagues in the legislature seem to share the governor's concerns."I think if everyone ta
  
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• Detectives look to ID stolen shotgun-toting suspect behind Geismar break-ins

  12-02-2016 17:31
  
  GEISMAR - Detectives in Ascension Parish are looking to identify a man who wielded a stolen shotgun during a string of vehicle break-ins in a Geismar subdivision earlier this week.  Sheriff’s deputies in Ascension Parish are reporting a string of vehicle break-ins in a Geismar subdivision and surrounding neighborhoods that happened earlier this week.APSO detectives say the vehicle burglaries happened in the Cypress Ridge subdivision and other nearby neighborhoods between Feb.
  
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• Expert: TOPS situation shows need for other scholarships; tips for students here

  12-02-2016 17:14
  
  PONCHATOULA - Educators advise high school students to take a serious look at how they will pay for college outside of state assistance since TOPS funding could be suspended or decreased.In a 24-hour window this week, TOPS officials caused panic among students and parents of college-aged children when at first they announced tuition payments would be halted and then later said TOPS would pay 80% of tuition. The suspension and partial payment announcements come amid a growing state budget deficit
  
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• Louisiana governor's speech stokes fears, threatens football

  12-02-2016 16:39
  
  BATON ROUGE - Hospitals shuttered. Hospice services and kidney dialysis treatments cut. Colleges closed mid-semester. And no football season for the LSU Tigers.Gov. John Bel Edwards outlined dire consequences to Louisiana residents in his statewide televised speech urging them to support tax hikes to close a massive budget gap.The Democratic governor said Thursday that he was providing the harsh reality of how bad the state's financial troubles really look. But on Friday others accused Edwards o
  
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• High school seniors speak out about TOPS cuts

  12-02-2016 16:34
  BATON ROUGE - Decision day for Louisiana high school seniors might have gotten more difficult Thursday.While the TOPS crisis is at least partially cleared up for now, students are worried that the money won't be there for their entire college career."I can't stay at a college that I don't have money to go to," McKinley High senior Bri'yonna Collins said.Seniors at Baton Rouge High are in the same boat."Although a lot of students here at Baton Rouge High are considering out-of-state scho
  
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• Denham Springs councilman's arrest talk of town

  12-02-2016 16:25
  
  DENHAM SPRINGS - The domestic abuse battery arrest of Denham Springs Councilman Chris Davis has people talking around town.Denham Springs Police arrested Davis Thursday for an incident that happened in January at a home on Oakwood Drive. The councilman now faces a misdemeanor count of first-offense domestic abuse battery."That's completely unacceptable, and it's really serious. Domestic violence is a big issue everywhere. I think it's totally unacceptable," said resident Andrew Service. "He shou
  
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• Cosby's lawyers try again to get his sex assault case tossed

  12-02-2016 16:05
  
  PHILADELPHIA  - Lawyers for Bill Cosby are trying again to have the comedian's sex assault case in Pennsylvania dismissed.They say Cosby had an agreement with a former prosecutor that he would never be charged over the 2004 encounter with a Temple University employee.A judge this month rejected claims that Cosby had a binding promise from the previous district attorney and scheduled a March 8 preliminary hearing.Cosby's lawyers filed an appeal Friday to the state Superior Court.They als
  
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• Deputies searching for man using cloned cards at Walmart

  12-02-2016 14:47
  
  BATON ROUGE – Detectives are looking for a man who used a cloned credit card at the College Drive Walmart Monday.According to East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, the suspect used a clone credit card with stolen information and charged $712.71 worth of gift cards.Deputies say the suspect tried to use other cloned credit cards to make more purchases.EBRSO described the suspect as black male wearing a black baseball cap and black shirt.Anyone with information is asked to contact
  
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• Judge orders life sentence for man convicted of heroin overdose death

