Baton Rouge news

• GM CEO: Won't change production plans despite Trump tweet

  08-01-2017 20:00
  
  DETROIT - General Motors CEO Mary Barra says her company has no plans to change its production plans because of criticism from President-elect Donald Trump.Barra says at an event before the Detroit auto show Sunday that capital decisions in the auto business are made two-to-four years in advance.Last week Trump threatened on Twitter to slap a tax on GM for importing the compact Chevrolet Cruze to the U.S. from Mexico.GM only imports a small number of Cruze hatchbacks from Mexico and makes all Cr
  
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• Ticket prices soaring for Alabama-Clemson title matchup

  08-01-2017 16:49
  
  TAMPA - The College Football Playoff national championship game is a hot ticket.The combination of Alabama and Clemson meeting in a rematch of last year's final, plus the proximity of the schools to Tampa, is causing prices to surge for Monday night's game.Both Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Clemson, South Carolina, are within easy driving distance, whereas most fans of the Crimson Tide and Tigers were forced to fly cross-country to Glendale, Arizona, when the teams met a year ago.As of Sunday afternoo
  
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• Annual No Pants Subway Ride hits cities around the world

  08-01-2017 16:47
  
  NEW YORK - Subway riders in New York City and other places around the world got an eyeful when their fellow transit users stripped down to their underwear.The annual No Pants Subway Ride took place on Sunday.The event is organized by the Improv Everywhere comedy collective. It started in 2002 in New York with seven participants.Organizers say pants-less subway rides were scheduled to take place this year in dozens of cities around the world. Philadelphia's version is sponsored by a laundry deliv
  
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• US gas prices jump 12 cents over 3 weeks to $2.38 a gallon

  08-01-2017 16:46
  
  CAMARILLO - The average price of regular-grade gasoline has surged 12 cents nationally over the past three weeks, to $2.38 a gallon.Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday the hike mostly results from the gasoline market catching up with rising crude oil costs.Lundberg says the current price is 33 cents a gallon above what it was one year ago.Gas in San Francisco was the highest in the continental United States at $2.78 a gallon on average Friday. The low average was in Denver, at $2 a gall
  
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• Uber to help cities get a better grasp on traffic patterns

  08-01-2017 16:44
  
  SAN FRANCISCO - Uber is offering a helping hand to some of the same city leaders it sometimes antagonizes with the aggressive way it runs its popular ride-hailing service.The assistance will come in the form of a free website, called "Movement," expected to be available to the public in mid-February. Uber announced the new website Sunday, on the eve of a transportation-planning conference in Washington.Although anyone can use the website, Uber believes its main audience will be city officials de
  
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• Fiat Chrysler adds 3 new Jeeps, creates 2,000 US jobs

  08-01-2017 16:43
  
  DETROIT - Fiat Chrysler says it's investing $1 billion in its U.S. factories to create 2,000 new jobs and add three new Jeep vehicles including a pickup truck.The company says it will put modernize a factory in the Detroit suburb of Warren, Michigan, to make the new Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer large SUVs. A plant in Toledo, Ohio, also will get new equipment to make a new Jeep pickup.The announcement is a continuation of efforts to increase production of SUVs and trucks as the company gets o
  
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• Stolen gun recovered after high speed chase through Tigerland area

  08-01-2017 16:34
  
  BATON ROUGE – Police say a man was arrested and a stolen gun recovered after a high-speed pursuit ended in the Tigerland area Sunday morning.LSU Police say 27-year-old Tarzareo Jones was charged with aggravated flight from officers, possession of a stolen firearm, felon in possession of a firearm, improper display and expired license plate.According to arrest documents, around 2:38 a.m. LSU Police spotted a car driving on Nicholson Drive without a license plate. Officers tried to make
  
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• Man faces drug, traffic charges after brief pursuit

  08-01-2017 15:35
  
  BATON ROUGE – Police say a Baton Rouge man faces various drug and traffic charges after he failed to use his turn signal, prompting a brief pursuit Saturday morning.Baton Rouge Police say 40-year-old Rickie J. Carter was charged with aggravated flight, possession of Schedules I and II drugs, and failure to signal.According to arrest records, officers saw Carter's car turn eastbound on Florida Street from North 10th Street without using a turn signal just before 4 a.m. Saturday. Officer
  
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• McConnell: Dems should 'grow up' and consider Trump nominees

  08-01-2017 14:42
  
  WASHINGTON - Republicans on Sunday defended their party against Democratic complaints that Congress is being forced to consider nominees for Donald Trump's administration without completed ethics reviews."All of these little procedural complaints are related to their frustration in having not only lost the White House, but having lost the Senate," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on CBS' "Face the Nation.""I understand that," he added, "but we need to sort of grow up here and get past
  
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• St. Tammany Sheriff's Unit finds missing juvenile from Houston

