Baton Rouge news

• Hot words after New Orleans flood, pump problems revealed

  09-08-2017 20:47
  NEW ORLEANS - A mounting chorus of critics is calling it unacceptable that pumping problems in New Orleans contributed to widespread weekend flooding.  Among them is the head of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, which puts on one of New Orleans' most popular Mardi Gras parades.  The Zulu headquarters and store flooded Saturday, just blocks from one of the city's 24 pumping stations. As volunteers hauled out soggy insulation Wednesday, Zulu President Naam
  
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• Purse snatcher prompts security boost at Gonzales Wal-Mart

  09-08-2017 20:31
  GONZALES - Police are stepping up security at the Wal-Mart on Airline Highway in Gonzales after several reported purse thefts.Gonzales Police say they are investigating after surveillance video showed a man following women around the store before snatching their possessions away. "There is an issue. There are purses that are being attempted to be snatched, there are purses that are being snatched," said Charlotte Smith, spokesperson for Gonzales PD.The man, wearing a sleeveles
  
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• Police erroneously report woman's death; Remains in critical condition after I-12 jump

  09-08-2017 20:03
  WALKER- The Walker woman who jumped from a moving vehicle Wednesday is in critical condition at a hospital, police said.Walker Police identified the woman as 26-year old Whitney Shantel Cotton. According to Walker Police Spokesman, Captain John Sharp, the incident occurred at approximately 7:15 Wednesday evening. “From our preliminary investigation, we have learned that Ms. Cotton was a passenger in a pickup truck driven by her fiancé, Matthew Vincent Roberts (27)
  
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• Police arrest suspect in trucker's random slaying

  09-08-2017 17:35
  BATON ROUGE – A teenager on the verge of being an adult seemed to have been headed deep down a dark road of crime when he was arrested for the random slaying of an out-of-town truck driver.Police announced late Wednesday, Landry Carter, 18, was arrested in connection with the death of Keith Odom earlier in the week. Odom, from Tennessee, was murdered in a robbery while he was with his 18-wheeler in the parking lot of a strip mall on the 12000 block of Florida Boulevard.Odom's shooting
  
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• District Attorney seeking list of confidential names released by mayor's office

  09-08-2017 16:55
  BATON ROUGE – District Attorney Hillar Moore went door-to-door to area news agencies, asking reporters to return items released by city hall that contained confidential information dealing with kids who sought BRAVE services in an effort to turn their lives around.The list – nine names – were of youngsters who were listed as “clients” of BRAVE. Moore said the names are so secret, he is not allowed to know the names of those who are involved in t
  
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• EBR Metro Council votes in favor of parish-wide smoking ban

  09-08-2017 16:33
  BATON ROUGE - The East Baton Rouge Metro Council has voted in favor of a parish-wide smoking ban after months of deliberations.The proposal aims to ban smoking in all public places across the parish, including businesses like casinos and bars. The ban is set to take effect next June.The proposed ban was first introduced in 2016 and has been the topic of debate in several Metro Council meetings since then. On Wednesday, the majority of council members voted to approve the propo
  
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• Report: Gym owner makes no apologies for 'No Cops' sign

  09-08-2017 16:08
  ATLANTA, Ga. - A vulgar sign displayed at the front of a gym in Atlanta is drawing national attention after the owner declared he would not allow police officers or military members at his business.According to to a report from WXIA, the sign posted out front of the East Atlanta Village Gym has a very clear message. A local passerby took a photo of the sign which says, in no uncertain terms, that the business does not serve police officers.WXIA talked to the gym's owner, who is not mak
  
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• WANTED: Pair suspected of burglarizing vehicle with child in tow

  09-08-2017 15:36
  BATON ROUGE - Detectives with the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office are seeking two suspects accused of burglarizing a vehicle in the parking lot of the Our Lady of the Lake Emergency Room.According to the sheriff's office, the two were seen on surveillance video as they burglarized the vehicle at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital on August 7. Photos released by the sheriff's office show the two suspects walking through the area, with the male suspect carrying a small child in one arm.&
  
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• Family in fear after man held for ransom, sodomized at Baton Rouge home

  09-08-2017 15:35
  BATON ROUGE – Police are searching for three people connected to a violent attack on a man that left the victim's family living in fear as the trio made a slew of ransom demands recently.Almoine Lemar Powell, Damar Xavier Coleman and Samuel Josea Smith, Jr., are wanted on various charges related to kidnapping, sexual battery and false imprisonment with a weapon. Police are actively looking for the men who all share the same address on Underwood Avenue.The WBRZ Investigative Unit learn
  
