Baton Rouge news

• Corpus Christi mayor talks about water problem

  15-12-2016 21:50
  
  CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Corpus Christi's mayor says he doesn't think the release of a harmful chemical into the water system extended beyond an industrial district, but officials are still waiting for results from testing by a state agency.
      
  Mayor Dan McQueen said Thursday evening that they are "pushing very hard to get our water turned on as soon as we can."
      
  He says the city will hold another news conference later Thursday evening a
  
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• East Tennessee wildfires: Obama issues disaster declaration

  15-12-2016 21:07
  
  GATLINBURG - President Barack Obama has signed a disaster declaration to speed federal recovery aid to victims of the recent deadly wildfires in a hard-hit eastern Tennessee county.
      
  A White House statement late Thursday says the declaration is intended to expedite federal funding for Sevier County, where fast-spreading flames claimed 14 lives and damaged or destroyed more than 2,500 homes, businesses and other buildings in that Appalachian tourist locale.
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• San Francisco mayor to Uber: Quit the self-driving car rides

  15-12-2016 20:23
  
  SAN FRANCISCO - The mayor of San Francisco is demanding that Uber stop picking up passengers in self-driving cars as part of the ride-hailing company's newly launched service in his city.
      
  Mayor Ed Lee says through spokeswoman Ellen Canale that his concern is public safety and he wants Uber to suspend the service until it gets permission from state regulators.
      
  Lee joins California officials, who also insist Uber must shut down the se
  
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• Health contracts approved with LGBT-rights language stripped

  15-12-2016 19:17
  
  BATON ROUGE  - A stalemate over contracts to provide health insurance next year for 10,000 state employees, retirees and family members has ended.
      
  House lawmakers had stalled the contracts because they objected to having language from Gov. John Bel Edwards' LGBT-rights protection order included in the deals.
      
  A judge declared that order unconstitutional Wednesday, so the Edwards administration stripped the language from the
  
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• Lafayette wins EPA air monitoring award

  15-12-2016 19:15
  
  LAFAYETTE - Cities in Louisiana and Maryland have won a national Environmental Protection Administration contest for plans to have residents set out hundreds of air pollution sensors, with results made public.
      
  Lafayette, Louisiana, and Baltimore each get $40,000 to help implement those plans. After a year, they can qualify for up to $10,000 more.
      
  An EPA news release Thursday said 22 communities entered the Smart City Air Challenge .
  
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• BREC stocks ponds with rainbow trout

  15-12-2016 17:30
  
  BATON ROUGE – BREC is hosting 16 fishing rodeos this weekend and have just restocked ponds in time for the events.A total of 1,350 pounds of rainbow trout, a fish not normally found in state waters, were sent overnight to Baton Rouge from Missouri."This is something really unique to the area," Amanda Takacs, a naturalist in BREC's conservation department, said.The fish, according to Takacs, need time to get acclimated to the ponds and will not bite until 2 days after being stocked. How
  
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• Two hurt after tree crashes down on Blackwell Street home

  15-12-2016 17:25
  
  BATON ROUGE – Two people were taken to the hospital Thursday with moderate injuries after a tree crashed down on a Blackwell Street home.One mother told Brett Buffington that she heard a “crack” before it crashed down on top of her son and neighbors around 4 p.m. Thursday.An ambulance transported both people to the hospital. Sources tell WBRZ that both people suffered minor injuries. The woman who owned the tree said she had already contacted her i
  
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• Dad arrested for threatening to fight daughter's middle school teacher

  15-12-2016 16:42
  
  BATON ROUGE – Deputies say a Baton Rouge dad has been arrested for threatening his daughter's middle school teacher Thursday.Marvin Edwards, 39, was arrested for assault of a school teacher and disturbing the peace.On Thursday, the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office responded to Scotlandville Middle School in reference to an angry parent. According to school officials, Edwards went into the school office and stated that he was looking for his daughter's teacher. Edwards said th
  
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• One injured in drive-by shooting on Avenue I

