Baton Rouge news

• Keep Walt Green as U.S. attorney, Baton Rouge law enforcers ask Trump administration

  14-03-2017 21:52
  
  DA Hillar Moore III, others write letter backing chief prosecutor who was asked to resign
  
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• Tip leads to arrest in Circle K robbery spree

  14-03-2017 20:40
  
  BATON ROUGE - The Louisiana State Police task force arrested a suspect Tuesday in connection with multiple Circle K robberies that occurred over the weekend.Police say a tip led to the arrest of 48-year-old Robert Aaron of Baker. Aaron is responsible for the robberies that occurred at the College Drive and Sherwood Forest stores late Sunday night.Aaron was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Jail on two counts of first degree robbery.A third robbery, on Florida Boulevard, is still under inve
  
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• Bicyclist in critical condition after being struck by vehicle

  14-03-2017 20:15
  
  BATON ROUGE - A man has been taken to the hospital after a crash involving a bicycle and a car on Florida Boulevard.Crews responded to the incident in the 12000 block of Florida Blvd. around 8 p.m. Tuesday night.The incident occurred when a man attempted to cross the westbound lanes of Florida Blvd. on a bicycle, according to BRPD. He was then struck by the vehicle. Sources say the bicyclist was taken from the scene by EMS in critical condition.We will update
  
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• Trump releases tax info ahead of TV report

  14-03-2017 19:51
  
  WASHINGTON - The White House says President Donald Trump made more than $150 million in income in 2005 and paid $38 million in income taxes that year.The acknowledgement comes as MSNBC host Rachel Maddow says she has obtained part of Trump's 2005 tax forms.The White House is pushing back pre-emptively, saying that publishing those returns would be illegal.It says, "You know you are desperate for ratings when you are willing to violate the law to push a story about two pages of tax returns from o
  
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• Netflix to finish and release Orson Welles' final film

  14-03-2017 19:48
  
  NEW YORK - Orson Welles' last film finally has a home. Netflix has acquired the global rights to Welles' "The Other Side of the Wind" and will finance its completion and restoration.Netflix's announcement Tuesday brings to a close the decades-long mystery surrounding one cinema's greatest filmmakers. Welles never completed the film, which he began shooting in 1970. The "Citizen Kane" director died in 1985."The Other Side of the Wind" is a Hollywood satire about a filmmaker attempting a comeback.
  
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• Trump expected to roll back fuel economy rules

  14-03-2017 19:37
  
  WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump will travel to Michigan Wednesday, where he is expected to roll back federal fuel-economy requirements that would have forced automakers to significantly increase the efficiency of cars and trucks built in the next decade.The fuel-economy standards were a key part of former President Barack Obama's strategy to combat global warming.Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt are expected to join Trump on the visi
  
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• Fire that destroyed Tyler Perry's father's home under investigation

  14-03-2017 17:48
  
  ST. HELENA PARISH – A fire that completely destroyed the home of Emmitt Perry, the father of comedian and actor/writer Tyler Perry, on Monday night is under investigation.Fire officials think that it could have been an electrical fire, but they are not ruling out other options.Emmitt Perry said that he heard a noise and then saw flames."I hear something popping in the attic. I went upstairs and looked at it....I didn't smell smoke, or see smoke,then I went outside and I saw the flames
  
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• Nine arrested for drug charges in Ascension Parish

  14-03-2017 16:55
  
  ASCENSION – The Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office arrested nine individuals for several drug charges.Deputies executed an arrest warrant on Monday on 31-year-old Joseph Babin, wanted for the cruelty charges. Babin was arrested at his home in Gonzales, where illegal drugs were also found. Marijuana, methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and several weapons were found inside the home.Additionally, eight others were arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamine, possession of mari
  
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• Employee on paid leave following incident with Bernard Terrace Elementary student