  12-02-2016 14:23
  
  BATON ROUGE - A judge ordered Thursday that a Denham Springs man found guilty in the 2013 heroin overdose death of his girlfriend will spend the rest of his life in prison.Judge Don Johnson kept in line the decison made by a jury in 2013 who convicted 26-year-old Jarret McCasland for the death of his 19-year-old girlfriend Flavia Cardenas.McCasland stood up in court and maintained his innocence, turned around and told his family that he would see them again one day, outside of prison.Under a rar
  
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• Top Republicans stay quiet on release of their tax returns

  12-02-2016 14:11
  
  WASHINGTON - Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio have failed to release their tax returns despite promises to do.Mitt Romney offered Republican presidential candidates this advice about a hard-won lesson: Release your tax returns before the primaries and avoid tough scrutiny later. But the top three Republicans leading in national polls don't appear to be listening.Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush have already disclosed years' worth of their tax returns.There is
  
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• APSO searching for runaway Prairieville teen

  12-02-2016 14:05
  
  PRAIRIEVILLE – Deputies are looking for a missing teenager who ran away from her Prairieville home last week.According to Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office, 16-year-old Charity Cook was last seen leaving her home Thursday, Feb. 4, wearing a turquoise sweatshirt and black pants. Cook is 5’4”, weighs 125 pounds and has brown eyes and curly black hair.Lt. Col. Bobby Webre said no foul play is expected and Cook’s whereabouts are currently unknown.Any
  
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• LSU players at the NFL Scouting Combine, year-by-year

  12-02-2016 14:00
  
  The four Tigers at the NFL Combine in 2016 are the fewest ever.
  
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• Electrical issue likely cause of North 39th Street fire

  12-02-2016 13:52
  
  BATON ROUGE - Firefighters were on the scene of a house fire on North 39th Street just after noon Friday.Investigators say it appears the fire was sparked by an electrical issue inside the home, but the cause of the fire remains under investigation at this time.Two people were home when the fire started, one of those suffered minor burns to his hands, but was not taken to the hospital.North 39th Street was cluttered with fire trucks and hoses as firefighters worked to put the fire out.We'll have
  
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• 2 students die in shooting at Phoenix high school

  12-02-2016 13:29
  
  GLENDALE, Ariz. - Police say two female students died in a shooting at a high school in a Phoenix suburb.Glendale Officer Tracey Breeden told reporters Friday that both victims were 15-year-old girls and were shot once. She says authorities are not searching for any suspects and a weapon was found near the bodies.She did not have any information on the relationship between the girls, who died at the scene. They were found near an administration building.Breeden says police received a ca
  
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• Dice game argument ends in shooting of 18-year-old in Hammond

  12-02-2016 13:28
  
  HAMMOND - Sheriff’s deputies in Tangipahoa Parish say they arrested a man wanted in connection with shooting that happened in the early morning hours of Mardi Gras day after an argument broke out during a dice game in Hammond.18-year-old Jervarion Smith, of Hammond, was charged with aggravated second degree battery after he turned himself in to authorities Friday,Deputies said they responded to the scene of the shooting at an apartment complex on Rufus Bankston Road at 4:30 a.m. on Feb
  
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• LOSFA to resume partial TOPS scholarship payments

  12-02-2016 12:40
  
  BATON ROUGE - Louisiana students worried that budget cuts might result in increased tuition bills this semester can breathe a sigh of relief for now as LOSFA says the office will resume payments of TOPS, at least in part, next Thursday.A Friday release from LOSFA marks a turnabout from Thursday's email announcement that the state financial aid office would immediately halt all TOPS scholarship payments in the face of possible budget cuts.LOSFA says the individual campuses will be respon
  
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• Shkreli campaign for boss music collection rolls on

  12-02-2016 12:35
  
  NEW YORK - Former pharmaceutical chief Martin Shkreli's campaign to build up an impressive music portfolio rolls on.After spending $2 million for the sole copy of Wu-Tang Clan's "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin" late last year, the 32-year-old former hedge fund manager is now offering $10 million to become the sole owner of Kanye West's new album.Shkreli, an active Twitter user, posted a copy of an offer letter for West's new album "The Life of Pablo" to his account on Thursday. In the letter, Shkre
  
