Baton Rouge news

• St. George Fire reminding residents about ballot amendments

  06-11-2016 21:19
  
  ST. GEORGE - If you live in the St. George Fire Protection District, there will be two tax renewal propositions on the November 8th Presidential Ballot to know about.
  You can check the map here to find out if you live in the fire department's district.The two millages represent nearly 47 percent of District 2's property tax revenue, and roughly 41% of the department's total budget.The first proposition is a six million dollar tax that started in 1998, that the district seeks renewal from voters
  
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• Decomposed body found on Napoleon Street identified

  06-11-2016 20:54
  
  BATON ROUGE - A body found decomposed on Napoleon Street on Sunday has been identified, BRPD reported on Monday.  According to BRPD, the body has been identified as 36-year-old Marquell Gardner. According to BRPD, Gardner's last known address was located in LaPlace.Officers say a passerby noticed a decomposed body in tall grass in the 900 block of Napoleon Street.Detectives believe the man suffered from gunshot wounds.There are no motives or suspects at this time.Anyone with information
  
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• Decomposed body found on Napoleon Street, BRPD investigating

  06-11-2016 20:54
  
  BATON ROUGE - BRPD is investigating a homicide after someone found a body in tall grass.Officers say a passerby noticed a decomposed body in the 900 block of Napoleon Street.Detectives believe the unidentified black male victim suffered from gunshot wounds.There are no motives or suspects at this time.Anyone with information is asked to call the Violent Crimes Unit at 389-4869 or Crime Stoppers at 344-7867.Permalink| Comments
  
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• Man shot fleeing stolen car in suburban Atlanta

  06-11-2016 18:36
  
  MABLETON, Ga. - Police say an officer shot a man attempting to flee from a stolen vehicle in suburban Atlanta.
      
  Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Nelly Miles says the incident the occurred around 11 a.m. Sunday after Cobb County police officers responded to a call of a suspicious vehicle and learned it was stolen. One of the men exited the vehicle and tried to run from police before the officer shot him in the leg after a short chase.
    
  
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• Explosion critically injures 1 at pumpkin flinging contest

  06-11-2016 16:32
  
  BRIDGEVILLE, Del. - Delaware State Police say one person has been critically injured after an apparatus used to launch pumpkins into the air exploded.
      
  The incident occurred Sunday at the Punkin Chunkin Contest in Bridgeville. The town is about 40 miles south of Dover.
      
  Contestants launch pumpkins with a variety of homemade contraptions. The event had been cancelled for the past two years because of problems finding insurance.
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• Man arrested for shooting at police following car break-in

  06-11-2016 15:26
  
  BATON ROUGE - A man shot at a police officer and a K9 officer Sunday morning, after breaking into a car on Chippewa Street.According to Baton Rouge police, Jordan Dixon, 20, broke into a car just after 1 a.m.When the officers tried to arrest him, Dixon reportedly fired multiple rounds of bullets. The K9 officer found Dixon hiding under a house on Dalton Street.Dixon is in police custody and faces two counts of attempted first degree murder, one count of illegal use of a weapon, simple burglary,
  
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• Comey says latest emails don't change decision

  06-11-2016 14:43
  
  WASHINGTON - FBI Director James Comey tells Congress that a review of new Hillary Clinton emails has "not changed our conclusions" from earlier this year that she should not face charges.Comey sent the letter Sunday, just two days before Election Day.In July, he chastised Clinton's use of the private mail server but said that the bureau would not be recommending criminal charges against the Democratic nominee.The new letter follows one Comey sent late last month in which he said agents would be
  
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• Average gasoline price up nearly a penny to $2.26 a gallon

  06-11-2016 14:40
  
  CAMARILLO - The average price of gasoline in the U.S. inched up about a penny over the past two weeks to $2.26 for regular grade.Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday that the price rise came despite a dramatic drop in crude oil prices.Lundberg says refiners and retailers kept the margins from oil price cuts to recover from previous losses. She also says a big gasoline tax hike in New Jersey helped push up the national average.The Lundberg Survey found the average price of midgrade gasoli
  
