Baton Rouge news

• Supreme Court abortion ruling has implications for Louisiana

  27-06-2016 20:02
  
  Although Attorney General Jeff Landry said his office is ""carefully reviewing the impact of the opinion, if any, on the Louisiana's admitting privileges law," experts said Louisiana's law will likely be overturned.
  
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• Mother kills two daughters, one was to be married Monday

  27-06-2016 17:28
  
  KATY – Monday was going to be Taylor Sheats’ wedding day but she, along with her sister, were shot and killed by their mother last week outside of their Ft. Bend County home.The shooting happened Friday afternoon in Ft. Bend County near Katy, Texas. Investigators say that 22-year-old Taylor Sheats and 17-year-old Madison Sheats were shot and killed by their mother, Christy Sheats, 42.A police officer who responded to the scene fatally shot Christy Sheats.According to investig
  
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• Vehicle burglaries on the rise in Ascension Parish

  27-06-2016 16:45
  
  ASCENSION PARISH - Burglars are on a spree, targeting cars all over the area in Ascension Parish.According to the Ascension Parish sheriff's office, on average, it investigates 40 vehicle burglaries a month -- this month, it's up to 70."They're going from door to door, shaking car door handles, and hopefully hitting a jackpot with a gun or a purse, or something that they can sell fairly easy," said Sheriff Jeff Wiley.The sheriff's office has released two surveillance videos of suspects 
  
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• Settlement ends trial in deadly 2012 oil platform fire

  27-06-2016 16:32
  
  NEW ORLEANS - A complex trial combining 10 lawsuits arising from a deadly explosion and fire on an offshore oil platform in November 2012 has ended with the announcement of a settlement.
      
  The accident off the Louisiana coast killed three workers and injured several others on a platform owned by Texas-based Black Elk Energy.
      
  The settlement announced Monday brought an abrupt end to a trial that had begun a week earlier and was expected
  
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• Accused drug dealer gets 10 year sentence for oxycodone distribution

  27-06-2016 16:10
  
  BATON ROUGE - An accused drug dealer was sentenced to 10 years behind bars for trafficking oxycodone.43-year-old Kendrick D. Alexander, of Baton Rouge and New Iberia, must also serve three years of supervised release, forfeit $60,000 in drug trafficking-related proceeds and pay a $25,000 fine.A jury convicted Alexander of possession with intent to distribute oxycodone on Mar. 12. Oxycodone is a Schedule II controlled substance that is classified as an opiate. Alexander was found to be serving as
  
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• Driver sues bar for $1M after drunken crash

  27-06-2016 15:33
  
  DALLAS - The Dallas Morning News reported a man is filing a lawsuit against a bar for allegedly serving him too much to drink, leading him to later crash his car.The man, Gordon Savage, brought the lawsuit against W.W. Fairfield’s restaurant and club after he ended his eight-hour drinking binge at the bar and got behind the wheel of his vehicle. Eventually he crashed his car into a diving wall on the North Central Expressway.Savage is now seeking close to $1 million in damages from the
  
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• 40-year-old Twinkie still going strong

  27-06-2016 14:22
  
  BLUE HILL, Maine - In a glass box in a private school in Maine sits a 40-year-old chemistry experiment still going strong: A decades-old Twinkie.ABC News reports the experiment started in 1976 when Roger Bennatti was teaching a lesson to his high school chemistry class on food additives and shelf life.After a student wondered about the shelf life of the snack, Bennatti sent the students to the store with some money. When they returned with the treat, Bennatti ate one and placed the still-survivi
  
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• Funeral for Jefferson Parish deputy to be held Monday

  27-06-2016 14:20
  
  GRETNA – Funeral services for a Jefferson Parish Sheriff's deputy that was shot and killed Wednesday, June 22 in the line of duty will be held Monday afternoon. Deputy David Michel, Jr., 51, was shot to death near a Dunkin' Donuts on Manhattan Boulevard in Harvey.
  Witnesses told investigators the suspect pulled a gun from his waistband during a struggle with Michel and was shot several times. He later died at the University Medical Center where the suspect that was taken into
  
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• La, Miss abortion laws similar to overturned Texas law

  27-06-2016 14:07
  
  NEW ORLEANS - Louisiana Right to Life says the Supreme Court's ruling on a Texas abortion law may indicate trouble ahead for a similar Louisiana law.
      
