Baton Rouge news

• Pointe Coupee begins tackling budget crisis

  14-06-2016 21:59
  
  POINTE COUPEE PARISH - The Point Coupee Parish Police Jury agreed to the first round of budget cuts Tuesday after sales tax revenues fell short.Police jurors agreed to eliminate a position in the utility department and a $40,000 contract with cleaning services, as well as 25% cuts across the board.The parish was able to avoid closing a Pointe Coupee museum with relics dating back more than 250 years with some help from the city New Roads. The parish and city entered into an inter-governmental ag
  
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• Clinton, Sanders meet in D.C.

  14-06-2016 21:33
  
  WASHINGTON, D.C. - The hotel summit between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders is over.The Vermont senator left a Washington, D.C., hotel on Tuesday night after a meeting of about 90 minutes with the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. There was no sign of Clinton, who earlier won the city's presidential primary election.The meeting between the two candidates was aimed at brokering a sense of Democratic unity as the primary season ended and the campaign turns toward the general
  
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• When killing your child isn't a crime

  14-06-2016 19:53
  
  East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore III said Monday (June 13) there was nothing criminal about Raylee Mercer's death.
  
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• Baker Police Chief-elect wants a pay raise

  14-06-2016 18:56
  
  BATON ROUGE – The city of Baker's new police chief is asking for a pay raise. Police Chief-elect Carl Dunn says that his political opponents are trying to drive him out of office with his current pay."My opponent's campaign manager was allowed to reduce the salary to make it undesirable with me, hoping I wouldn't want the job with the salary they're offering," Dunn said.Dunn said that outgoing Police Chief Mike Knapps supported his opponent in the election and cut the position's salary
  
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• Deputy accused of having sex with juvenile while on duty

  14-06-2016 18:18
  
  GONZALES - An Ascension Parish Sheriff’s deputy was arrested on a malfeasance in office and 1st degree rape charges. According to a press release, the incident happened while he was on the job.William Lanoux, 31, was booked into Ascension Parish jail on the charge Tuesday afternoon, jail records show. According to a press release, an investigation began Monday night and revealed Lanoux met the girl on a social media site. The release goes on to say that the two met at a locati
  
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• Livingston Parish street repairs in second phase

  14-06-2016 17:56
  
  DENHAM SPRINGS – A series of roads in Denham Springs are soon to get a face lift.Residents of Denham Springs say that the streets are not only bad in the parish, but dangerous for drivers."If you come through it'll mess up your front end, it's just ridiculous," Paul Ruiz, Denham Springs resident, said.The streets have also been the culprit of several accidents, according to residents."Because the road is so narrow, and big trucks come down this road all the time, and there's been multi
  
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• Four BRPD officers named in lawsuit over excessive force

  14-06-2016 17:42
  
  BATON ROUGE- A grieving mother and father are suing the Baton Rouge Police Department and four of its officers claiming their actions led to their loved ones death.
  Kevin Bajoie, 32, was tazed in North Baton Rouge last year. He died of a heart attack later.
  Tonight, Bajoie and his wife are suing the department claiming officers need to be better trained. The lawsuit alleges officers tazed a man while he was unconscious. The incident occurred after a disturbance.
  "To my family, it has devastated
  
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• Multi-vehicle crash causes massive I-10 East delays

  14-06-2016 16:29
  
  BATON ROUGE - Multiple lane closures following a wreck involving as many as four cars brought I-10 East past College Drive to a near standstill Tuesday evening as commute traffic picked up.All lanes were back open as of 4:30 p.m., but not before three miles of bumper-to-bumper traffic stretched across the Mississippi River Bridge and to the LA 415 exit at Lobdell.We’ll update this story as new details are released.Permalink| Comments
  
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• Police: Georgia man arrested selling fake NBA Finals tickets

  14-06-2016 16:21
  
  ATLANTA - Police say a Georgia man fouled out after he sold $2,100 worth of fake tickets to Game 4 of the NBA Finals and was arrested outside Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena.
      
  Cleveland police's Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia says Matthew Cubbage of Cobb County sold three tickets to Friday night's Cleveland Cavaliers-Golden State Warriors game to a Pennsylvania man. Ciaccia says Robert Williams told police he paid $700 per ticket.
      
