Baton Rouge news

• NBA draft draws second-largest audience on ESPN

  23-06-2017 21:23
  
  NEW YORK - The NBA draft averaged more than 3.5 million viewers, the second-biggest audience ever on ESPN.
   The telecast Thursday peaked with 5.2 million viewers from 8:15 to 8:30 p.m. EDT, shortly after the first picks were made. Philadelphia took Markelle Fultz with the No. 1 selection and the Los Angeles Lakers went with fellow freshman guard Lonzo Ball at No. 2.
   The only larger audience was for the 2015 draft, the network said Friday.Permalink| Comments
  
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• Nevada's Heller opposes GOP health bill

  23-06-2017 20:44
  
  WASHINGTON - Nevada Republican Sen. Dean Heller says he opposes the GOP bill scuttling much of the Obama health care law, complicating the effort by party leaders to guide the measure through the Senate.
   Heller is the fifth GOP senator to declare his opposition.
   He faces a difficult re-election fight next year. He said Friday he would vote against the bill in its current form but did not rule out supporting a revamped, final version of it.
   The Senate measure would m
  
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• Lobbyist wounded in GOP baseball shooting leaves hospital

  23-06-2017 20:02
  
  WASHINGTON - Another victim of the mass shooting that critically injured a congressman is out of the hospital.
   The family of Tyson Foods lobbyist Matt Mika says he was released Friday from George Washington University Hospital.
   Mika was among five people hit by gunfire multiple times in his chest and arm in the attack on a Republican baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia, on June 14. The others were U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, two U.S. Capitol Police officers and a congressi
  
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• Grace "Mama" Marino, founder of Gino's Restaurant, dies Thursday

  23-06-2017 18:44
  
  BATON ROUGE – Grace "Mama" Marino, of Gino's Restaurant in Baton Rouge, died on Thursday night.
   The family of "Mama" Marino is mourning, however that won't stop them from making the best Sicilian food to patrons. "It's hard but we're doing what she would have wanted to do, nothing's going to change because everything she taught us is in here, and here, and we're going to keep the consistency," Gordie Wilt, head chef, said. Gino's Restaurant is the product of
  
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• Bizarre break leads to arrest in double murder case

  23-06-2017 18:21
  
  BAKER – Two people were charged Friday related to a double-murder earlier this month.William Bottoms, Jr., was charged with murder. Megan Marie Gaylord was charged with accessory after the fact.Baker Police originally arrested someone else, but those charges were dropped.The charges are for the deaths of Derrick Williams and Mohamed Hussain. The two men were found dead in a car in St. Helena Parish. They'd been killed in Baker, though.Detectives said the break in the case came when the
  
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• Final pick-up for flood debris in Central on Monday

  23-06-2017 18:15
  
  CENTRAL –  Residents will have one last chance to get their debris picked up in Central on Monday. Mayor Junior Shelton decided to deploy yard signs around the area to remind residents of the final pick -up. The mayor says that immediately following the 2016 August flood, countless streets in Central were lined with debris. "When you drive past, everything that you own on the street, it's demoralizing," Shelton said. Since then, the city has
  
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• High-ranking Southern official on leave; University in middle of two scandals

  23-06-2017 17:52
  
  BATON ROUGE – Southern University made the boldest step yet Friday toward acknowledging things are amiss at its campus overlooking the Mississippi River.In an email sent just before 6 p.m., the university announced Brandon Dumas was on administrative leave. The university said Dumas was on leave “pending a complete review of the procedures, practices, and activities” of Dumas' department – the Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management.The unive
  
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• Moldy MHU ruins flood victim's belongings

  23-06-2017 17:19
  
  BATON ROUGE - Another blow for a flood victim who's manufactured housing unit has become a haven for mold.Monique Commodore says the mold has been festering for a couple weeks. She's watched as the mold has taken over her personal belongings.   "More and more mold, everywhere," she said.As Commodore walks around her two-bedroom MHU, she opens cabinets where green mold has grown up and down the inside of the doors. Her son's shoes have mold growing on them and she spots a never
  
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• Sex tape scandal, other issues frustrate some Southern supporters