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• Police: Boston robbery suspects were all wearing GPS devices

  12-02-2016 11:59
  
  BOSTON - It didn't take Boston police long to track down three suspects in an armed convenience store robbery.Authorities say the men were all wearing court-ordered GPS devices for unrelated cases, which placed them inside the Dorchester store and allowed investigators to track them to an apartment a block away.Police say the suspects entered the store at 6 p.m. Wednesday. All three wore masks and one had a gun. They made off with cash and cigarettes.All three pleaded not guilty at thei
  
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• Prairieville man accused of printing counterfeit money

  12-02-2016 11:56
  
  BATON ROUGE - Police say a Prairieville man was arrested after investigators found counterfeit money and printing tools in his car Tuesday.According to Baton Rouge Police, detectives made contact with 31-year-old Justin Rushing at 11100 Mead Rd. shortly after he used a counterfeit bill at a local business.Police say they searched Rushing’s vehicle and found more counterfeit money, paper, printer tools and a paper trimmer.Rushing was transported to the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison and
  
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• 113-foot blade falls off New York windmill, lands in field

  12-02-2016 11:43
  
  FENNER, N.Y. - An energy company says it's trying to determine why a 113-foot-long blade fell off a windmill in central New York.The Post-Standard of Syracuse reports that officials in the Madison County town of Fenner say it appears the blade fell off Thursday morning at Enel Green Power-North America's wind farm. The blade landed near the 200-foot-tall structure located in a field.Town official say they believe a bolt may have failed on the 187-ton windmill, one of 20 located at the F
  
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• Cop placed on leave after comment about activist's suicide

  12-02-2016 11:40
  
  FAIRBORN, Ohio - Officials say an Ohio police officer is being put on paid leave over a Facebook comment about a Black Lives Matter activist who killed himself on the Statehouse steps.The comment posted under Fairborn officer Lee Cyr's account reads "Love a happy ending." It was posted on the Ohio Politics Facebook page Wednesday, two days after MarShawn McCarrel II killed himself.Police say Cyr was off duty when the comment was posted.City Police Chief Terry Barlow says internal affairs investi
  
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• Pope departs for Cuba, first stop before Mexico

  12-02-2016 11:36
  
  HAVANA - Pope Francis says his deepest desire for his trip to Mexico is to simply pray before the shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
  Speaking to reporters en route to his first stop in Havana, Francis said he knew that the Virgin is beloved to Catholics and even those who are not.
  "This mystery that they study, study, and there are no human explanations," he said. "The most scientific study says this is something of God. This is what I'll tell the Mexicans, even those who say 'I'm atheist but I'
  
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• Clinton, Sanders vigorously agree, except when they don't

  12-02-2016 11:24
  
  MILWAUKEE - Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders vigorously agreed. Except when they didn't.The rivals spent much of Thursday's sixth Democratic presidential debate in a respectful discussion of their marginal differences on issues like immigration, criminal justice reform and entitlements. But both were animated when the contest turned to one of fundamental questions facing Democrats: has President Barack Obama gone far enough in his policies and if not, how far should the next president go?Clint
  
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• LSU students plan to protest possible budget cuts, encourage others to join

  12-02-2016 11:04
  
  BATON ROUGE - LSU students are planning to fight pending budget cuts that could affect higher education and the TOPS program.The state announced a suspension to the TOPS scholarship program, Thursday. Friday morning the state reinstated 80% of the TOPS payments, and instructed the universities to absorb the other 20% of the money. The thought of TOPS ending, and devastating cuts to higher education this year, is the reason students decided to organize, and plan events to protest at the State Cap
  
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• DOTD to close LA-441 for drainage repair