  15-12-2016 16:37
  
  BATON ROUGE – Authorities say one person was struck in the leg in a drive-by shooting on Avenue I in Baton Rouge Thursday.The shooting happened around 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon in the 9900 block of Avenue I. Authorities describe the injuries as not life-threatening.Details about the shooting are still limited at this time.This is a developing story. Stay tuned to WBRZ News 2 online and on Facebook and Twitter for updates as new information becomes available.Permalink| Comments
  
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• More cable barriers will line I-10 in BR area

  15-12-2016 16:06
  
  RAMAH – The state continues to add miles to its cable barrier system that is designed to keep head-on collisions from happening on the state's interstate system.Monday, work will begin in Iberville Parish where the cable system will be installed between the Basin Bridge and the Grosse Tete exit. Heavy-duty cabling is tightly pulled between a series of metal posts in the median, stopping vehicles from crossing into oncoming traffic on the other side of the interstate.A May 2015 story on
  
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• Louisiana colleges spared some cuts for now

  15-12-2016 15:45
  
  BATON ROUGE- Louisiana colleges took a lighter hit to their budgets Thursday than state lawmakers had feared a month earlier.  Members of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget recognized a $312 million mid-year budget cut at the capitol and higher education took a $12 million hit.In November, Governor Edward's administration announced it would cut state colleges $18 million. It was a move LSU leaders called "manageable" but lawmakers postponed the cut to Decemb
  
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• Napoleonville man accused of raping minor

  15-12-2016 15:14
  
  NAPOLEONVILLE – Deputies in Assumption Parish say a Napoleonville man faces rape charges after "repeatedly raping" a juvenile victim.Assumption Parish Sheriff Leland Falcon said 59-year-old Rickie Mills was charged with forcible rape and molestation of a juvenile.Falcon said Mills is accused of repeatedly raping the now 15-year-old since the victim attended primary school. The unnamed victim has been placed in the care of the Department of Children and Family Services.Detectives say Mi
  
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• Crews respond to factory explosion on Renoir Avenue

  15-12-2016 15:00
  
  BATON ROUGE – Firefighters are responding to a factory explosion on Renoir Avenue.Details are still limited at this time, however an employee of the factory told News 2's Brett Buffington that the factory makes fiberglass mats and saw pieces of pipe fly through the air.Pieces of the building can also be seen on the ground. Here's a closer shot of the side of this building, and the blown apart pipe. @WBRZ pic.twitter.com/uKSqhiaLWG— Brett Buffington (@BrettBuffington)
  
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• Colorful NBA sideline reporter Craig Sager, 65, dies

  15-12-2016 14:55
  
  Longtime NBA sideline reporter Craig Sager has died at the age of 65 after a battle with cancer.Turner President David Levy says in a statement Thursday that Sager had died, without saying when or where.Famous for his flashy suits and probing questions, Sager worked basketball games for TNT for nearly a quarter-century.Sager first announced in April 2014 that he had been diagnosed with leukemia, and he missed the playoffs and much of the following season as he underwent two bone marrow transplan
  
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• Jurors convict Roof of all counts in slayings

  15-12-2016 14:25
  
  CHARLESTON - A federal jury has convicted Dylann Roof of all 33 counts in the racially motivated slaughter of nine black church members last year in South Carolina.The jury took less than two hours to reach its verdict Thursday. Family members of victims held hands and squeezed one another's arms as the verdicts were read. One woman nodded her head every time the clerk said "guilty."Jurors convicted Roof of hate crimes, obstruction of religion and weapons charges.The panel of nine white people a
  
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• FEMA extends TSA program to January 17

  15-12-2016 14:23
  
  BATON ROUGE – FEMA has approved Louisiana’s request to extend the Traditional Sheltering Assistance program until January 2017.The TSA program is intended to provide “short-term sheltering” to flood survivors by allowing them to stay in FEMA approved hotel rooms.State officials requested the extension due to a lack of rental resources and widespread damage to homes throughout Louisiana.Evacuees living in hotel rooms in the state of Louisiana will be eligib
  
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• Report: Louisiana has large wealth gap between rich, poor

  15-12-2016 13:58
  
  BATON ROUGE - Louisiana has one of the highest income inequality rates in the country.That's the finding of a left-leaning organization that advocates for low- to moderate-income families, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.The center's report released Thursday says the top 5 percent of Louisiana households have an average income 14 times larger than the bottom 20 percent of households - and an average income nearly five times larger than middle-income households.The poorest 20 percent o
  
