Baton Rouge news

• Vice President Joe Biden to meet privately with families of fallen officers

  27-07-2016 20:02
  
  Baton Rouge - Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, will meet privately with the families of the officers who died and were injured in Sunday's police ambush.Vice President Biden and Attorney General Loretta Lynch are visiting Baton Rouge Thursday, attending a memorial service at the Healing Place Church on Highland Road. Both are expected to speak.Friday, Lynch will hold a civil rights meeting, including U.S. Attorney Walt Green, law enforcement first responders, and Justice De
  
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• Murder investigation now underway after body found in Ascension canal

  27-07-2016 15:24
  
  GONZALES - Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives have identified a body that was found under a bridge in New River Canal on Tuesday afternoon.Deputies say the body belongs to 18-year-old Alex Rubio, of Gonzales. An autopsy was conducted on Wednesday morning.Detectives are now investigating the case as a homicide.At around 2 p.m. Tuesday, a passing motorist reported spotting what he believed to be human remains in the New River Canal near Lively Road in Gonzales. Deputies respond
  
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• Final preparations being made for Thursday's fallen officers memorial

  27-07-2016 15:04
  
  BATON ROUGE - The finishing touches are being put in place as Baton Rouge residents prepare to honor three officers killed in the line of duty on Thursday.U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Loretta Lynch will both be in the Capital City on Thursday as the community comes together to honor its recently fallen officers.The public service will start at 2 p.m. at Healing Place Church on Highland Road. A large turnout of public officials, including Biden and Lynch, is expected so secu
  
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• Mom beats daughter, streams it live on Facebook; no charges pending

  27-07-2016 14:42
  
  SAVANNAH, Ga. - “You wanna try me, right?”So begins the live Facebook broadcast of a mother beating and berating her 16-year-old daughter in their Savannah, Georgia, home.WARNING: The video below contains graphic language and violence.The teen sobs as her mother slaps her all over her body and hits her with what appears to be a plastic object.The mother accuses her daughter of embarrassing her by posting sexy photos of herself on Facebook and having sex in their home.&ldq
  
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• Man gets death threats after video shows him rip down pro-police ribbons

  27-07-2016 14:29
  
  STATEN ISLAND, NY - A hairstylist from Staten Island has been vaulted to infamy when he was captured on video tearing down blue ribbons that were put up to honor police in the area.A motorist captured the man, identified as Stephen Varvaro, as he was walking down a street ripping down blue ribbons that were knotted around trees and signposts throughout the New York borough.When the motorists asked Varvaro was taking down the ribbons, he yelled back “Black lives matter!”You ca
  
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• Breaux Bridge priest arrested on child pornography charges

  27-07-2016 13:30
  
  BREAUX BRIDGE – A Breaux Bridge priest has been arrested on possession of child pornography charges.Reverend F. David Broussard was taken into custody by Louisiana State Police on Wednesday. He was immediately placed on administrative leave following the arrest.The Diocese of Lafayette says they take the allegations "very seriously" and are cooperating during the investigation.
  The Diocese of Lafayette's full statement on the arrest is below:  "The Diocese of Lafayette was inf
  
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• DA's Office claims insufficient evidence in case of parking meter coin theft

  27-07-2016 13:21
  
  BATON ROUGE - The District Attorney’s Office says there is no direct evidence that indicates a Baton Rouge city employee stole thousands of dollars from parking meters last year.The employee, Bryant McConnell, was fired after he was accused of stealing around $15,000 over a period of five months.The investigation began when bank personnel reported that they had received and stamped four deposit slips, but only had three money bags in the deposit for the March 30, 2015 deposit. While th
  
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• Metro Council members oppose police residency requirements

  27-07-2016 13:19
  
  BATON ROUGE - A plan to require new police officers to live in the city died at Wednesday's Metro Council meeting.The ordinance proposed by Councilwoman Chauna Banks-Daniel would have forced the Police Department to limit future hiring to applicants living within the city limits.Wednesday's meeting was the first for the council since a police officer killed Alton Sterling on July 5, prompting days of protests and since the July 17 attack that killed three lawmen and wounded three others
  
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• Teenager gathers more than 130,000 petition signatures to investigate BR Zoo

  27-07-2016 12:55
  
  BATON ROUGE - A teenager has gathered more than 130,000 signatures on a petition that aims to close the Baton Rouge Zoo.16-year-old Kerregan Layne started the Care2 petition asking for the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to investigate and possibly shut down the zoo, citing the fact that 21 animals have died there this year.Earlier this month, dogs entered the zoo and killed a pair of spot-nosed guenon monkeys. A third monkey was severely injured. In March and April alone, the zo
  
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• Teenager gathers more than 130,000 petition signatures to close BR Zoo

  27-07-2016 12:55
  
  BATON ROUGE - A Baton Rouge teenager has gathered more than 130,000 signatures on a petition that aims to close the Baton Rouge Zoo.16-year-old Kerregan Layne started the Care2 petition asking for the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to investigate and possibly shut down the zoo, citing the fact that 21 animals have died there this year.Earlier this month, dogs entered the zoo and killed a pair of spot-nosed guenon monkeys. A third monkey was severely injured. In March and April a
  