  Police say
  
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• Audubon Zoo welcomes pair of baby lemurs

  14-06-2016 16:21
  
  NEW ORLEANS - The Audubon Zoo says they’ve received a special delivery in the form of a pair of black-and-white, ruffed lemur babies.Their names are Maki and Gidro, and they were born on Apr. 22. They’ve been exploring the New Orleans zoo’s World of Primate lemur habitat for about a month now. Maki is French for lemur and Gidro is how you say lemur in Malagasy, one of the dominant languages on the island from which the lemurs come from.
  The birth of the lemurs was a
  
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• Overturned 18-wheeler closes Highland Road at Gardere

  14-06-2016 16:10
  
  BATON ROUGE - Highland Road at Gardere Lane remains blocked after an 18-wheeler overturned and began to leak its cargo onto the roadway.The road is closed to traffic between Staring Lane and Gardere Lane. BRFD hazmat crews are still on the scene, but city-parish officials are advising motorists to take an alternative route while the cleanup continues.Hazmat crews are working to clean up a type of herbicide, and the recovery operation is taking multiple hours as the remaining material must be off
  
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• Denham Springs bookkeeper gets 30 month sentence for embezzling $600k+

  14-06-2016 15:42
  
  NEW ORLEANS - A Denham Springs woman was sentenced to 30 months in prison after she was found guilty of embezzling more than $600,000.41-year-old Kristin Koenig (also known as Kristin Barnes) was sentenced Tuesday following a guilty plea to one count of bank fraud.Koenig was hired to do accounting work for a Jefferson Parish business. From Sept. 2011 to July 2014, Koenig embezzled $601,822 from her client by forging her name on company checks and manipulating internal computer/account records, a
  
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• House considering compromise proposal on income tax bill

  14-06-2016 15:30
  
  BATON ROUGE - House lawmakers negotiated behind the scenes ahead of a Wednesday vote on a bill to raise more than $100 million in taxes for next year's state budget.The bill, sought by Gov. John Bel Edwards as part of a budget-balancing package, would decrease an income tax break for those who itemize deductions on their income tax returns.The proposal stalled in the Ways and Means Committee by one vote. It's up again Wednesday for a committee vote, with lawmakers trying to strike a deal.The com
  
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• REAL ID debate ends, with new law offering option to drivers

  14-06-2016 15:29
  
  BATON ROUGE - Louisiana's debate about the federal REAL ID security law appears to be over.Gov. John Bel Edwards signed a new law Tuesday that will let Louisiana's drivers decide whether they want a license that complies with the federal law or one that does not. That ends years of state haggling over the issue, doing away with a state ban on compliance enacted in 2008.Karen St. Germain, commissioner of the Office of Motor Vehicles, hopes to have REAL ID licenses ready to go by Sept. 1.Drivers h
  
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• Orlando mass shooting will leave us firmly divided

  14-06-2016 15:00
  
  Fear and tragedy have the ability to bring people together. History suggests we'll use them to grow further apart.
  
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• Gov. Edwards signs 'Raise the Age' prosecution bill into law

  14-06-2016 14:46
  
  BATON ROUGE - Louisiana has raised the age of adult prosecution, so 17-year-old offenders won't automatically be treated as adults within a few years.
      
  Gov. John Bel Edwards signed the bill into law Tuesday. At the signing ceremony, the governor said: "This is about not giving up on our children."
      
  Louisiana has been one of only nine states that automatically route 17-year-olds through the adult criminal justice system when arrested.
  
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• LSU Police investigating shooting threat written in school bathroom

  14-06-2016 14:32
  
  BATON ROUGE - LSU Police are investigating a shooting threat to the university that was written on the wall in one of the school's bathrooms.The threat was written in a men's bathroom in an unspecified building on LSU's campus and reads: "I'm shooting the school. June 14 library 12 p.m."According to LSU Director of Media Relations, Ernest Ballard, the school is aware of the threat and takes any and all threats to the school seriously.Stay with WBRZ on Facebook and Twitter for updates.Pe
  
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• Thibodaux man wanted for shooting at car with child inside

  14-06-2016 14:14
  
  THIBODAUX – Police are searching for a man who is wanted for shooting at a car with a child inside.
  On Sunday, June 12 around 1:50 p.m., as a vehicle passed on Sanders Street, 18-year-old Daronte Mathews, shot at it multiple times.The vehicle was occupied by three people, one of which was a child. The vehicle was struck during the shooting, however no one was injured.Mathews is wanted for three counts of aggravated assault with a firearm and simple criminal damage to property.Mathews i
  
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• John Bel Edwards' key tax bill to get second look

  14-06-2016 14:00
  
  The legislation would affect about a quarter of Louisiana taxpayers.
  