  14-03-2017 16:15
  
  BATON ROUGE – An employee is on paid administrative leave following an incident with a student at Bernard Terrace Elementary School.According to East Baton Rouge Parish School System officials, the incident caused an injury to the mouth of a student. However further details about the incident have not been released at the time of this post.The incident has also been reported to the Department of Children and Family Services and law enforcement officials.More information will be added t
  
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• Jefferson Parish animal shelter employee charged with stealing $97K

  14-03-2017 15:57
  
  MARRERO - A Jefferson Parish Animal Shelter employee has been accused of stealing almost $100,000 in cash from customers.NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune reports 37 year-old Laquita Goudy was arrested on March 8 on a theft charge. Authorities say Goudy pocketed payments from customer's animal adoptions and rabies vaccinations while she worked at a shelter in Marrero.Jefferson Parish Officer John Fortunato says officials were alerted to a possible theft when a concerned co-worker notified the departme
  
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• One dead following motorcycle crash in Livingston Parish

  14-03-2017 15:16
  
  LIVINGSTON PARISH - Deputies are investigating a deadly crash that pinned a motorcyclist under a truck near Albany Tuesday afternoon.The preliminary investigation suggests the motorcycle driver was attempting to pass a vehicle when he crashed into another turning vehicle. Sources say the motorcycle slid under the truck, pinning the man beneath the vehicle on James Chapel Road.The 41-year-old victim was transported to North Oaks Medical Center where he later died from his injuri
  
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• Five indicted in 'gangsters with guns' shooting death

  14-03-2017 15:02
  
  DONALDSONVILLE – An Ascension Parish grand jury has indicted five individuals for a January shooting death in Geismar.District Attorney Ricky Babin says Javante Haynes, Jyvariel Harvey, Kentrell Lewis, and Jonathan Darville were indicted on second-degree murder charges. Rachel Bueche was also indicted for accessory after the fact to second-degree murder.Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched to a home on Carrie Lane on Jan. 9 following reports of gunshots
  
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• Pesky hole, safety hazard fixed on Park Blvd

  14-03-2017 14:58
  
  BATON ROUGE - A hole in the street is repaired and residents living along Park Boulevard are excited to see change.For over a year, people living along Park Boulevard near Tulip Street have been avoiding part of the intersection. As of Tuesday morning, traffic can move smoothly again because the street has been repaired."Glad that they're here," said Nels Anderson who lives across the street from the intersection. "At one point they had it covered with a great big metal plate, which was a help."
  
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• Deputies bust pot snack delivery, seize several pounds of edibles

  14-03-2017 14:01
  
  BATON ROUGE – Detectives say a man was arrested after he brought his 3-year-old to deliver 2.6 pounds of marijuana edibles Monday.According to the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, a search warrant was issued for Terrell Booker’s vehicle and Lobdell home. Monday, EBRSO detectives seized 8 bags of marijuana, $1095 in cash, 3.5 pounds of edibles and a stolen pistol.Deputies say Booker admitted to making and selling the edibles and having the pistol.Booker wa
  
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• IRS revokes white nationalist group's tax-exempt status

  14-03-2017 13:46
  
  Prominent white nationalist Richard Spencer says he doesn't have any evidence that his nonprofit organization lost its tax-exempt status for politically motivated reasons.Spencer told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he is confident his group, the National Policy Institute, can regain its tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The Los Angeles Times first reported that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service recently revoked the group's tax exemption for failing to file tax returns for three c
  
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• American brings back free meals on some flights

  14-03-2017 13:46
  
  DALLAS, Tx. - American Airlines says it will offer free meals to everyone in economy on certain cross-country flights starting May 1.The decision at the world's biggest airline copies Delta Air Lines, which announced a month ago that it would restore free meals in economy on a dozen long-haul U.S. routes this spring.American said Tuesday that it will open the kitchen on nonstop flights between New York and both Los Angeles and San Francisco. The airline says that passengers will get a continenta
  