  12-02-2016 09:27
  
  BATON ROUGE- Traffic officials announced plans to temporarily close LA-441 next week to replace a cross drain on the road. The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development made the announcement Friday morning.
  According to DOTD the highway, located north of LA-1036, will be shut down on Monday, February 15 at 8 a.m. and won't reopen until 4 p.m. the following day.
  During the closure, drivers can use the following detours:- LA-1036 to LA-442 to LA-441- LA-442 to LA-1036 to LA-441Permali
  
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• I-110 S reopens at N. 22nd

  12-02-2016 09:03
  
  BATON ROUGE- All lanes are now open on I-110 South at North 22nd Street.The interstate was briefly shutdown around 8:30 a.m. due to an accident before Capitol Access.The backup from the wreck has reached Mohican Street.
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• Mother, daughter accused of elder abuse expected in court Friday

  12-02-2016 07:40
  
  BATON ROUGE- A mother and daughter, accused in the death of a family member, are expected in court for a sanity hearing Friday morning.
  Joleslie Looney, 53, and her daughter, Lauren, 17, were arrested in the death of Joleslie's mother Bessie Looney back in 2014.Police say Joleslie and Lauren were Bessie's primary caregivers, but didn't do anything while the 82-year-old woman was dying. Bessie Looney was malnourished and living in squalor at the time of her death.  The Looney's are facin
  
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• Judge orders sanity evaluation for mother accused of elder abuse

  12-02-2016 07:40
  
  BATON ROUGE - The mother and daughter that was arrested for the death of 82 year old Bessie Looney, appeared in court today for a sanity hearing.Lauren and Joleslie Looney was arrested in 2014 after Bessie Looney (Joleslie's mother) was found dead in their home, after living under deplorable conditions.Today, a judge ruled that Joleslie will be sent to a hospital and looked over by doctors to determine if she was sane during the death of her mother.The judge decided to revisit Lauren Looney's he
  
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• February 12, 2016 Morning News Pop

  12-02-2016 07:00
  
  Here are today's top stories:Donald Trump visits Baton RougeBudget concerns cause state to temporarily suspend TOPS payments DHH reports 2 possible cases of Zika virus in Louisiana Cold front gives the cold shoulder for Valentines Day Updates all day, every day:FACEBOOK | TWITTERPermalink| Comments
  
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• New Orleans Mayor Landrieu hails Mardi Gras as a success

  12-02-2016 05:50
  
  NEW ORLEANS- From a decline in arrests to the number of visitors, Mayor Mitch Landrieu is hailing the Carnival season in New Orleans as a success.
      
  On Thursday, the city released numbers on arrests, the cleanup and the number of visitors.
      
  Landrieu also thanked city workers for their efforts at making the festivities a success. Carnival season ended on Ash Wednesday.
      
  The city says the number of arrests
  
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• Airline to begin flight service between New Orleans, Destin

  12-02-2016 04:58
  
  NEW ORLEANS- A public charter airline will add a seasonal nonstop service from New Orleans to Destin, Florida.
      
  GLO Airlines announced Thursday that the service from Louis Armstrong International Airport to Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport will begin March 25 and will run through Sept. 5. The flights are scheduled for Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
      
  GLO's founder Trey Fayard says the company wanted to expand its services to cities in
  
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• John Bel Edwards says budget crisis threatens all of Louisiana -- even LSU football

  12-02-2016 04:30
  
  "I don't say this to scare you." - John Bel Edwards
  
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• Universities will suspend classes if budget cut, commissioner says

  12-02-2016 01:35
  
  Louisiana's higher education commissioner said all of the state's public colleges and universities will have to suspend classes immediately if the governor and Legislature don't find additional revenue by June 30.  Joseph Rallo said in a letter to Gov. John...
  
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• TOPS funding halted as state deals with budget crisis

  12-02-2016 00:28
  
  Louisiana is suspending its payments for TOPS, a popular college scholarship for Louisiana residents, through the rest of this school year and during the next school year -- even if the state implements tax hikes this spring.  Gov. John Bel...
  
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