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• LSP report largest child porn seizure in department history

  14-06-2016 13:56
  
  BATON ROUGE - Louisiana State Police arrested three subjects in three separate statewide investigations leading to what they say is the largest seizure of child pornography in the history of the department.While executing search warrants, Troopers said they seized more than 800 DVDs, 13 portable storage devices, numerous cell phones and multiple laptop computers. All of the devices seized during the operation contained “lewd and lascivious pornographic images and videos of children.&am
  
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• Superdome lights up in rainbow colors in support of Orlando victims

  14-06-2016 13:53
  
  NEW ORLEANS - The Mercedes-Benz Superdome lit up in rainbow colors Monday night and into Tuesday morning in support of the victims of last weekend’s mass shooting in Orlando.WWL-TV in New Orleans put together a tremendous collection of tweets from Big Easy residents as they spotted the display:New Orleans Superdome supports #Orlando, proud of my City pic.twitter.com/j69KNYmrhS— Arthur Hudson (@arhud40) June 14, 2016#PrayForOrlando Mercedes Benz Superdome pic.twitter.com/edJ9R
  
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• Mom berated by customer for breastfeeding baby in Target

  14-06-2016 13:41
  
  TORRINGTON, Conn. - A Connecticut woman who was berated by a man who called her "disgusting" for breastfeeding her baby in public at a Target store is thanking customers and employees who defended her.Jessie Maher captured part of the confrontation Monday in the cafe of a store in Torrington on video and posted it to Facebook. The video was viewed nearly 3 million times and shared nearly 43,000 times by Tuesday afternoon.Maher says the man swore at her and insulted her. Maher says on video that
  
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• Canal Street sinkhole in New Orleans fixed, street to re-open Tuesday

  14-06-2016 13:25
  
  NEW ORLEANS – Lanes of Canal Street in downtown New Orleans are set to reopen Tuesday afternoon following the repair of a sinkhole that formed in April.
  A major sinkhole formed near the foot of Canal Street between Harrah's casino and Canal Place shopping center. The sinkhole formed on April 29, where an underground tunnel was built in the 1960's.Repair work began on May 6 and the New Orleans City Council approved an emergency declaration to expedite the repair process.Construction was
  
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• Martha Stewart gets into meal kit business

  14-06-2016 12:50
  
  NEW YORK - Cooking like Martha Stewart is about to get easier.The home goods mogul and cookbook author is getting into the fast-growing meal kit business. Subscribers will get a box shipped to their door with Stewart's recipes and all the ingredients needed to cook up the dishes at home, including pre-measured raw meat, fish, vegetables and spices."It is, I think, the way to cook for the future," Stewart said.The new venture is a licensing deal with existing meal kit company Marley Spoon and bra
  
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• Reports: Gator drags child into the water at Disney World resort

  14-06-2016 12:21
  
  ORLANDO, FL - Media outlets in Orlando, Flor. are reporting a child is missing after being dragged into the water at Disney World's Grand Floridian Resort.According to reports, deputies have crime scene tape up around the water and are searching for the child. This is a developing story. Check back for updates.Permalink| Comments
  
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• Gator drags child into the water at Disney World resort

  14-06-2016 12:21
  
  ORLANDO, FL - The Nebraska governor says his heart goes out to the family of a 2-year-old boy who was snatched by an alligator while on vacation at a Disney resort in the Orlando, Florida, area.
      
  The Nebraska family's name has not been released, and Gov. Pete Ricketts' office said in a statement Wednesday that all they know was what they have seen in media reports.
      
  The Orange County sheriff says the family of five from Nebraska was w
  
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• Partial street closures near Florida Blvd. to begin Friday

  14-06-2016 12:16
  
  BATON ROUGE – The City-Parish Traffic Engineering Division is making changes to several streets in Baton Rouge that will cause partial street closures starting at the end of the week.On Friday, June 17, changes will come to streets just south of Florida Boulevard near the intersection of Ardenwood Drive.The changes are a part of the Residential Traffic Calming Program and include two partial street closures approximately 360 feet south of Florida Boulevard, one partial closure being on
  
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• Obama meets with national security team on Islamic State

  14-06-2016 12:09
  
  WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is meeting with his National Security Council for an update on the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State group.The president is expected to get an update on the investigation into the Orlando massacre and whether shooter Omar Mateen's was inspired by the group or other international networks.Obama will also be briefed on the effort to prevent what the White House describes as "lone wolf" attacks. He says thwarting those attacks is as difficult as fightin
  
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• Man accused of 1st murder in Hammond city limits in 2+ years arrested

  14-06-2016 09:48
  
  HAMMOND - Police say a man wanted in connection with the first murder within the city limits of Hammond in over two years has been arrested.24-year-old Tremayne Sandifer, of Hammond, was arrested in New Orleans late Tuesday morning. He’ll be booked on charges of first degree murder, carjacking and carrying a firearm by a convicted felon.Officers said the responded to reports of shots fired in the 200 block of South Scanlan Street in Hammond at around 10 p.m. Monday night. The victim of
  
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• Coroner: Suspected sewage plant drowning victim died of heart attack