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• Kennedy's resignation as treasurer to take effect Jan. 3

  15-12-2016 13:56
  
  BATON ROUGE - U.S. Sen.-elect John Kennedy says he'll resign as Louisiana state treasurer on Jan. 3, the same day he's sworn in to his new elected office in Washington.A special election to fill the open treasurer's seat will be held in October.Kennedy said Thursday he's working his final weeks as treasurer, rather than leaving early, because he still has work to do in the position. He also preferred the special election to be held on the October ballot, rather than an earlier March ballot.Kenne
  
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• New rules planned to keep sea turtles from shrimp net deaths

  15-12-2016 13:35
  
  NEW ORLEANS - More shrimp fishermen would have to use nets equipped with turtle escape hatches, to prevent sea turtle deaths, under proposed new federal rules.The National Marine Fisheries Service wants to require more shrimp fishermen to use "turtle excluder devices." The devices are metal grates that allow turtles to escape the boats' nets.The fisheries service announced the proposed rules Thursday. They will be subject to a public comment process through mid-February.Thursday was the deadline
  
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• White House unloads on Trump over Russia hacking

  15-12-2016 13:19
  
  WASHINGTON - The White House is sharply criticizing President-elect Donald Trump for his response to allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. election.White House spokesman Josh Earnest says Trump should stop attacking the U.S. intelligence community. He says instead, Trump should be supporting the investigation into what occurred that President Barack Obama has ordered.Trump's transition team has complained that the White House has suggested Trump knew during the campai
  
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• Facebook takes on fake news

  15-12-2016 13:18
  
  NEW YORK - Facebook is taking new measures to curb the spread of fake news. It will partner with outside fact-checkers to sort honest news reports from made-up stories.Facebook will make it easier for users to report fake news when they see it. If enough people report a story as fake, Facebook will pass it to third-party fact-checking organizations.Stories that flunk a fact check will remain on Facebook, but will be flagged as "disputed," which will push them lower down in people's news
  
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• New Orleans' Mitch Landrieu to meet Trump

  15-12-2016 13:13
  
  NEW ORLEANS – Mayor Mitch Landrieu will discuss public safety and infrastructure with President-elect Donald Trump this afternoon when the two meet today in New York.According to a WWLTV report, Landrieu’s administration said the mayor was invited to meet with Trump as vice president of the United States Conference of Mayors.“America’s mayors have offered detailed solutions for delivering jobs and prosperity for our cities?—?investing in infrastr
  
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• Edwin Edwards released from hospital

  15-12-2016 11:42
  
  BATON ROUGE - Edwin Edwards has been released from the hospital after battling pneumonia, according to the former governor's wife.In a post on her facebook page, Trina Scott Edwards wrote "We're missing the Governor's Christmas party and Eli's first school Christmas program tonight, but we're home from the hospital and EWE is on the mend so all is well in our world. Thanks to all of you for the prayers and kind messages! It's great to feel loved."Edwards, 89, suffers from pneumonia on a recurrin
  
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• Sailor pleads not guilty in transgender woman's death

  15-12-2016 11:28
  
  PASCAGOULA, Miss. - A Navy sailor from New Orleans has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of stabbing and slashing a transgender woman 119 times in a coastal Mississippi hotel room.
      
  Twenty-year-old Dwanya Porche Hickerson is charged with the capital murder of 25-year-old Dee Whigham of Shubuta, a nurse at Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg. He's being held without bond.
      
