Baton Rouge news

• Without evidence, Spicer says inauguration drew a record audience

  21-01-2017 20:41
  
  WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's press secretary is declaring that Trump's inauguration had the largest audience in history "both in person and around the globe."Sean Spicer insists that, "This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period."Spicer offers no evidence to support the claim. It is not known how many people watched the ceremony on television around the globe. In the U.S., Nielsen estimates 31 million viewers watched TV coverage, but that's less than B
  
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• White House edits Melania Trump's official bio

  21-01-2017 20:38
  
  WASHINGTON - The White House has edited first lady Melania Trump's official bio to remove a reference to the QVC shopping network.When posted Friday, the White House website said the former model had launched her jewelry collection - Melania Timepieces & Jewelry - on the online and TV retailer in 2010.A spokesperson for the first lady says the website was updated later Friday out of "an abundance of caution" to remove the name of her jewelry line.The White House says the jewelry lin
  
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• Homeless rates in Louisiana decline since 2009

  21-01-2017 16:51
  
  BATON ROUGE - Federal data shows there's been a significant drop in homelessness in Louisiana over the past seven years.According to the U.S. Housing and Urban Development's Point-in-Time count, which tracks the number of homeless people living in shelters or on streets on a single night in January, there were an estimated 3,994 people in the state in 2016, compared to 4,081 in 2015 and 12,504 in 2009.Officials say that's a 68 percent drop since 2009.Louisiana Housing Corporation Executive Direc
  
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• Police: drunk man attacks girlfriend then crashes car

  21-01-2017 16:49
  
  BATON ROUGE – Police say a man faces DWI and battery charges after driving while impaired and crashing his car on LSU Avenue early Saturday morning.According to Baton Rouge Police, an officer observed Oscar Tovar driving in the 700 block of LSU Avenue when he attempted to turn on Emory Avenue. Police say Tovar did not yield to traffic and crashed into another car.Arrest records say the officer saw a 12 ounce bottle in the center console with beer spilling out as he approached
  
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• Pounds of marijuana stuffed in YETI cooler seized in drug bust

  21-01-2017 15:35
  
  BATON ROUGE – Deputies say a Baton Rouge man faces felony drug charges after narcotics agents seized three pounds of marijuana stuffed in a YETI cooler at his apartment complex Friday.Arrest records say 20-year-old Brett Labasse was charged with distribution/manufacturing of schedule one drugs. According to the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office, agents recieved a warrant to search Labasse's Ben Hur Road apartment after conducting a controlled purchase earlier in the d
  
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• Petition seeks Trump's tax returns

  21-01-2017 14:45
  
  WASHINGTON - An online petition seeking the release of President Donald Trump's full tax returns has garnered more than enough signatures to merit a White House response.The petition was created on Inauguration Day and had more than 135,000 signatures by midday Saturday. Under rules established by former President Barack Obama, a petition needs 100,000 signatures within 30 days to get a response. It's unclear whether Trump's White House will respond.The petition says the public must be
  
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• Women's marches scheduled for New Orleans

  21-01-2017 14:15
  
  NEW ORLEANS - Louisianans are expected to gather in New Orleans in solidarity with the scheduled Women's March on Washington to draw attention to opposition to President Donald Trump's proposed policies.Louisiana groups, including Women's March New Orleans, Our Revolution, NOW Baton Rouge and Millennials March have joined together to highlight the importance of holding elected officials accountable to maintain civil victories gained by women, people of color and the LGBT community.Scheduled spea
  
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• Protesters in New Orleans demonstrate against Trump policies

  21-01-2017 14:15
  
  NEW ORLEANS - Thousands have gathered in New Orleans to oppose President Donald Trump's proposed policies.Louisiana groups, including Women's March New Orleans, Our Revolution, NOW Baton Rouge and Millennials March, joined with others Saturday to highlight the importance of holding elected officials accountable to maintain civil victories gained by women, people of color and the LGBT community.The march was in solidarity with the Women's March on Washington.Despite a forecast of heavy rain, 41-y
  
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• Jury awards $15M to survivor of deadly crash

  21-01-2017 14:04
  
  ATLANTA - Nearly two years after a Louisiana truck driver caused a seven-car crash killing five Georgia Southern University nursing students, a jury has awarded a survivor $15 million in a civil suit.The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports jurors deliberated for about four hours Friday before deciding on the amount that trucking company Total Transportation of Richland, Mississippi, and its parent company, U.S. Express, must pay Megan Richards.Richards, of Loganville, was released from the hosp
  
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• Israeli president invites Trump to Israel

  21-01-2017 13:51
  
  WASHINGTON - Israel's president has congratulated President Donald Trump on his inauguration and invited him to Jerusalem.Reuven Rivlin sent a letter Saturday, at the end of the Jewish Sabbath, and thanked Trump for being "a longstanding friend" of Israel.Israel made great efforts to refrain from taking sides in the election. But after repeated clashes with ex-President Barack Obama, Israel's nationalist right has high expectations for Trump.Trump's chosen ambassador to Israel has close ties to
  
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• Rescuers search for avalanche survivors, fear more slides

  21-01-2017 13:40
  
  FARINDOLA, Italy - Using saws, shovels and their gloved hands, rescue workers advanced slowly Saturday through the wreckage of an avalanche-destroyed hotel in central Italy, listening hard for any signs of more survivors among the 23 missing guests and hotel workers.Falling snow reduced visibility and raised new fears that a fresh wall of snow could suddenly barrel down upon the emergency workers at the site in Italy's Apennines mountains. Rescuers were working around the clock and said the risk
  