  Legislative Director Deanna Wallace says Monday's decision doesn't invalidate Louisiana's law requiring doctors who perform abortions to be able to admit patients to a hospital within 30 miles of their clinic. But she says it "does not predict a favorable forecast for its future."
      
  Stat
  
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• Audit: Privatization of state insurance program saved $10M

  27-06-2016 14:03
  
  BATON ROUGE - A new audit says former Gov. Bobby Jindal's privatization of claims processing and loss prevention services for Louisiana's self-insurance program saved the state money, though less than projected.
      
  The Jindal administration privatized the Office of Risk Management work in June 2010, awarding the $75 million contract to Mandeville-based F.A. Richard and Associates Inc., or FARA.
      
  In a review released Monday, the Legislat
  
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• Blue Bell brings back its Chocolate Chip ice cream

  27-06-2016 13:55
  
  BRENHAM, Texas - Another flavor of Blue Bell ice cream is returning to store shelves in the form of Chocolate Chip.The resurgent ice cream company broke the news on Twitter on Monday."A chip off the old chocolate block! Chocolate Chip Ice Cream returns to stores this week in the half gallon size.”A chip off the old chocolate block! Chocolate Chip Ice Cream returns to stores this week in the half gallon size. pic.twitter.com/xZ0qtEeNb7— Blue Bell Ice Cream (@ILoveBlueBell) Jun
  
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• Blessings on the Bayou lends helping hand to Labadieville homeowners

  27-06-2016 13:45
  
  LABADIEVILLE - More than 200 volunteers braved the heat and humidity over the weekend as they sought to give homeowners in Assumption and Lafourche parishes a helping hand.The Blessings on the Bayou church program has brought aid to Louisiana residents for the past seven years, and the 150 teenagers and 60 adults that volunteer were out in force for most of the past week."It's absolutely amazing. I just can't thank them enough," said homeowner Ashley Borne. "We've been wanting to pain the house
  
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• Louisiana judge to stop jailing defendants over fees

  27-06-2016 13:35
  
  NEW ORLEANS- A Louisiana judge and a civil rights group that accused him of running a debtors prison have reached a temporary agreement under which the judge will stop jailing defendants for nonpayment of fees and stop assessing certain costs on defendants.
      
  The news came during a joint motion filed Monday outlining the agreement between Judge Robert Black in Bogalusa and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
      
  Last week, the organization f
  
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• 18-year-old arrested after slamming victim to the ground, pushing officer in traffic

  27-06-2016 13:32
  
  THIBODAUX - Thibodaux Police arrested a man after slamming a victim to the ground until unconscious and pushing a police officer into traffic.On Friday, June 24 around 1:20 a.m., 18-year-old Chase Hutchinson and the victim were arguing outside of a bar at the intersection of West 2nd and St. Philip Street. Hutchinson eventually slammed the victim to the ground, knocking him unconscious. Hutchinson then fled the area, but was apprehended by police. The victim later regained consciousness and refu
  
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• 8-year-old bitten by boa constrictor he was trying to pet

  27-06-2016 13:05
  
  GREENVILLE, SC- Police say an 8-year-old boy vacationing with his family in South Carolina was bitten by a boa constrictor he was trying to pet.
      
  A report filed by Greenville police says the family from Trenton, North Carolina, was walking through downtown Greenville on Sunday when they came upon a man letting people pet a nonvenomous Colombian red-tailed boa.
      
  Police spokesman Officer Gilberto Franco says the boy and his father appro
  
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• Judge approves settlement in 'Happy Birthday' copyright case

  27-06-2016 13:00
  
  LOS ANGELES- A judge has approved a settlement that will put "Happy Birthday to You" in the public domain.
      
  U.S. District Judge George King approved the agreement Monday. It ends the ownership claims of Warner/Chappell Music, the music publishing company that has been collecting royalties on the song for years.
      