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• Marine leaders vow to combat online nude photo sharing

  14-03-2017 13:44
  
  WASHINGTON - The top U.S. Marine says he intends to fix the problem that led to current and former Corps members sharing nude photos of female Marines online and making lewd or threatening comments about them.Angry and skeptical senators are saying the military hasn't done enough.Gen. Robert Neller, the Marine Corps commandant, tells the Senate Armed Services Committee that he will hold Marines accountable. He says changes have to be made in the Marine Corps culture, where some male Marines don'
  
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• Dolly Parton fund helps 921 who lost homes in wildfires

  14-03-2017 13:40
  
  PIGEON FORGE - Dolly Parton's My People Fund has issued monthly checks to 921 people who lost their homes in deadly wildfires that ravaged East Tennessee last year.The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that Dollywood Foundation President David Dotson said the fund received more than 80,000 donations in December and January, which has allowed it to issue the checks.The wildfires struck in November, killing 14 people in the Gatlinburg area and destroying or damaging thousands of buildings.Parton sai
  
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• Louisiana governor urges Congress to keep Medicaid expansion

  14-03-2017 13:36
  
  BATON ROUGE - Gov. John Bel Edwards is urging Congress to keep the Medicaid expansion program intact as they work to replace President Barack Obama's health care law.Louisiana's Democratic governor sent a letter Tuesday to Republican and Democratic congressional leaders. In it, he says he has "serious concern" with the GOP health plan because it would end the higher federal financing rate for Medicaid expansion in 2020.Edwards embraced the expansion, making Louisiana the 31st state to participat
  
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• NY AG says Tillerson used alias in emails on climate change

  14-03-2017 13:35
  
  DALLAS - The New York attorney general says that while Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was CEO of Exxon he used an alias in emails to talk about climate change.The attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, made the accusation in a letter to a New York court Monday. He is investigating whether the company deceived investors and the public by hiding for decades what it knew about the link between fossil fuels and climate change.Schneiderman says Exxon failed to disclose that Tilleson used an account n
  
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• Sax in space: French astronaut delighted with birthday gift

  14-03-2017 13:30
  
  CAPE CANAVERAL - This is one cosmically cool sax - and saxophone player.France's musical astronaut Thomas Pesquet is enjoying a special birthday present delivered to him up at the International Space Station. The saxophone arrived in a SpaceX cargo ship on Feb. 23, and his crewmates kept it hidden until his 39th birthday on Feb. 27.He revealed the birthday surprise this week via Twitter.Pesquet has been in orbit since November, and still has a few months left. He's a former pilot for Air France.
  
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• Naked man rescued from California sandwich shop after fall

  14-03-2017 13:19
  
  NAPA, Calif. - Rescue workers had to remove part of a wall to pull a naked man out of a sandwich shop where he spent the night trapped inside a narrow passage.San Francisco television station KRON-TV reported that a construction crew arriving at a Napa job site Tuesday heard faint calls for help coming from the closed shop.Authorities say it appears the man fell into the shaft from the roof of the building.A construction worker told the television station the man said he was looking for a wishin
  
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• The Pledge of Allegiance: St. Lillian Academy

  14-03-2017 12:02
  
  BATON ROUGE- Today's Pledge of Allegiance comes from Ms. K's class at St. Lillian Academy.Be sure to watch The Daily Pledge every weekday on 2une In at 5:58 a.m. to see if your child's school is featured!Permalink| Comments
  
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• House fire reported on Calumet Street

  14-03-2017 11:58
  
  BATON ROUGE – Crews are on the scene of a house fire on Calumet Street.The fire occurred around 10:45 a.m. on Tuesday.There are no reported injuries at the time of this post.This story will be updated as more information becomes available. Permalink| Comments
  
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• Calumet Street house fire caused by pot left on stove