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• DA Hillar Moore releases statement on BRAVE funding controversy

  09-08-2017 14:51
  BATON ROUGE - District Attorney Hillar Moore issued a statement Wednesday addressing the controversy surrounding a Baton Rouge crime-fighting initiative.Moore, who was one of the co-signers of BRAVE, says the program has been an overall success and that recent attention brought to Mayor Sharon Weston Broome's suspended contracts has distracted from its benefits. "I firmly support each citizen’s right to review how their funds are being spent.  I am very conc
  
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• Man serenades his 98-year-old grandma with 'Unforgettable' on her birthday

  09-08-2017 14:48
  Prepare yourself, this video of a man singing "Unforgettable" to his 98-year-old grandmother on her birthday is a real tearjerker.Ash Ruiz, a singer/songwriter and a life coach in Boulder, Colorado, and former member of the band Menudo, posted the video to his Facebook page on Aug. 2, his grandmother's 98th birthday."When I was 8 years old she [his grandmother Gina Rosa Offord DiSanto Evangelista Ciasco] taught me how to sing 'Unforgettable' by Nat King Cole because it was her
  
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• United Airlines apologizes to the owners of dog that died on plane

  09-08-2017 14:38
  HOUSTON — United Airlines is apologizing to the owners of dog who died in the cargo hold of a plane on a flight from Houston to San Francisco.A United spokesman said Tuesday that the airline is reviewing the incident.KTRK-TV in Houston reports that a local family says their 5-year-old Cavalier King Charles spaniel was on a flight that was delayed on the ground for two hours Sunday.The Transportation Department says a dog died in June on a United flight from New Jersey to Florida. That
  
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• Louisiana student scores edge up on college admissions exam

  09-08-2017 14:29
  BATON ROUGE - Louisiana's public high school students performed slightly better on the ACT college readiness test in the most recent results, continuing a trend of improvement for the last four years.  The state education department said Wednesday the average composite score for students during the last school year reached 19.6, edging up from 19.5 in 2016. The average has gradually increased from 19.1 since the 2012-13 school year.  Public school graduates h
  
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• Parents' lawsuit blames schools for bullying, child suicide

  09-08-2017 14:23
  CINCINNATI - A federal lawsuit says a "treacherous school environment" that allowed and covered up bullying led to the suicide of an 8-year-old Ohio boy.  The wrongful death suit filed Monday by the parents of Gabriel Taye names officials at his elementary school and at the Cincinnati Public Schools district as defendants.  Attorneys have said his mother didn't know her son was bullied until the lawyers saw a Cincinnati police detective's email describing the
  
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• Judge blocks law requiring birth certificates to marry

  09-08-2017 14:13
  BATON ROUGE - A federal judge has permanently blocked enforcement of a Louisiana law that prevented foreign-born U.S. citizens from getting married if they couldn't produce a birth certificate.  U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle's ruling Tuesday resolves a lawsuit that Lafayette resident Viet Anh Vo filed last year after he and his U.S.-born fiancee had their application for a marriage license rejected two weeks before their wedding.  The permanent injunction
  
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• Police suspect elaborate scheme targeted people everywhere

  09-08-2017 13:49
  SLIDELL – An elaborate cell phone scam may have duped people in the Baton Rouge area, though officials in St. Tammany say while there hasn't been a solid connection yet, a woman's alleged scheme was so involved, there are likely victims in many, many places.Yarenis De La Cruz, 32, of New York, was arrested in Slidell on charges she opened fake cell phone accounts. De La Cruz faces similar charges in the Lafayette area and officials told WBRZ, they believe she drove I-10 then I-12 to g
  
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• St. Amant welcomes students back for first day

  09-08-2017 13:33
  BATON ROUGE - Back to school for some St. Amant students and staff meant coming back home for the first time.At St. Amant Primary, Wednesday was the first day the students had been back on their campus since last August's floods."Normally our teachers have time throughout the summer to prepare for the first day of school," said St. Amant Primary Principal Paisely Morgan. "They've only had a couple of days to work their magic and the classrooms look phenomenal.""I'm looking forward to having the
  
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• Local Girl Scouts awarded Girl Scout Gold Award

  09-08-2017 13:25
  BATON ROUGE— Local Girl Scouts Lacey Bowman of Prairieville and Abigail Vinson of Denham Springs were just two of seven young women who recently received the prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award.The Girl Scouts received their awards at a pinning ceremony at the Governor’s Mansion on August 2. The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout Senior or Ambassador can earn, and received by only a few Girl Scouts nationwide.Bowman is a former member of Girl Scout Ambassa
  
