Baton Rouge news

• Angry customer throws order back at Pita Pit employee

  18-07-2017 21:36
  
  BATON ROUGE - Police were alerted to an unusual case Tuesday after an angry customer threw a sandwich at a Pita Pit employee, claiming his order was wrong.It was Tuesday afternoon when two women entered the restaurant on Sherwood Forest Boulevard and ordered three pita sandwiches. Employee Lucas Mehrtens, who's worked at Pita Pit for the past four years, says he served the women and went about his day.But the pair soon walked back to the register and told Mehrtens the restaurant had gotten thei
  
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• Officer gives account in Australian woman's death

  18-07-2017 21:13
  
  MINNEAPOLIS - The investigation into the fatal shooting of an Australian woman by Minneapolis police so far depends on one officer's account.  Justine Damond, a spiritual healer and bride-to-be, was shot Saturday night by Officer Mohamed Noor soon after she called 911 to report what she thought was a sexual assault in the alley behind her home.  Noor's partner, Matthew Harrity, told investigators he was startled by a loud sound near their squad vehicle right
  
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• House to vote on Trump's $1.6B border wall request next week

  18-07-2017 21:10
  WASHINGTON - House Republicans are moving next week to fund President Donald Trump's $1.6 billion request to begin construction of his oft-promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.  Aides said Tuesday evening that GOP leaders have decided to attach the money - to build 74 miles of fencing and levee wall in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas and near San Diego - to a spending bill for the Defense Department and a handful of other agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs.&
  
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• Prosecutor will appeal order to ID 'false subpoena' lawyers

  18-07-2017 21:09
  
  NEW ORLEANS - A Louisiana prosecutor says he'll appeal an order to turn over names of lawyers who used what the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana calls "false subpoenas."  ACLU executive director Marjorie Esman says Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro is trying to hide the truth.  Cannizzaro says his office would have to shut down for weeks to comply with the order.  The ACLU sued after news agencies reported that Cann
  
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• Senate 'Obamacare' repeal vote coming next week

  18-07-2017 21:04
  
  WASHINGTON - Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the Senate will vote early next week on trying to move ahead on a straight-up repeal of Barack Obama's health care law.  McConnell made the announcement Tuesday night. He says the vote was at the request of President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.  Three Republican senators - Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia - have turned on McConnell's re
  
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• Soccer complex opening soon at Lamar Dixon Expo Center

  18-07-2017 19:06
  
   ASCENSION – A new soccer complex at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center is set to open soon. The Expo Center is one of Ascension Parish's biggest attractions. "It gives you a lot of chances to get away from the everyday busy life over here. It's like you're in your own little world," visitor Joel Gros said.Soon, the Expo Center will get a state-of-the-art soccer complex. "This was all a part of President Matassa's vision," Ascension Parish spokesman Martin
  
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• Southern University seeking medical marijuana cultivator

  18-07-2017 18:29
  
  BATON ROUGE - Southern University is reviewing applications from several vendors vying to become the schools dedicated medical marijuana cultivator.The university is still in the early planning stages of its marijuana cultivating facility, but is already reviewing applications from seven different vendors, hoping to become Southern's cultivator.The seven vendors are as follows: ·         Advance
  
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• City wants parking permit back from convicted thief

  18-07-2017 17:53
  
  BATON ROUGE- The problems continue to grow tonight for the former CATS Board Member Montrell McCaleb who stole money to pay his cable bill and was featured in a WBRZ Investigative Unit report last month for creating non-profits with no track records of helping the community.
  When The Investigative Unit caught up with McCaleb this summer, he was using a city issued parking permit. Non-profits, churches and other people who do work for the city can apply through the city for one. It allows you to
  
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• Livingston, West Feliciana Parish schools to provide free meals for students

  18-07-2017 17:11
  
  The Livingston Parish and West Feliciana Parish public school districts have announced plans to offer free meals to students for the 2017-2018 school year. According to Superintendent Rick Wentzel, all students enrolled in Livingston Parish Public Schools will be eligible to receive a free breakfast and lunch for the incoming school year.The West Feliciana Parish School District also announced it amended its policy for serving meals and will serve all students breakfast and lunch every
  
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• Ascension, Livingston, West Feliciana Parish schools to provide free meals for students

  18-07-2017 17:11
  
  The Livingston Parish and West Feliciana Parish public school districts have announced plans to offer free meals to students for the 2017-2018 school year. According to Superintendent Rick Wentzel, all students enrolled in Livingston Parish Public Schools will be eligible to receive a free breakfast and lunch for the incoming school year.The West Feliciana Parish School District also announced it amended its policy for serving meals and will serve all students breakfast and lunch every
  
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• Shopping carts litter neighborhood, man wants them gone