  The company has agreed to pay back $14 million to those who have paid licensing fees to use the song.
     &
  
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• Groundbreaking held as Walker High School improvements get underway

  27-06-2016 12:06
  
  WALKER - Livingston Parish school officials and community leaders held a groundbreaking ceremony Monday at Walker High School as construction is launched on a major expansion and improvement plan for the school.The construction is part of a $25 million capital improvement plan that was approved by Walker School District voters two years ago.The expansion will include a new 80,000-square-foot, two-story building with 32 classrooms, a library, teacher workroom and administrative offices.The main b
  
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• First dolphin rescued and released near Grand Isle thriving in the wild

  27-06-2016 09:48
  
  GRAND ISLE - Coastal Wildlife Network leaders say the first dolphin to be rescued, rehabilitated and released off the coast of Louisiana is doing well in the wild.Post-release monitoring included satellite tag data along with visual observations conducted by staff over the six weeks following the 6.5-foot-long juvenile dolphin’s release back into the Gulf of Mexico.On Oct. 26, 2015, biologists from LDWF said they responded to a private citizen’s report of a live, stranded dol
  
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• Supreme Court strikes down Texas abortion clinic regulations

  27-06-2016 09:04
  
  WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court has struck down Texas' widely replicated regulation of abortion clinics in the court's biggest abortion case in nearly a quarter century.The justices voted 5-3 Monday in favor of Texas clinics that protested the regulations as a thinly veiled attempt to make it harder for women to get an abortion in the nation's second-most populous state.Justice Stephen Breyer's majority opinion for the court held that the regulations are medically unnecessary and unconstitutional
  
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• Abortion rights group celebrates court win

  27-06-2016 09:04
  
  WASHINGTON - An abortion rights group says the Supreme Court is sending a "loud and clear message that politicians cannot use deceptive means to shut down abortion clinics."The Center for Reproductive Rights represented some Texas clinics that achieved a big victory today, as the court struck down Texas abortion regulations that are similar to those in several other states. They require doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.The court disagreed with the cl
  
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• Markets Right Now: US stocks open lower; pound falls further

  27-06-2016 08:37
  
  NEW YORK - Stocks are opening lower on Wall Street following bigger losses in Europe as investors continue to grapple with the fallout of Britain's vote to leave the European Union.The British pound continued to fall Monday as traders expected the British economy would take a hit.The Dow Jones industrial average was down 178 points, or 1 percent, to 17,220.The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 20 points, also 1 percent, to 2,017. The Nasdaq composite gave up 50 points, or 1.1 percent, to 4,65
  
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• Markets Right Now: US stocks, British pound fall further

  27-06-2016 08:37
  
  NEW YORK - Stocks are closing broadly lower in the U.S. as investors continue to grapple with the fallout of Britain's vote to leave the European Union.The British pound fell further on Monday as traders expected the British economy to suffer because of the "leave" vote. Also Monday Standard & Poor's stripped the country of its top-shelf credit rating.The Dow Jones industrial average fell 260 points, or 1.5 percent, to 17,140.The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 36 points, or 1.8 percent
  
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• Pepsi reintroducing aspartame in some beverages

  27-06-2016 08:34
  
  NEW YORK - PepsiCo is putting aspartame back in some of its diet beverages less than a year after pulling the artificial sweetener as part of a marketing move over safety concerns.
  The sweetener had been linked to cancer in lab mice and industry executives blamed the decline in sales on unfounded concerns people have about aspartame. The removal of the sweetener tested the theory that the sweetener was to blame for fleeing customers. But, the move seems to have been a misstep, with consumers dis
  
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• State police: Toddler killed in St. Landry Parish crash

  27-06-2016 08:31
  
  OPELOUSAS - State police say a 1-year-old girl who was improperly restrained died after the pickup she was riding in overturned in Louisiana's St. Landry Parish.Master Trooper Brooks David says the crash happened shortly before 6:30 a.m. Sunday when 24-year-old Bendel Williams drove off the right side of Louisiana Highway 182.David says the pickup struck an embankment and the pickup overturned.He says Jamaika Johnson of Carencro was riding in the truck's back seat and was improperly restrained w
  
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