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• Mom thanks Chick-fil-A employees who played with son when others refused

  27-07-2016 12:28
  
  COLUMBUS, Georgia - A Georgia mom took to Facebook last week to thank the employees of a fast food restaurant for playing with her son after he was left out by other children playing nearby.Kari Merriken of Columbus said that she and her 8-year-old, Caleb, were attending a Star Wars-themed "Galaxy Night" at Chick-fil-A in her neighborhood on July 2.During the event, Caleb, who has spinal muscular atrophy and uses a wheelchair, was purposefully excluded from playtime with other kids, his mother s
  
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• Charges dropped against three remaining officers in Freddie Gray death

  27-07-2016 12:22
  
  BALTIMORE - Prosecutors have dropped the remaining charges against Baltimore police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, bringing an end to the case without a conviction.Gray was a black man who was critically injured in the back of a police van in April 2015.Prosecutors' decision Wednesday comes after a judge had already acquitted three of the six officers charged in the case, including the van driver and another officer who was the highest-ranking of the group.A fourth officer had his case h
  
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• ALS-related gene found with help from Ice Bucket Challenge

  27-07-2016 12:13
  
  WASHINGTON - The ALS Association is crediting money raised through the Ice Bucket Challenge for the discovery of a gene they say is among the most common that contribute to the progressive disease.Those who accepted the challenge allowed buckets of ice water to be dumped on their heads to raise awareness of ALS.The challenge became a viral sensation in 2014 and raised more than $100 million for the association. Some of that money helped fund a global effort to help find genetic drivers of the co
  
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• Terror fears permeated GOP week; Dems barely mention them

  27-07-2016 12:11
  
  WASHINGTON - Democrats have barely mentioned the Islamic State through two days of their convention, after terrorism fears permeated Republican speeches a week ago.That is perhaps a result of IS' emergence from a localized, Middle East insurgency to self-proclaimed caliphate and worldwide terrorism threat during President Barack Obama's time in office. It also reflects a Republican strategy to blame Obama - and, by extension, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton - for allowing the extremist grou
  
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• Sanders loyalists warn of party split after Clinton victory

  27-07-2016 12:06
  
  PHILADELPHIA - Bernie Sanders loyalists believe the Democratic Party could rupture over Hillary Clinton's nomination after a volatile night that saw Sanders delegates leave the party's national convention in Philadelphia to stage a sit-in at a media tent.Protesters are rejecting Sanders' call for unity, even after the Vermont senator declared Clinton the winner of the delegate count at Tuesday's convention.College student Cory James of Flint, Michigan, says a fundamental shift in American politi
  
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• Man uses power spray to blast carjacking attempt at car wash

  27-07-2016 09:51
  
  SHREVEPORT - A man in Louisiana has thwarted a carjacking attempt with the help of a car wash power spray.
  KSLA-TV reports Michael Davis was cleaning his car at a Shreveport car wash July 20 when he says a man pointed a gun at him and demanded his keys and cash. A video from Davis' dash cam shows him turning the powerful spray on the gunman and then trying to hit him with the wand. He also fended off another man who came around the other side of the vehicle.
  Davis doesn't regret his act
  
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• Ice Bucket Challenge leads to breakthrough for ALS research

  27-07-2016 07:22
  
  Researchers have discovered an important breakthrough in ALS research, thanks to the funds of a social media phenomenon.The Ice Bucket Challenge was a social media craze in 2014. It encouraged millions of people to dump buckets of ice water on their heads to raise money for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.According to a statement the ALS Association released Monday, researchers found a new gene, NEK1, that ranks among the highest genes that contibute to the degenerative disease.&nbsp
  
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• Deputy shoots, kills robbery suspect in Metairie

  27-07-2016 03:14
  
  METAIRIE - Jefferson Parish sheriff’s deputies say a 17-year-old robbery suspect was shot and killed by a JPSO deputy late Tuesday night inside of a NOLA.com warehouse in Metairie.Security camera footage from the scene shows the suspect going through the warehouse. A deputy appears and then the two engage in a standoff with just feet separating them. The suspect, now identified as Devon Martes, appears to point his gun at the officer,  who drew his own gun in response. The sus
  
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• Report: Shooting deaths of law enforcement spike in 2016

  27-07-2016 03:03
  
  NEW ORLEANS - A new report says shooting deaths of law enforcement officers have spiked 78 percent in the first half of 2016 compared to last year.The data released Wednesday by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund also details an increase in ambush-style assaults like the ones that killed eight officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.According to the report , 32 officers died in firearms-related incidents so far this year including 14 that were ambush-style attacks.During t
  
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• Does Louisiana have to put up money for the NBA All-Star game? Not yet.

  27-07-2016 01:11
  
  Unlike normal, Louisiana doesn't have a few million dollars to give to the game.
  
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