  18-07-2017 16:50
  
  BATON ROUGE - Dozens of shopping carts from stores on College Drive in Baton Rouge are not staying in the parking lots. They can be found in ditches and on streets far away from the businesses where they belong and many people are tired of seeing them.Vernon Pitcher has lived of Balis Drive for decades and says his neighbors are the repeat offenders. He's asking for them to stop littering his community."I'm tired," he said. "I'm tired of talking about, I'm tired of taking them back, I'm tired o
  
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• 'Swamp People' star wrangles gator in Plaquemine neighborhood

  18-07-2017 16:34
  
  PLAQUEMINE - Authorities got some unexpected help in the form of a reality TV star after a large alligator wedged itself in a fence in a Plaquemine neighborhood.The Plaquemine Police Department was called to scene near the corner of Foundry Street and Nadler Street after receiving reports of a wild alligator Tuesday afternoon. Upon arrival, officers found a large alligator stuck in the fence behind a house. Police secured the area and kept bystanders from getting too close to the gator.There, t
  
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• Governor reviewing status of embattled state police commissioner

  18-07-2017 16:24
  
  BATON ROUGE - Governor John Bel Edwards is taking another look at a member of the State Police Commission in light of recently-revealed indications that the commissioner improperly used his authority to try to get tickets fixed.
  In a report Monday, WWL-TV reported that Calvin Braxton appears to have used his position on the commission to persuade Florida authorities to dismiss a 2015 traffic ticket.Edwards knew of that incident last year when he reviewed a request by the troop
  
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• 65-year-old man dies in crash in St. Helena Parish

  18-07-2017 16:22
  
  ST. HELENA – A 65-year-old Amite man died in crash on LA 43 at the intersection of LA 16 St. Helena Parish on Tuesday morning. According to Louisiana State Police, the crash took the life of Jesus Luis Munoz. The crash occurred as Munoz was driving a Ford F-150 northbound on LA 43 around 11:40 a.m. As Munoz approached the intersection of LA 16, he attempted to turn left. According to Louisiana State Police, when Munoz turned, he failed to yield to a Ford F-350 that w
  
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• WATCH: Office building burglar turns out to be goat

  18-07-2017 16:09
  
  LOUISVILLE, Colo. - Employees at an office building in Colorado arrived at work Monday to discover that a brazen criminal had broken into their place of business. Or so they thought.Workers at Argonics Incorporated in Louisville discovered their office had been broken into Monday morning, but nothing appeared to have been stolen. Surveillance video soon revealed just what unfolded at the scene of the break-in.A surveillance camera captured the entire incident on video, revealing the culprit was
  
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• Edwards administration still devising plan to withhold $60M

  18-07-2017 15:46
  
  BATON ROUGE - Gov. John Bel Edwards' administration hasn't yet settled on its plan for withholding $60 million from state agencies as a deficit-avoidance measure.  The governor's chief budget adviser, Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne, says the administration will announce next month which agencies will be told to lessen their spending plans. He says he's collected information from the chief financial officers of each department to help make those decisions.&nbsp
  
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• EBRSO Sgt. Bruce Simmons to return to work soon following 2016 ambush

  18-07-2017 14:50
  
  BATON ROUGE – A deputy who was injured last year during an ambush on law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge, is returning to work. East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office Sergeant Bruce Simmons was shot while responding to reports of a man with a rifle at the B-Quik on Airline Highway on July 17, 2016. Simmons was shot while trying to help Deputy Nick Tullier, who was shot and wounded during the ambush. Simmons was shot in the left arm, resulting in several bones being shattered,
  
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• EBRSO: Man wanted for vehicle burglary in Central subdivision

  18-07-2017 14:45
  
  CENTRAL - Sheriff's deputies are seeking a man after surveillance footage recorded him burglarizing a vehicle in a Central subdivision.According to the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office, surveillance video recorded the burglary early Friday morning in the Morgan Place West subdivision.Video shows a white male entering an unlocked truck and stealing cash and a flashlight in the 12000 block if Wickwood Avenue. The suspect then left the scene in a dark-colored sedan/coupe. He was last see
  
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• Tillotson Road in Ascension Parish to close for repairs

  18-07-2017 14:27
  
  PRAIRIEVILLE - A Prairieville roadway will be closed for repairs starting Thursday.According to the Ascension Parish Department of Public Works announced that Tillotson Road will be closed from West Lane to Parker Road, for five days. The roadway will be closed for repairs as part of the 2017 Asphalt Reconstruction & Overlay Improvements Project.The closure will be in effect from Thursday, July 20, through Monday, July 24.Permalink| Comments
  
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• Man arrested for attempted armed robbery of a post office

  18-07-2017 14:14
  
  COLLINSTON - A man who authorities say attempted to rob a Louisiana post office has been arrested.  The News-Star reports Orlando Mansfield was charged with armed robbery and illegal carrying of a firearm by a convicted felon.  Morehouse Parish Sheriff Mike Tubbs says they were alerted to a possible robbery at a post office in Collinston at around 1:40 p.m. on Friday.  Deputies responded to the location and were able to obtain a des
  