  08-01-2017 13:55
  
  ST. TAMMANY - A missing juvenile from Houston was found in a car with three illegal aliens near Mandeville Friday morning.According to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office, Sheriff Randy Smith's Highway Enforcement Unit potentially saved the young female juvenile from becoming a victim of human trafficking.Authorities said a St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's deputy was patrolling on Interstate 12 near Mandeville early Friday morning. The deputy stopped a red Honda Civic with a Texas licen
  
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• SEC close to approving new rules for rescheduling games

  08-01-2017 13:28
  
  TAMPA, Fla. - Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey is close to having full authority to reschedule league games.Sankey said Sunday that SEC athletic directors voted unanimously last month to approve a regulation that would give the commissioner unilateral control, something he didn't have when LSU and Florida were in an acrimonious stalemate amid Hurricane Matthew.Current league rules dictate that rescheduling must be agreed upon by both schools involved, with Sankey serving as a med
  
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• Students to learn gun safety after teen's hunting death

  08-01-2017 13:20
  
  COLUMBUS, Miss. - A school district in northern Mississippi will teach students about gun safety after a 13-year-old boy was killed while hunting.The Commercial Dispatch reports that an assembly will be planned before the end of the academic year on each campus in the Lowndes County School District.Lynn Wright, the district superintendent, says because hunting is prevalent in the South, it's important for students to learn how to be safe around guns.Wright says he wants to help prevent any more
  
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• New Orleans to activate new traffic cameras Monday

  08-01-2017 13:18
  
  NEW ORLEANS - New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu's administration says 55 new traffic cameras will begin photographing and fining speeders on Monday.The revenue from the controversial cameras will be used to help close budget gaps in 2017, although Landrieu has said that's not the point of the cameras. All of the cameras are being deployed in school zones to help catch drivers who fail to slow down to fewer than 10 miles over the posted speed limit during school zone times.NOLA.com/The Times-Picay
  
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• Navy, Trump planning biggest fleet expansion since Cold War

  08-01-2017 13:16
  
  BATH, Maine - Navy shipbuilders like what they're hearing from President-elect Donald Trump, who's vowed to build up the fleet to meet new threats from Russia and China.Emboldened by the promise, the Navy last month revised upward the number of ships it needs to 355, more than the number used by Trump during his election campaign.The proposal calls for adding another aircraft carrier, 16 large surface warships and 18 more nuclear-powered attack submarines, among other ships.Shipbuilders like the
  
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• 'Rogue One' tops box office for 4th straight week

  08-01-2017 13:09
  
  LOS ANGELES - "Star Wars" is still dominating the movie universe, with "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" topping the box office for the fourth straight week.Studio estimates Sunday show the intergalactic adventure just edging out the NASA drama "Hidden Figures," which expanded by more than 2,000 theaters Friday after opening in limited release. "Rogue One" brought in $21.97 million over the weekend. "Hidden Figures" collected $21.8 million.The animated animal musical "Sing" comes in third, taking i
  
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• Influential former Iranian leader Rafsanjani dead at age 82

  08-01-2017 13:07
  
  TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian state media says influential former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has died at age 82.Iranian media earlier said Rafsanjani been hospitalized because of a heart condition.Rafsanjani, who served as president from 1989 to 1997, is a leading politician who has often played kingmaker in the country's turbulent politics. He supported President Hassan Rouhani.Rafsanjani was head of the Expediency Council, a body that advises Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and in Marc
  
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• Ceremony set at site of monument to Gold Star families

  08-01-2017 13:07
  
  HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Officials are preparing to break ground for a monument that will honor Gold Star families in Mississippi - those who lost relatives in military service.A ceremony is set for 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center near Hattiesburg.Gov. Phil Bryant and the state adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Janson D. Boyles, are scheduled to speak.The Gold Star Families Memorial Monument was created by a foundation led by Hershel "Woody" Williams. He received a Medal
  
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• Lost hikers rescued from frigid NC mountains

  08-01-2017 12:59
  
  DURHAM, N.C. - Rescuers have found two hikers missing for more than a day in the frigid North Carolina mountains without food and water and only a small fire for warmth.The North Carolina Emergency Response Team said in a news release that a helicopter using a tool that can detect heat found the hikers around 5 p.m. Saturday in the Shining Rock Wilderness area about 25 miles southwest of Asheville.Authorities say the hikers had called 911 on Friday and again Saturday morning, saying their situat
  
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• Mississippi State team helps woman after car accident

  08-01-2017 12:56
  
  BATON ROUGE - A change in travel plans for the Mississippi State basketball team proved to be good fortune for a woman who was pulled out of her vehicle after a one-car accident.The Bulldogs were supposed to fly from Columbus, Mississippi, to Baton Rouge for their Southeastern Conference game Saturday against LSU. However, the deicer on the Mississippi State airplane failed to work, so the team took a bus to Baton Rouge.Around 3:55 p.m. Friday, a car heading north on Interstate 55 went out of co
  