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• Parents upset after baseball tournament in Omaha won't refund money after canceled game

  09-08-2017 12:46
  ASCENSION--Two baseball tournament teams were ready to play in the World Baseball Village tournament in Omaha, NE. Days before the tournament, a tornado tore through the town and destroy the baseball complex, canceling the tournament.Wayne Grenfell is the director of the "Sun Devils" baseball tournament league in Ascension and understands natural disasters are out of his control, but wants the baseball organizer to refund more than $7,000."You know we had five teams scheduled in Louisiana to pl
  
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• Metro Council meeting gets heated over BRAVE Contracts

  09-08-2017 12:38
  BATON ROUGE - Things got heated during Wednesday's Metro Council meeting when they discussed the controversy surrounding the mayor's BRAVE contracts. Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome was not present for the discussion but was a focus of the conversation. "We now have our first female, African-American mayor," Councilman Lamont Cole said. "She is publicly being stoned as a result of trying to do something to help the community and no one has anything to say about t
  
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• New Ochsner facility for River Parishes

  09-08-2017 09:25
  LAPLACE- A large Louisiana medical system is expanding operations between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.Ochsner Health System says in a news release that a 20,000-square-foot (1,860-square-meter) River Parishes medical complex opened Tuesday in LaPlace. The opening completes relocation from the former River Parishes Hospital.Spokesman Paul Loisel says it includes a 24-hour, 7-days-a-week emergency department and onsite laboratory, radiology and diagnostic imaging services. It's also part of Ochsn
  
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• Arrests made in connection with MS armed robbery

  09-08-2017 09:03
  PASCAGOULA, Miss.- Authorities say a man and woman have been arrested in connection with an armed robbery of a guest at a Mississippi hotel.The Sun Herald reports the robbery occurred at a Regency Inn on Sunday. Authorities say officers arrived at the hotel around 11 p.m. and spotted 19-year-old Anthony Leon Hurst Jr. entering a hotel room.Pascagoula police Capt. Doug Adams says officers learned that Hurst had a Taurus 9 mm Millennium handgun during the robbery.Investigators also determined Hur
  
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• Class is in session: schools in Ascension, EBR and Livingston Parish resume

  09-08-2017 07:52
  The bells are ringing and school is back in session in a few local parishes. Ascension, East Baton Rouge and Livingston Parish schools resumed this morning. The WBRZ 2Une In crew went to all three to take a look at how these parishes have come along since last year's flood. In Ascension, students and teachers at the recently renovated St. Amant Primary School were taking in the new classrooms as well as welcoming back some familiar faces.Back to school for St
  
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• Multiple agencies participate in early morning warrant roundup

  09-08-2017 07:37
  BATON ROUGE - The Baton Rouge Police Department, along with the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office and other police agencies, conducted an early morning warrant roundup in North Baton Rouge Wednesday.According to Assistant Uniform Patrol Commander Lt. Robert McGarner with BRPD, it's a task authorities have been preparing to do since before last year's flood."We want to go out and see if we can make contact with some defenders that either had gun charges, narcotics charges, or domestic v
  
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• Suspicious fire tears through a clothing store in Louisiana

  09-08-2017 06:49
  NEW ORLEANS- Officials say they're investigating a suspicious fire that tore through a clothing store in Louisiana and damaged two other businesses.News outlets report the blaze began inside of a Brands for Less clothing store Tuesday at around 3:45 a.m. Forty-six firefighters arrived at the store to find it engulfed in flames with the front window broken.Two other spaces had moderate water and smoke damage. The fire was brought under control in 35 minutes. No injuries were reported.The New Orl
  
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• Resident accidentally shoots himself with gun

  09-08-2017 06:06
  BATON ROUGE- A man accidentlly shot himself with his own gun at his residence this morning.At a house off of Warkwick Avenue a resident thought he heard a noise in his home. The man grabbed his gun, but unfortunately ended up shooting himself in the stomach.As far as investigators can tell, there was no one else in the house.Permalink| Comments
  
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• President Donald Trump's voter fraud commission could cause problems

  09-08-2017 05:54
  CHERRY HILL, N.J. - A voter fraud commission established by President Donald Trump could make it easier for hackers to get voter registration information.The possibility is ironic since the commission is charged with rooting out voter fraud, something that election experts say is not a widespread problem in the U.S. The panel asked election officials across the country for public information about voters. Most states are complying.Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes says keeping
  
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• LIVE UPDATES: Back to school traffic

  09-08-2017 05:37
  BATON ROUGE - News 2's Ashley Fruge’ has you covered with live updates for your Wednesday 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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