  The Sun Herald and WLOX-TV report that Hickerson e
  
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• New Orleans board to review offer for former Six Flags site

  15-12-2016 11:08
  
  NEW ORLEANS - The public board that owns the former Six Flags park in New Orleans will review an offer to buy the overgrown site, which was abandoned after Hurricane Katrina.News outlets report New Orleans Industrial Development Board President Alan Philipson said Wednesday that Tonya Pope of Jazzland Theme Park made a $3.26 million offer Tuesday. It'll be considered at the board's January meeting.Pope wants to turn the property back into Jazzland, the amusement park that predated Six Flags.Pope
  
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• Trump picks Montana Rep. Zinke for interior post

  15-12-2016 09:32
  
  WASHINGTON - President-elect Donald Trump has officially chosen Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke to serve as his interior secretary.Zinke was an early supporter of Trump's and publicly sought a Cabinet post when Trump visited Montana in May.Trump's decision to tap Zinke for interior upends Senate Republican plans of recruiting the congressman to challenge two-term Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in 2018.As Montana's at-large representative, Zinke has proven he can win statewide, and the GOP considered Tester
  
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• White shrimp season closing Monday in most of Louisiana

  15-12-2016 09:26
  
  NEW ORLEANS - The fall white-shrimp season is about to close for most waters in Louisiana.NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune reports the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries announced most inshore waters will be closed to harvesting white shrimp beginning Monday. The department said recently sampling by its biologists shows the average white shrimp are smaller than the minimum size limit for possession.The closure includes waters in Louisiana from the Mississippi state line to the Texas borde
  
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• NASA launches 8 mini-satellites for hurricane forecasting

  15-12-2016 09:14
  
  CAPE CANAVERAL - NASA has launched eight mini-satellites to measure surface wind deep in the heart of hurricanes.The plane carrying the satellites took off shortly after sunrise Thursday from Cape Canaveral, Florida. An hour later, the co-pilot pushed the button that released the Pegasus rocket and attached satellites 39,000 feet above the Atlantic, 100 miles east of Daytona Beach. The Pegasus fired five seconds later, propelling the satellites toward orbit.The $157 million Cyclone Global Naviga
  
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• Once-conjoined twins going to rehab 9 weeks after separation

  15-12-2016 09:09
  
  NEW YORK - Formerly conjoined twins Jadon and Anias McDonald have been transferred to a new hospital to begin rehabilitation nine weeks after being separated.The twins were separated in a 20-hour procedure at New York City's Montefiore Medical Center on Oct. 13 and 14. The hospital says they have been transferred to Blythedale Children's Hospital in suburban Westchester, where they will receive specialized rehabilitation care.The now 15-month-old twins were attached at the brain and the skull. T
  
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• Diana Ross, Mary J. Blige, John Legend headline 2017 Essence Festival

  15-12-2016 09:06
  
  NEW ORLEANS - For the first time, music icon Diana Ross brings her star power to a stage at the 2017 Essence Festival in New Orleans.Ross was among the headliners announced Thursday for the festival annually held in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The 23rd annual event takes place June 30-July 2.Joining Ross will be R&B's Mary J. Blige, John Legend, Chaka Khan, Erykah Badu, India.Arie, Jazmine Sullivan, Lalah Hathaway and Michel'le. Blige, a festival veteran, returns to headline a special night
  
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• In deal with IOC, USOC, NBC will launch all-Olympic channel

  15-12-2016 08:56
  
  NEW YORK - NBC is bringing year-round Olympic programming to the United States.After years of trying, the U.S and International Olympic Committees have agreed with NBC on a package that will offer year-round Olympic programming, focused on U.S. athletes. NBC will launch a new U.S. television network branded "Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA" in the second half of 2017.That channel will complement the IOC's Olympic Channel, which launched on a worldwide digital platform after the Rio Games.The p
  
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• Bernard Fox, Dr. Bombay on 'Bewitched' dies at 89

  15-12-2016 08:26
  
  LOS ANGELES - A family spokesman says that Bernard Fox, known to TV viewers as Dr. Bombay on "Bewitched" and Col. Crittendon on "Hogan's Heroes," has died. He was 89.Spokesman Harlan Boll said the actor died Wednesday of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital.The Welsh-born actor's extensive, wide-ranging film and TV credits included "The Mummy," ''Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo," ''The Dyke Van Dyke Show," ''McHale's Navy" and "Columbo."He appeared in both the 1997 movie "Titanic" and in the
  
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• Holly's Holiday Countdown: Pulled Chicken and Artichoke Bread