  23-06-2017 16:55
  
  BATON ROUGE – A blogger and Southern University alumnus chastised the school's administration for its handling of mounting issues on campus – most recently a sex tape purportedly leaked amid a scandal involving a high-ranking campus official and an underling.      BREAKING: Southern announced it placed a high-ranking official on leave amid two scandals at the university.  Click HERE to read more.In a note posted Friday, Da
  
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• Suspended 18th Judicial District judge announces retirement

  23-06-2017 16:51
  
  PLAQUEMINE – Suspended 18th Judicial District Judge Robin Free is retiring, according to a letter filed by the Louisiana Secretary of State. Free was suspended for one year and was ordered to pay an $11,000 fine in June 2016 after he was accused by the Judiciary Commission of interfering in both civil and criminal matters before his court. He was also accused of making inappropriate comments to defendants before him and holding people in contempt of court without rega
  
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• Report: Lafayette business, official Trump gear dealer, setting record

  23-06-2017 15:28
  
  LAFAYETTE – The company that essentially invented the strategy behind Donald Trump's popular “Make America Great Again” hat is set to ship its millionth order soon.Ace Specialties, Inc., run by Christl Mahfouz, detailed her success in a recent report by Bloomberg. Mahfouz has only granted a select few interviews, including one with WBRZ earlier this year.The most recent article delves more into how Mahfouz, 39, was on the verge of bankruptcy when she “&
  
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• Area man in jail on $70 million bond for locally-made child porn

  23-06-2017 15:23
  
  HAMMOND – A Hammond man is currently being held on a bond that is more than $70 million for allegedly filming inappropriate videos of children and uploading them to the internet. Louisiana State Police arrested 23-year-old Nicholas Paul Duvic on 300 counts of possession of child pornography, 300 counts of distribution of child pornography, one count of production of child pornography involving children under 13 years old and 24 counts of video voyeurism. An undercover
  
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• Farmers in 7 parishes eligible for federal disaster loans

  23-06-2017 14:55
  
  BATON ROUGE - Farmers and ranchers in seven Louisiana parishes are eligible for federal disaster loans if they lost money because of excessive rain throughout most of April and May.The U.S. Department of Agriculture designated Evangeline Parish as a primary natural disaster area because of rains from April 4 through May 23. The six adjacent parishes also qualify for Farm Service Agency disaster loans. Those are Acadia, Allen, Avoyelles, Jefferson Davis, Rapides and St. Landry p
  
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• 77 percent high school graduation rate in Louisiana for 2016

  23-06-2017 14:45
  
  NEW ORLEANS - Seventy-seven percent of Louisiana high school students graduated on time last year - a half-percentage point dip from 2015 but still well above the roughly 65 percent rate 10 years earlier.The state Department of Education released the figures Friday. It noted that 43 percent of the class of 2016 graduated with early college credit or some type of credential valued in industry - enhancing their future employment possibilities. That was a 6 percent increase from 2013.In a telephone
  
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• STPSO investigating fatal stabbing in Abita Springs, person of interest identified

  23-06-2017 14:38
  
  ST. TAMMANY – Deputies of the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office are investigating a fatal stabbing that occurred in the Abita Springs area on Thursday night.The incident occurred around 8:30 p.m. in the 20000 block of Highway 36. According to the sheriff’s office, two Hispanic men got into an argument at a trailer park and then one of the men fatally stabbed the other.Investigators have identified the victim as 20-year-old Javier Ortiz Flores.
  The person is intere
  
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• Critics of Senate health bill hope to sway GOP Sen. Cassidy

  23-06-2017 14:20
  
  BATON ROUGE - Both of Louisiana's Republican U.S. senators say they're studying the Senate GOP health plan. But advocacy groups seeking to keep the current federal law intact have their focus squarely on one of them, physician Bill Cassidy.Cassidy has indicated he has problems with the bill that won House passage, which was the building block for the Senate legislation unveiled Thursday.Those concerns seem to have critics of the Senate bill hoping they may have more leverage to persuade
  
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• Trump signs 'historic' bill to transform VA