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• 500 Muscovites brave intense cold for bike ride

  08-01-2017 12:53
  
  MOSCOW - For hundreds of Muscovites, the fact that the temperature had plunged to minus-27 Celsius (minus-17 F) was no reason to avoid going for a group bicycle ride.About 500 cyclists, many equipped with fur hats and other nonstandard gear, held a ride of about eight kilometers (five miles) along the Moscow River on Sunday as the capital shivered through a fierce cold snap. Sunday was the last of Russia's winter holiday period that stretches from New Year's through Orthodox Christmas.The roundt
  
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• Israel police: Palestinian truck attack kills 4 in Jerusalem

  08-01-2017 12:51
  
  JERUSALEM  - A Palestinian rammed his truck into a group of Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem on Sunday, killing four people and wounding 15 others, Israeli police and rescue services said, in one of the deadliest attacks of a more than yearlong campaign of violence.Security camera footage shown on Israeli Channel 2 TV showed the truck barreling at a high speed off the road and into the crowd of people in the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood. The truck is seen backing up quickly, apparently tryi
  
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• US official says 300 US Marines will deploy in Afghanistan

  08-01-2017 12:49
  
  KABUL, Afghanistan - Approximately 300 United States Marines will be deployed to train, advise and assist Afghan security forces in the southern province of Helmand.A Resolute Support Mission spokesman, U.S. Navy Capt. Bill Salvin in Afghanistan, said Sunday that the deployment will take place in the spring.Salvin said in a statement that the marines are scheduled to deploy for approximately nine months and will be working with the Afghan National Army's 215th Corps and the 505th Zone National P
  
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• Pope: Help those living on street in cold and indifference

  08-01-2017 12:47
  
  VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis is drawing attention to homeless people suffering from both freezing cold and indifference during Europe's frigid weather.In Italy alone, eight deaths were blamed on the cold, including a man who died in the basement of an unused building in Milan, and another on a street flanking Florence's Arno River. Francis prayed for those who "unfortunately didn't" survive the cold. He also asked God to "warm our hearts so we'll help" the homeless.The Vatican has distributed to
  
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• Syrian media: Car bomb in Damascus countryside kill 5

  08-01-2017 12:46
  
  BEIRUT - Syria's state news agency says a car bomb explosion in southwest Damascus has killed at least five people and injured 15 others.The car bomb was detonated Sunday outside Sasa, a village in rural Damascus. Opposition activists said al-Qaida-linked group Fatah al-Sham Front carried out the suicide attack against a security checkpoint. The state news agency didn't identify those killed, but said the injured included women and children.Despite a nationwide cease-fire declared on Dec. 30, op
  
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• 13 people die in a road crash in Pakistan

  08-01-2017 12:42
  
  ISLAMABAD - Pakistani police say 13 people have been killed in a head-on collision between a car and a passenger van in the eastern province of Punjab.Police official Naveed Ahmed said Sunday that the car's driver moved into the oncoming lane in an attempt to pass another vehicle and collided with a passenger van near the town of Suhawa.Ahmed said nine people were injured, some of them severely.Deadly traffic accidents are common in Pakistan, partially due to drivers commonly disregarding safety
  
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• Arson suspected in house fire where family is moving in

  08-01-2017 12:08
  
  BATON ROUGE - Baton Rouge fire officials were called to a house fire on Georgia St. early Sunday morning.According tothe Baton Rouge Fire Department, around 12:42 a.m. Sunday morning, emergency crews were called to the 2000 block of Georgia St. for a reported house fire.Fire officials were able to control the blaze in about 10 minutes, according to BRFD.No injuries were reported at the scene.Baton Rouge Fire investigators believe the fire was the result of arson, according to BRFD.Fire damage wa
  
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• Police: Suspect who shot LDWF agent arrested for attempted murder, second suspect arrested

  08-01-2017 11:35
  
  MONROE - Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Senior Agent Tyler Wheeler was shot multiple times during a vehicle stop on US 165 in Morehouse Parish early Saturday morning.State Police Detectives' investigation of the shooting lead to the arrest of 31-year-old Amethyst Baird of Monroe. Baird was charged and booked into the Ouachita Correctional Center on one count of attempted first degree murder of a police officer, according to State Police.During the investigation, State Po
  
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• Police: Suspect who shot LDWF agent arrested for attempted murder

  08-01-2017 11:35
  
  MONROE - Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Senior Agent Tyler Wheeler was shot multiple times during a vehicle stop on US 165 in Morehouse Parish early Saturday morning.State Police Detectives' investigation of the shooting lead to the arrest of 31-year-old Amethyst Baird of Monroe. Baird was charged and booked into the Ouachita Correctional Center on one count of attempted first degree murder of a police officer, according to State Police.During the investigation, State Po
  
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