  15-12-2016 07:54
  
  PULLED CHICKEN FROM KITCHEN 101Forget barbecue when you can instantly whip up this awesome and simple pulled chicken recipe.MAKES 4 (3/4-CUP) SERVINGS1 cup chopped onion
  1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
  2 tablespoons cider vinegar
  1/2 cup chili sauce
  1 tablespoon light brown sugar
  1 teaspoon cocoa
  1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  1/2 cup fat-free chicken broth
  2 cups shredded skinless rotisserie chicken breast      In nonstick pot coated with nonstick cooking spra
  
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• Traces of explosives found on victims of Paris flight

  15-12-2016 07:52
  
  CAIRO - Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry says traces of explosives have been found on some of the victims of an EgyptAir flight from Paris that crashed in the Mediterranean Sea in May.A ministry statement issued Thursday says a criminal investigation will now begin into the crash of Flight 804, which killed all 66 people on board.No one has claimed to have attacked the plane. The crash came seven months after a Russian airliner crashed in the Sinai Peninsula shortly after taking off from an Egypt
  
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• Bomb in teashop explodes in Somalia's capital, killing 6

  15-12-2016 07:50
  
  MOGADISHU, Somalia - A Somali military official says a bomb hidden inside a teashop in the capital has exploded, killing four soldiers and two civilians.Ahmed Ali says the soldiers were gathered at the teashop near a checkpoint in Mogadishu when the blast, thought to be remotely controlled, occurred. Two other people were injured.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion, the second in the city on Thursday.In the first blast, a suicide car bomber detonated an explosives-la
  
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• 2 dead in German doctors' office shooting

  15-12-2016 07:49
  
  BERLIN - German prosecutors say two doctors have been shot and killed in a medical practice in the western city of Marburg.Prosecutors told the dpa news agency Thursday that according to their investigation "no other people were involved" in the shooting Thursday and said the public was not at risk.The shooting occurred at a medical office near the city's main train station. Marburg is 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Frankfurt.Marburg prosecutors gave no further information and did not answer
  
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• Iran sanctions renewal becomes law without Obama signature

  15-12-2016 07:15
  
  WASHINGTON - In an unexpected move, President Barack Obama has declined to sign legislation renewing sanctions against Iran but has let it become law anyway.Obama faced a midnight deadline to sign the 10-year renewal of the decades-old sanctions law. The White House had said that Obama was expected to sign it.But White House press secretary Josh Earnest says Obama is letting it become law without his signature, saying Obama retains authority to waive all nuclear sanctions lifted as part of the d
  
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• CDC issues Texas city warning for pregnant women after Zika

  15-12-2016 07:05
  
  DALLAS - Federal health officials say pregnant women should consider postponing travel to Brownsville, Texas, because of concerns about mosquitoes there spreading the Zika virus.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued the warning Wednesday. It advises doctors to tell pregnant women and their sex partners to take precautions and to consider putting off travel to the city while the advisory is in place.It comes after five cases of Zika virus infection were recently diagnosed in peopl
  
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• Corpus Christi, Texas, tells residents not to use tap water

  15-12-2016 07:04
  
  CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The city of Corpus Christi, Texas, is warning its residents not to use tap water as officials investigate an unknown chemical.The Caller-Times reported early Thursday that a city news release blames a recent back-flow incident in the industrial district. Officials are telling residents to use only bottled water until the safety of the tap water can be confirmed.According to the city's release, "boiling, freezing, filtering, adding chlorine or other disinfectants, or letti
  
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• Russian leader Putin in Japan for summit

  15-12-2016 07:02
  
  NAGATO, Japan - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are meeting at a hot springs resort in western Japan.Abe told Putin that the waters of Nagato are famous for relieving fatigue, including any that might result from their talks.Abe invited Putin to Japan in hopes of making progress on a longstanding territorial dispute between the two countries that has prevented them from signing a peace treaty formally ending World War II.Permalink| Comments
  
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• Syrian rebels start to leave Aleppo

  15-12-2016 07:00
  
  BEIRUT - Syrian activists say residents in eastern Aleppo are finally starting to board buses and ambulances.It's the first step in an evacuation that's part of the rebel enclave's effective surrender.Earlier, Syrian activists said 3 evacuees were wounded when pro-government forces shot at ambulances trying to leave the city.Permalink| Comments
  
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