  14-06-2016 09:36
  
  BATON ROUGE - The autopsy of a man who died at a Baton Rouge area wastewater treatment facility has revealed a heart condition as the cause of death, according to the East Baton Rouge Coroner's Office.57-year-old Michael Preston was pronounced dead at the scene on Saturday afternoon at the Baton Rouge Wastewater Treatment plant in the Gardere area.Initial reports from EMS said Preston was driving a lawnmower before it was believed he fell into the water and drowned. The sheriff’s offic
  
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• In Orlando shooter's apartment: photos, drawings, notes

  14-06-2016 09:16
  
  ORLANDO - Family photos, drawings, blackboard messages, a Quran and books on Islam decorate the apartment where the shooter in the Orlando gay nightclub massacre lived with his wife.Univision News reported the details and says it visited the home in Fort Pierce, Florida, on Monday when it was unoccupied. Univision reports that it was the morning after the FBI swept the apartment for evidence, and says the home was unlocked and not yet sealed off by crime-scene tape.The report describes a blackbo
  
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• Complicated picture emerges of Orlando nightclub shooter

  14-06-2016 09:16
  
  ORLANDO, Fla. - A complicated picture has emerged of 29-year-old Omar Mateen, who opened fire in a gay Orlando nightclub. The attack left 49 dead and dozens more wounded in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.___CONFLICT WITH SEXUALITY?While many have condemned the attack as a hate crime against the gay community, and his own father suggested Mateen may have acted out of anti-gay hatred, reports have surfaced that Mateen himself was a regular there."He was trying to pick up people. Me
  
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• 5 injured in multi-vehicle wreck on I-10 East past Whiskey Bay

  14-06-2016 09:06
  
  WHISKEY BAY -  Five people have been hospitalized and I-10 East past Whiskey Bay remained closed for more than an hour after a wreck involving multiple vehicles on the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge.LA DOTD reported traffic was not passing through as of 9 a.m. on the bridge just past Whiskey Bay. Motorists are advised to use US 190 East as an alternate route.All lanes were back open at around 10:30 a.m. after the wreck was cleared at milepost 130 on the bridge. By the time the roadway was reo
  
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• LSU Student Health Center partially reopens after fire, fully reopens Wednesday

  14-06-2016 09:00
  
  BATON ROUGE - Officials at LSU say the Student Health Center that was damaged by fire last Thursday will partially reopen on Tuesday.The Mental Health and Wellness portion of the health center will be fully open and operational, but the Medical Clinic will remain unable to see patients. Access to the building is limited to the southwest and northwest entrances at this time, according to LSU.The health center remained closed on Monday after a fire on June 9 caused an estimated $1.7 million in dam
  
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• LSU Student Health Center partially reopens after fire

  14-06-2016 09:00
  
  BATON ROUGE - Officials at LSU say the Student Health Center that was damaged by fire last Thursday will partially reopen on Tuesday.The Mental Health and Wellness portion of the health center will be fully open and operational, but the Medical Clinic will remain unable to see patients. Access to the building is limited to the southwest and northwest entrances at this time, according to LSU.The health center remained closed on Monday after a fire on June 9 caused an estimated $1.7 million in dam
  
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• Rapper Lil Wayne hospitalized after 2 seizures on plane

  14-06-2016 08:32
  
  OMAHA, Neb. - Lil Wayne is in stable condition after suffering what his publicist describes as "two minor seizures."TMZ has reported that the Grammy-winning rapper's private jet was forced to make two emergency landings at an Omaha airport Monday afternoon and that he was taken to a hospital.Dennis Messina, an operations supervisor at Omaha's Eppley Airfield, tells the Associated Press that a plane landed around 2:40 p.m. due to a medical emergency, but that treatment was refused. The plane refu
  
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• Man sentenced for having sex with 13-year-old runaway

  14-06-2016 08:28
  
  GONZALES - A 26-year-old Gonzales man has been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old runaway.
  Prosecutors in Ascension Parish said sheriff's deputies pulled over Noel Williams Jr.'s car after the young girl was reported on Oct. 27 as having left a Donaldsonville home in a dark colored, four-door sedan. The girl was found in Williams' car.
  Prosecutors told The Advocate (http://bit.ly/1UxccBu) sheriff's investigators later learned that Williams ha
  
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• Sunset man accused of killing alligator out of season

  14-06-2016 07:59
  
  BATON ROUGE - Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries enforcement division agents have cited a 49-year-old Sunset man for allegedly killing an alligator during a closed season.
  The department said in a news release, agents cited Kenneth Arceneaux for taking or possessing an alligator during a closed season and intentional concealment of illegally taken wildlife.
  The agency says agents responded to an anonymous complaint against Arceneaux.  Agents showed up at Arceneaux's home on
  
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• No charges in Louisiana baby's hot car death

  14-06-2016 01:46
  
  A district attorney says he won't prosecute a man whose 8-month-old daughter died after about two hours in a hot car.
  
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