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• 18-year-old running for Gretna mayor

  21-01-2017 13:37
  
  GRETNA - The majority of Gretna's elected leadership - the five incumbents on the City Council and the police chief - have each been automatically returned to office after no one filed to run against them last week.But things didn't go quite that way for Mayor Belinda Constant.The Advocate reports William Boartfield Jr., an 18-year-old high school senior and state Green Party co-chairman, qualified to run against Constant, a Democrat finishing her first term as mayor.Boartfield says he will run
  
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• Unrestrained driver killed in late night crash, impairment suspected

  21-01-2017 13:34
  
  PORT ALLEN - A woman was killed just before midnight Friday evening after she rear-ended a vehicle and crashed off the side of the road in West Baton Rouge.According to State Police, troopers were called to the scene on Interstate 10 west of LA 415 in reference to a two vehicle crash.The crash claimed the life of 37-year-old Catherine Haase of Simmesport.State Police said an initial investigation revealed Haase was traveling westbound on I-10 in a 2006 Hyundai Sonata. Then, for
  
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• National WW2 Museum to host traveling propaganda exhibit

  21-01-2017 13:34
  
  NEW ORLEANS - The National World War II Museum says it will host a traveling exhibition about propaganda from Jan. 27 through June 18."State of Deception : The Power of Nazi Propaganda" comes from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.A news release says it shows, chronologically, how the Nazis used biased information to sway public opinion in the years leading up to and during World War II.It also looks at what propaganda is, how it operates, why it works and why it is important to p
  
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• 16 killed in fiery bus crash on Italian highway

  21-01-2017 13:31
  
  ROME - A bus carrying Hungarian school students home from a skiing trip to France slammed into a highway barrier in northern Italy and caught fire, killing at least 16 people, police said Saturday. Thirty-nine people survived, though some were seriously injured.No other vehicles were involved in the crash, and it wasn't clear why the bus hit the overpass support column on the highway near Verona just before midnight, said police commander Girolamo Lacquaniti.Sixteen badly burned bodies were pull
  
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• Protesters fill entire march route in Washington

  21-01-2017 13:29
  
  WASHINGTON - A massive turnout at the Women's March on Washington has forced a change of plans. With the entire planned route filled with hundreds of thousands of protesters, organizers can't lead a formal march toward the White House.That's according to a District of Columbia official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official isn't authorized to speak for the march.The official says that shortly before 1 p.m., people were standing along the entire march route.While there
  
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• Police say no arrests at Women's March in DC

  21-01-2017 13:29
  
  WASHINGTON - A day after more than 200 people were arrested in Washington while protesting the inauguration of President Donald Trump, the Woman's March on Washington didn't yield a single arrest.That's according to the District of Columbia's homeland security director, Christopher Geldart.Friday's protests were led by self-described anarchists, and federal prosecutors say most of those arrested will be charged with felony rioting.Geldart says, "I think our Metropolitan Police Department perform
  
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• Ex-boyfriend charged in crime that killed the mother of his children

  21-01-2017 12:48
  
  BATON ROUGE – Police have arrested a father accused of being an accomplice to the crime that killed the mother of two of his children.Robert Williams was booked in to the East Baton Rouge Parish jail overnight. He’s charged with Principal to Second Degree Murder.Back on January 10th, Baton Rouge Police officers were called to Williams' ex-girlfriend’s home, on the 900 block of Grebe Street. Inside the home, police discovered Robyn Hale, a mother of three, had been s
  
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• Trio busted for prostitution operation at massage parlor

  21-01-2017 12:38
  
  BATON ROUGE- Three individuals were arrested in connection to an alleged prostitution operation at a massage parlor on Goodwood Blvd.According to arrest records, beginning in October 2016, detectives with the Baton Rouge City Police Narcotics Division received a compliant of human trafficking and prostitution by massage from a business.Detectives began frequenting this business, located at 8786 Goodwood Blvd. Suite 109, posing as "clients," according to authorities.Once there, detectives began r
  
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• Clinton: Protesters 'marching for our values'

  21-01-2017 09:54
  
  WASHINGTON - A city official in Washington says the turnout estimate for the Women's March on the National Mall now stands at 500,000 people. That's more than double the initial predictions.Kevin Donahue is Washington's deputy mayor for public safety and justice. He says on Twitter that organizers of the march are increasing the turnout estimate to half a million.There were early signs across Washington that Saturday's crowds could top those that gathered on Friday to watch President Donald Trum
  
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• Bond set for illegal immigrant arrested in rape and throat cutting

  21-01-2017 09:48
  
  BATON ROUGE - Bond for the illegal immigrant charged with the attempted murder, kidnapping and rape is set at $475,000.Manuel Mejia was taken into custody by investigators Thursday, hours after the woman he is accused of sexually assaulting received treatment for a cut to the throat. Mejia and the victim arranged for a meet up where Baton Rouge detectives say she went willing, but the encounter turned violent after police spokesman says the victim was bound and raped for hours at a Bake
  
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• Tornado rips through parts of south Mississippi, killing 4

  21-01-2017 08:17
  
  HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Four people were killed early Saturday when a tornado ripped through the Hattiesburg area, officials in Mississippi said.The city of Hattiesburg said via its Twitter account that four people had died after a tornado blew through the city and surrounding area.Mayor Johnny DuPress has signed an emergency declaration for Hattiesburg. Significant injuries and structural damage was reported.The city also said via Twitter that Hattiesburg firefighters and police are going door-to-
  
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