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• Marine recruit at Parris Island dies, was found unconscious

  06-11-2016 14:38
  
  PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. - Officials say a Marine recruit at Parris Island has died just a week after another recruit was injured there. It's also the second fatality of a recruit at Parris Island this year.The Island Packet of Hilton Head reports that Capt. Greg Carroll says a recruit died Friday night at Beaufort Memorial Hospital. He said he would release the victim's name 24 hours after the family was notified.The statement says the recruit was found unconscious in his bed.Carroll says a recruit
  
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• US says Mosul campaign ahead of schedule

  06-11-2016 14:13
  
  MOSUL, Iraq - A U.S. official says the nearly three-week offensive against Islamic State extremists in Mosul is "ahead of schedule."Brett McGurk, the White House envoy to the U.S.-led anti-IS coalition, spoke Sunday to reporters in Jordan.The push to drive IS out of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, slowed in recent days. Iraqi forces have entered more densely populated areas, where they cannot rely as much on airstrikes and shelling because of the risk posed to civilians.McGurk says the campai
  
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• Britain aiding operation to drive IS from Raqqa

  06-11-2016 13:06
  
  BEIRUT - Britain is providing aerial surveillance to help a newly launched offensive against the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State group's self-described caliphate.Defense Secretary Michael Fallon says the Royal Air Force "will support the Raqqa operation as it develops." He said the "sophisticated surveillance effort" would give the coalition a vital edge in Syria.A Syrian Kurdish-led force which is backed by U.S.-led air power announced an operation to retake Raqq
  
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• Eritrea's Ghirmay Ghebreslassie wins NYC marathon

  06-11-2016 12:53
  
  NEW YORK - Eritrea's Ghirmay Ghebreslassie has won the New York City Marathon in the men's field.Ghebreslassie finished his debut in New York with an unofficial time of 2 hours, 7 minutes, 51 seconds.For most of the course, the men's field was a three-man race between Ghebreslassie, Kenya's Lucas Rotich and Ethiopia's Lelisa Desisa. By mile 20, Ghebreslassie gradually began pulling away.The 19-year-old beat Rotich by 62 seconds and became the youngest male winner in New York. The previous younge
  
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• Trump protester says he wasn't planted by Dems

  06-11-2016 12:26
  
  WASHINGTON - A protester involved in a scuffle at a Donald Trump rally in Nevada is denying accusations that he is an operative for Democrats.Austyn Crites says he is a 33-year-old registered Republican who has donated money to Hillary Clinton's campaign and canvassed for her last week because he doesn't support Trump. But he says he has never met Clinton or her campaign.Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told CNN he was "a Democratic plant or operative" but offered no proof.Crites says he
  
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• Trump aide claims Clinton planted protester

  06-11-2016 12:26
  
  WASHINGTON - Donald Trump's campaign manager is saying without evidence that a Trump protester involved in a disturbance at a rally in Reno, Nevada, was "a Democratic plant or operative."Trump was speaking to supporters when chaos broke out in the crowd, and Secret Service agents hustled Trump off stage. No weapons were involved, although Trump's son Don Jr. labeled it an "assassination attempt."A man claiming to be the protester later told The Guardian and Reno Gazette-Journal that he was carry
  
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• Soldiers from Kansas, Texas, Arizona killed in Jordan

  06-11-2016 12:18
  
  KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Defense Department has identified three soldiers killed in a shooting this week outside a military base in Jordan.The department said in a release Sunday that 27-year-old Staff Sgt. Matthew C. Lewellen, of Lawrence, Kansas; 30-year-old Staff Sgt. Kevin J. McEnroe of Tucson, Arizona; and 27-year-old Staff Sgt. James F. Moriarty of Kerrville, Texas, died Friday after the convoy they were in came under fire as it entered a Jordanian military base.The Defense Department said i
  
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• State to screen 14,000 on waiting list for developmental help

  06-11-2016 11:42
  
  BATON ROUGE - The Louisiana Department of Health says it has begun screening more than 13,000 people on the waiting list for home- and community-based services for the developmentally disabled.A news release says the screenings are expected to continue through May 30.The visits are expected to take about two hours.People who turn down the screening will be considered to have all needs met.The "New Opportunities Waiver" program is aimed at helping people stay out of nursing homes or other institu
  