  23-06-2017 14:12
  
  WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump has signed a bill into law designed to make it easier to fire Department of Veterans Affairs employees.Trump promised during the campaign to dismiss VA workers "who let our veterans down." He cast Friday's signing at a White House ceremony as fulfillment of that promise.Trump says the law represents one of the biggest reforms to the VA in a generation or more. He promised future steps to transform the VA "until the job is done." The measure was prompt
  
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• Man arrested for allegedly forcing 5-year-old to perform sexual act

  23-06-2017 13:58
  
  BATON ROUGE – A 23-year-old man was arrested after allegedly forcing a 5-year-old to perform a sexual act while she was staying with him for a weekend. Demarcus Moore was arrested for one charge of molestation of a juvenile. According to the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office, the girl was in Moore's custody over the weekend of April 21 through April 23. The girl disclosed to a family member what occurred while staying with Moore and an interview with the Baton
  
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• Rep. Scalise out of ICU, remains hospitalized after shooting

  23-06-2017 13:08
  
  WASHINGTON, D.C. - Louisiana U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise is out of the intensive care unit at the hospital where he's been since he was shot last week.ABC News confirmed he was out of ICU but still in the hospital. Friday, he was listed in “fair condition.”Scalise, the House majority whip and a republican from the New Orleans area, was shot on Wednesday, June 14 by a gunman who appeared to have targeted GOP lawmakers. Scalise and others were practicing for an upcoming charity bas
  
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• TCU to meet Florida again after 9-2 College World Series win

  23-06-2017 13:07
  
  OMAHA, Neb. - Evan Skoug hit a bases-clearing double, four TCU pitchers combined on a five-hitter, and the Horned Frogs beat Florida 9-2 on Friday night to force a second Bracket 2 final at the College World Series.
   The teams will meet again Saturday night, with the winner advancing to the best-of-three finals starting Monday.
   Skoug was 2 for 13 in the CWS when he came up in the sixth inning with two outs and the bases loaded. He lined reliever Frank Rubio's 2-2 pitch into th
  
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• St. Vincent de Paul to hold 'Super Garage Sale'

  23-06-2017 12:38
  
  BATON ROUGE - The Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Greater Baton Rouge will hold its annual "Super Garage Sale" on Saturday. Items like accessories, antiques, books, clothes and tools will be available.   All proceeds will go to help SVdP's charity services such as disaster relief, shelter and food programs.The sale will be set up in the charity's parking lot located on the corner of Florida St. and North 17th St. from 7 a.m. - 2 p.m.  Perma
  
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• Alternating lane closures on I-12 for patch work begin Friday

  23-06-2017 12:29
  
  BATON ROUGE – Alternating lane closures on I-12 east and west bound between the I-10/I-12 split and the Livingston Parish line will begin Friday. The lane closures will run through Friday, June 30 and begin at 8 p.m. each night until 5 a.m. the following morning, weather permitting. According to DOTD, at least one lane in either direction will be open at all times. The closures are necessary for concrete patching and related work. DOTD reminds drivers to use
  
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• Suspected stalker tried to blow up woman's car

  23-06-2017 09:13
  
  BATON ROUGE – A man's anger over a woman's refusal to date him turned into a violent rage, authorities said, that ended when he tried to blow up the woman's car recently.Ja'Quan East, 23, was booked into jail overnight on arson and terrorizing charges. East is accused of threatening an unidentified woman on social media then lighting her car on fire. The car was parked near a house and the fire spread to part of the home – full of people, authorities wrote in arrest documents
  
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• More legal fight ahead over Mississippi LGBT law

  23-06-2017 08:03
  
  JACKSON, Miss. - Attorneys will try again to block a Mississippi law that would let merchants and government employees cite religious beliefs to deny services to same-sex couples.
   A 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Thursday reversed a judge's decision that blocked the law before it could take effect last July.
   Robert McDuff is an attorney for some of the people who sued to try to block the law. He says that within two weeks, he will either ask the entire 5th Circuit
  
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• Trump declares he doesn't have Comey recordings; Yellowstone grizzly bears to lose protections (10 Things to Know for Friday)

  23-06-2017 06:06
  
  Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Friday.
  
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