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• Wave of criminal activity ends with gunfire in BR neighborhood

  18-07-2017 13:57
  
  BATON ROUGE – Police have worked somewhere in the neighborhood of three-dozen investigations in the Old South Baton Rouge area since the beginning of the month data posted on the city's Citizen Connect portal shows.A check of reports of crimes came Wednesday morning after a wave of overnight violence left two people injured. Two were shot on Kentucky Street around 11 o'clock Tuesday night and police were dispatched to two other locations along Highland Road following the shooting due
  
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• Two shot in Old South Baton Rouge

  18-07-2017 13:57
  
  BATON ROUGE - Police are investigating three separate scenes across several blocks after two people were shot in Old South Baton Rouge.Just after 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, officers responded to a vacant lot on Highland Rd. at W. Buchanan where they found one person suffering from gunshot wounds. Officers also searched an abandoned car related to the investigation.Officer were also dispatched to the 2000 block of Maryland St. where another male gunshot-victim was found lying on a porch.One block West
  
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• Investigation leads to arrest of man for indecent behavior with 12-year-old

  18-07-2017 13:32
  
  BATON ROUGE – A Baton Rouge man accused of soliciting sex with a 12-year-old girl online was arrested Monday after a multi-state investigation. His attorney said he has a "severe intellectual disability" that should be taken into consideration.Joshua Guadamud, 31, was arrested on one count of indecent behavior with a  juvenile. The warrant for his arrest says he was chatting online with a girl who said she was 12, and that he indicated that he wanted to have sex with
  
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• Mississippi reports 3rd West Nile virus case in human

  18-07-2017 13:20
  
    JACKSON - Mississippi health officials report the third human case of West Nile virus this year.The Mississippi State Department of Health says the reported case is in Forrest County, where the state's first confirmed case was located. The other case was in Rankin County. The department only reports laboratory-confirmed cases. In 2016, Mississippi had 43 West Nile virus cases and two deaths.State officials, in a news release Tuesday, noted that people throughout Miss
  
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• Two people shot, multiple crime scenes after overnight shooting

  18-07-2017 13:15
  
  BATON ROUGE – Mayhem broke out along Highland Road in Old South Baton Rouge late Tuesday as police worked a shooting on one street and incidents a few blocks away related to the gun violence.Two people were shot in the 1900 block of Kentucky around 11 o'clock. Police said the shooting victims were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.After the shooting, there were related situations on the 2300 block of Highland Road near W. Buchanan Street and also near the corner of Maryl
  
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• 9-year-old boy on mission to give donuts to cops in every state

  18-07-2017 13:09
  
  EAST STROUDSBURG COUNTY, Fla. - A 9-year-old boy from Florida is on a personal mission to thank every police officer in the country. According to a report from WNEP, Tyler Carach is traveling from state to state, hand-delivering boxes of donuts to state troopers and police officers."Cops are my best friends and they keep people safe," Tyler told WNEP.The self-proclaimed "Donut Boy" and his mother, Sheena, are on the latest journey in this mission, a six-week trek up and down t
  
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• Knock Knock Children's Museum to open August 22

  18-07-2017 13:00
  
  BATON ROUGE – The Knock Knock Children's Museum announced its doors will open on Tuesday, August 22. The announcement comes after more than a decade of work from volunteers and advocates for early education, a partnership with The Recreation and Parks Commission for the Parish of East Baton Rouge and the support from the community, officials say. The museum is location in City Brooks Community Park on Dalrymple Drive in Baton Rouge. Officials say the museum will be a
  
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• Repairs for three flood-damaged schools to be completed this summer

  18-07-2017 12:13
  
  LIVINGSTON - Repairs at three campuses damaged by the August 2016 flood will be completed before the start of the 2017-2018 school year, according to Livingston Parish Public Schools Superintendent Rick Wentzel.The three campuses, Freshwater Elementary and Northside Elementary in Denham Springs, and Springfield High School will be completely repaired by the start of school on Aug. 9.Five other campuses damaged in the flood have received restoration work this summer, but will not be completely r
  
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• TRAFFIC ALERT: Multiple incidents jam traffic on the west side

  18-07-2017 07:26
  
  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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• TRAFFIC ALERT: Earlier incident jams traffic on I-10 E

  18-07-2017 07:26
  
  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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• Health bill care collapse leaves divided GOP at crossroads

  18-07-2017 06:17
  
  WASHINGTON - The implosion of the Senate Republican health care bill leaves a divided GOP with its flagship legislative priority in tatters. And it confronts a wounded President Donald Trump and congressional leaders with difficult decisions about addressing their seven-year-old promise of repealing President Barack Obama's law.
   Two GOP senators - Utah's Mike Lee and Jerry Moran of Kansas - sealed the measure's doom late Monday when each announced they would vote "no" in an initial, cr
  
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