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• Bond denied for South Carolina slayings suspect

  06-11-2016 11:38
  
  WOODRUFF, S.C. - A judge has denied bond for a man charged with a 2003 quadruple slaying and more recently holding a woman captive on his property.Todd Kohlhepp appeared before a magistrate judge in Spartanburg on Sunday and was denied bond. Magistrate Judge Jimmy Henson said a circuit court could revisit the issue of bond later.Kohlhepp wore an orange jumpsuit and declined to speak when Henson offered him the chance to make a statement. He didn't have an attorney.Family members of vict
  
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• Funding needed to improve Welsh's water supply

  06-11-2016 11:33
  
  WELSH - Welsh officials plan to seek funding from the state Department of Health and Hospitals to help offset the cost of improving the town's water supply.The American Press reports the town council this week agreed to begin seeking $900,000 through a loan program with the DHH to replace the town's groundwater tank with two wells.Town officials say the state has mandated that the town replace the aging storage tank.Town engineer Bryon Racca says plans for the project call for building a new tan
  
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• Company: Blast-damaged gasoline line back in service

  06-11-2016 11:25
  
  HELENA, Ala. - The company that owns a gasoline pipeline that exploded in Alabama last week says the pipeline is back in service.Colonial Pipeline Co. says service was restarted at 5:45 a.m. Sunday. The pipeline transports gasoline from the Gulf Coast to New York City. It exploded Monday while a crew was making repairs related to a September gas spill.Government officials and Colonial Pipeline have said a piece of excavation equipment hit the pipeline, causing the explosion, but further details
  
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• Germany expands diesel probe to include VW board chairman

  06-11-2016 11:23
  
  BERLIN - Volkswagen says German prosecutors have widened their investigation of the emissions scandal to include the chairman of the company's board of directors.Hans Dieter Poetsch was VW's chief financial officer when the company's scandal over cars rigged to cheat on U.S. diesel emissions tests broke in September 2015.Volkswagen said in a statement Sunday that prosecutors in the German city of Braunschweig are investigating two members of the board including Poetsch, but didn't name the secon
  
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• Car bomber kills 9 at Tikrit checkpoint

  06-11-2016 11:18
  
  MOSUL, Iraq - A provincial spokesman says a suicide attack against a security checkpoint north of Baghdad has killed at least nine people.The spokesman for Salahuddin province, Ali al-Hamdani, says the suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car during rush hour Sunday morning into the main checkpoint at the southern entrance of the provincial capital, Tikrit.Al-Hamdani said five female students, a woman and three policemen were killed. He added that 25 other people were wounded.No g
  
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• Pacquiao wins lopsided decision with Mayweather watching

  06-11-2016 11:15
  
  LAS VEGAS - Floyd Mayweather Jr. stopped by to see an old foe, and Manny Pacquiao tried his best to give him a show.With Mayweather watching intently from a ringside seat, Pacquiao dropped Jessie Vargas in the second round and bloodied his face Saturday night on his way to a lopsided decision that gave him a piece of the welterweight title once again.Pacquiao won on all three ringside scorecards - 118-109, 118-109 114-113 - to take the piece of the title Vargas won in his last fight. The AP scor
  
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• Shots fired at Turkey's Istanbul airport; 2 detained

  06-11-2016 11:10
  
  ISTANBUL - Istanbul governor says police fired shots in the air at Istanbul's main airport when two suspects on a motorcycle refused to stop.Governor Vasip Sahin tweeted early Sunday morning that the two suspects at Ataturk International Airport were detained and were not carrying any weapons or explosives.He says the airport remains open to passengers.Earlier in the night, private Dogan news agency reported that vehicles were stopped from entering and leaving the airport during the pursuit of t
  
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• America's anxious mood on the eve of the election

  06-11-2016 01:33
  
  Neither major presidential candidate captures hearts, hopes of any broad cross-section of people
  
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