  14-03-2017 11:58
  
  BATON ROUGE - Crews responded to a house fire in the 3100 block of Calumet Street on Tuesday morning.According to the Baton Rouge Fire Department, the fire started in the kitchen of the home. Firefighters were able to contain the fire to that room of the home, however the rest of the home received smoke damage.According to the fire department, the house received an estimated $20,000 worth of damages.One resident of the home was transported to a local hospital with injuries that were not life-thr
  
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• Former Destrehan teacher pleads guilty in student sex case, gets probation

  14-03-2017 11:53
  
  GRETNA- The Jefferson Parish District Attorney's Office says a former high school teacher has been sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to having a sexual relationship at her apartment in Kenner with one of her students.Twenty-seven-year-old Kimberly Naquin pleaded guilty Monday to carnal knowledge of a juvenile and prohibited sexual contact between a teacher and student.A district attorney's news release says Naquin was a teacher at Destrehan High School in St. Charles Parish when the r
  
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• Texas executes man convicted of killing 2

  14-03-2017 11:35
  
  HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Texas prison officials have executed a Fort Worth man condemned for killing a father and his 4-month-old son during a Christmas Eve rampage nearly 30 years ago that also left two other men shot to death.James Bigby was pronounced dead at 6:31 p.m. Tuesday evening. He was the fourth Texas inmate and the sixth nationally to receive lethal injection this year.The 61-year-old Bigby was convicted of fatally shooting 26-year-old Michael Trekell and suffocating Trekell's infant son
  
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• 57-year-old becomes oldest winner of Iditarod

  14-03-2017 11:31
  
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A 57-year-old musher, Mitch Seavey, has become the oldest winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.Seavey arrived in Nome, Alaska, on Tuesday to claim his third victory in the nearly 1,000-mile race across the Alaska wilderness. He also won in 2004 and 2013.He outran his son, defending champion Dallas Seavey. The elder Seavey said he didn't relish being runner-up the past two years.The Seaveys have cemented their legacy as mushing royalty in Alaska. They have won the last s
  
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• Suspect identified in Navajo tribal officer's shooting death

  14-03-2017 11:29
  
  PREWITT, N.M. - Authorities say the man suspected of gunning down a tribal police officer on the nation's largest American Indian reservation was found hiding on a ridge not far from his rural home in western New Mexico.The McKinley County Sheriff's Office in a report obtained by the Navajo Times identified the suspect as Kirby Cleveland.He's in federal custody. The FBI has not commented about the suspect and its ongoing investigation.The sheriff's office was among the law enforcement agencies t
  
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• Man wounded by police responding to Mississippi bank robbery

  14-03-2017 11:23
  
  RIDGELAND, Miss. - A 16-year-old bank robbery suspect in Mississippi was wounded after being shot by at least one police officer.Ridgeland Police Chief John Neal says the suspect was hospitalized with wounds that are not considered life-threatening.Neal says a masked person robbed a branch of BancorpSouth about 2 p.m. Tuesday. He says 12 to 15 officers arrived when the suspect was about a quarter mile from the bank. The chief says he does not know which officer or officers fired weapons as the p
  
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• Ethanol spills in Iowa as train cars pulled from creek

  14-03-2017 11:18
  
  GRAETTINGER, Iowa - Environmental officials say about 1,600 gallons of ethanol leaked into a northwestern Iowa creek as crews were pulling three derailed train tankers from the water.A news release Tuesday from the Iowa Natural Resources Department says the last three tankers from the fiery train derailment were pulled from Jack Creek on Monday. One spilled about 1,500 gallons, and another spilled about 100 gallons.DNR environmental specialist Amber Wolf says water tests later taken downstream s
  
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• State Workforce Commission tornado assistance deadline is Wednesday

  14-03-2017 11:12
  
  BATON ROUGE - The clock is ticking for those affected by February's tornadoes to receive assistance from the State Workforce Commission.Wednesday, March 15 is the last day to get assistance from the commission. It's been more than a month since tornadoes touched down in parts of southeastern Louisiana. Dallis Urwin saw an EF-2 tornado rip through his hometown of Watson."It feels like it's been a long time because I'm struggling..to do anything," Urwin said.Urwin recalled the moments before the c
  
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• Texas lawmaker mocks abortion law with call for masturbation fines

  14-03-2017 08:58
  
  AUSTIN  - A Texas lawmaker is making a point about legislation that restricts women's access to health care and abortions by proposing to fine men $100 when they masturbate.Alongside the penalty for wasting semen not resulting in a pregnancy, state Rep. Jessica Farrar's bill would require a "medically unnecessary digital rectal exam" before any man undergoes a vasectomy or can be prescribed Viagra.The 11th term Democrat tells the Houston Chronicle that her bill mimics how a woman seekin
  
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• Report: Driver in Gulf Shores Mardi Gras parade accelerated before crash

  14-03-2017 08:35
  
  GULF SHORES - A police report shows a 73-year-old driver was trying to close a gap in a Mardi Gras parade on the Alabama coast when he struck members of a high school marching band, injuring a dozen.WKRG-TV reports Gulf Shores police have released a report detailing the Feb. 28 accident.It shows that a driver identified as Larry Rathbun told officers he was driving in the parade behind the Gulf Shores High School band when someone in the road instructed him to speed up to close a gap.Rathbun tol
  
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• Bicyclist struck by school bus on Florida Blvd

  14-03-2017 08:02
  
  BATON ROUGE – First responders say a bicyclist suffered minor injuries after he was struck by a school bus Tuesday morning.The crash happened just after 7 a.m. near the intersection of North Foster Drive and Florida Blvd.  According to Baton Rouge Police the bicyclist was transported from the scene with minor injuries.No one on the bus was hurt.Accident: Foster Dr at US 190 Bus. School bus hit pedestrian, minor injuries.— WBRZ Traffic (@WBRZtraffic) March 14, 2017Per
  
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• Sheriff's drone finds teens who fled military-style program

  14-03-2017 07:51
  
  BENTON - It was night, and three runaways were hiding in woods. A sheriff's deputy put up a drone with a thermal imaging camera, and found them within a minute.Two were quickly detained. The camera showed that the third ran through the woods and crossed Interstate 20 in the dark.The Bossier Parish Sheriff's office said Monday that the drone was deployed last Wednesday night, looking for teenagers who escaped from Youth Challenge, a military-style training program at Camp Minden.Sheriff Julian Wh
  
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• Commission ready to fund highway safety proposals

  14-03-2017 06:52
  
  BATON ROUGE - The Louisiana Highway Safety Commission is inviting government agencies and private sector groups to apply for grants aimed at reducing highway fatalities.The commission says in a Monday news release that the applications should be for projects aimed at reducing fatalities, injuries and crashes. The proposals are being sought from local and state government agencies, corporations, hospitals, safety advocacy organizations, schools and individuals.Proposals can deal with any of a var
  
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• Police looking for suspect in gas station robbery spree

  14-03-2017 06:47
  
  BATON ROUGE – Detectives are trying to identify the man accused of robbing several Circle K stores across Baton Rouge earlier this week.According to Baton Rouge Police, the first robbery happened around 11:30 p.m. Sunday at 3373 Florida Blvd. location. The second crime happened at 2959 College Drive an hour later. A third robbery happened at 2205 S. Sherwood Forest around 2 a.m.Detectives say the suspect posed as a customer then placed his hands inside his sweatshirt implying that he w
  
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• Live updates for your Tuesday commute

  14-03-2017 05:09
  
  BATON ROUGE - News 2's Ashley Fruge has you covered with live updates for your Tuesday morning commute.Beat the traffic every time using WBRZ's advanced traffic tracking technology. Click here to go to our traffic center. Tweets by WBRZtrafficPermalink| Comments
  
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