Baton Rouge news

• Two arrests amid protests around Trump Tower

  14-08-2017 21:09
  NEW YORK - Police say two people have been arrested on disorderly conduct charges near Trump Tower, where a throng of demonstrators gathered as President Donald Trump headed home.  The president's motorcade pulled up to Trump Tower on Monday night. It approached from a direction that bypassed the thousands of protesters and a far smaller group of supporters awaiting him.  The protesters carried signs with such messages as "impeach" and "stop the hate, stop th
  
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• NC protesters pull down Confederate statue

  14-08-2017 21:07
  CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Protesters in North Carolina have toppled a long-standing statue of a Confederate soldier.  Activists on Monday evening used a rope to pull down the monument outside a Durham courthouse. Video footage posted online shows protesters - some white, some black - kicking the crumpled bronze statue as dozens of people in the crowd cheered and chanted.  The Durham protest was in response to a white nationalist rally held in Charlottesville, Vi
  
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• US WWII vet in Japan to return flag to fallen soldier family

  14-08-2017 21:04
  HIGASHISHIRAKAWA, Japan - A U.S. Marine who served in the Pacific during World War II is in a remote village in Japan to return a flag he took from the body of a fallen Japanese soldier 73 years ago.  Marvin Strombo knew the calligraphy-covered flag was more than a keepsake of the war. It was a treasure that would fill a void for the dead man's family, but Strombo didn't know how deep that void was.  The flag he is to hand over to Sadao Yasue's siblings Tuesd
  
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• Texas A&M says planned 'white lives matter' rally posed security risk

  14-08-2017 19:47
  COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M University says it is canceling a planned "white lives matter" rally on its campus next month "because of concerns about the safety of its students, faculty, staff, and the public."  Attempting to organize the event on Sept. 11 was a former A&M student who said he was inspired by the weekend's "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.  But, in a statement Monday evening, the university says, "Linking the
  
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• Mattis: US would 'take out' any NKorean missile aimed at US

  14-08-2017 19:21
  WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says the U.S. will "take out" any North Korean missile it detects is heading for American soil, including the Pacific island of Guam.  Mattis says a North Korean missile strike on the U.S. would mean war.  North Korea has said it is considering a plan to launch four ballistic missiles to land in the sea just short of Guam.  Asked how the U.S. would respond, Mattis initially declined to say. 
  
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• High turnover, caseloads in Louisiana foster care program

  14-08-2017 19:06
  BATON ROUGE - Louisiana's social services agency has been so short-staffed amid repeated budget cuts that it didn't ensure the safety of its foster children.  That's the finding of a new Legislative Auditor's report covering the Department of Children and Family Services from 2012 through 2016, during former Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration.  The audit says the agency didn't always conduct required background checks on foster parents and allowed some to tak
  
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• Mississippi has 25 West Nile cases, 1 death this year

  14-08-2017 18:23
  JACKSON, Miss. - Mississippi says six new cases of West Nile virus bring the state's total this year to 25.  State Health Department officials say the death toll remains at one, in Grenada County.  A news release Monday says the new cases were in Clay, Forrest, Hinds, Leake, Lowndes, and Rankin counties.  Hinds County now has six cases this year, with four in Forrest, three in Rankin, and one each in Clay, Covington, Grenada, Humphreys, Jone
  
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• Flooding concerns linger over concrete wall planned for new I-10 widening project

  14-08-2017 18:01
  BATON ROUGE - Residents in the Santa Maria subdivision are sounding the alarm this evening, after the state announced part of the I-10 widening project between Baton Rouge and Prairieville will include a concrete wall. That wall turned into the subject of litigation following the August 2016 flood in Livingston Parish. Elected leaders and residents in Walker, Denham Springs and other communities in Livingston Parish say the wall acted as a dam. Hugo Marrero still has sandbags
  
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• Homeless man arrested; accused of killing 68-year-old

  14-08-2017 17:52
  LAKE CHARLES - Louisiana police say a homeless man is accused of bludgeoning a 68-year-old man to death.  Lake Charles police say in a news release that they have arrested 29-year-old Rolando Anthony Massingill on a warrant accusing him of first-degree murder in the death of Wayne Keith Reynaud.  Deputy Chief Mark Kraus says detectives got information that Massingill was in Kinder, about 35 miles northwest of Lake Charles. He says they, Kinder police, federal
  
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• EBRSO: Suspected child molester faces new charges after second victim comes forward

  14-08-2017 15:22
  BATON ROUGE - Deputies have arrested a man suspected of raping a teenage girl on new charges after another victim came forward this month.According to the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office, 25-year-old Nicholas Waxley of Pride was booked on charges of molestation of a juvenile Monday after a victim told authorities of an encounter that occurred three years ago.The victim, who was 16 years old at the time of the incident, told officers that Waxley had forced her to per
  
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• Young girl dead after car plows into Paris pizzeria

  14-08-2017 15:21
  PARIS - French police say a little girl was killed and at least five people were injured when a driver slammed his car into the sidewalk cafe of a pizza restaurant in a small town east of Paris.  An official with the national gendarme service said the driver was arrested soon after the incident Monday night in the town of Sept-Sorts.  The official said the act was deliberate and the driver is suicidal. The official was not authorized to be publicly named acco
  
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• Florida man wrecks liquor store, blames it on caterpillar

  14-08-2017 14:56
  CRESTVIEW, Fla. - A Florida man arrested for destroying a liquor store under construction told police he was Alice in Wonderland and that a "hookah-smoking caterpillar" ordered him to attack the site.  Crestview police said in a post on Facebook that Matthew Horace Jones is accused of breaking into a fenced-in area and using a forklift to cause more than $100,000 in damage. He faces grand theft felony and other charges.  Witnesses called 911 and police went t
  
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• Man pulls gun at church during self-defense discussion

  14-08-2017 14:17
  PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - Authorities say a Florida man pulled a gun on a martial arts instructor at a church during an argument over using firearms for self-defense.  A Port St. Lucie police report says martial arts instructor Christopher Lasala was at Grace Christian Academy on Sunday discussing with parents an afterschool class he is starting. When one asked about guns, Lasala replied they aren't always the best choice for self-defense.  Lasala and witnesses
  
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• Louisiana recruiting for fight against nutria

  14-08-2017 14:08
  NEW ORLEANS- Louisiana is recruiting coastal landowners, trappers and hunters for its fight against nutria - an invasive rodent that eats so much aquatic vegetation that it threatens swamps and marshes.Department of Wildlife and Fisheries biologist Catherine Normand says a lot of private property isn't enrolled, and the owners are missing a chance to protect their property and the coast.Nutria eat constantly, demolishing the plants that hold together fragile marshes. In most of the world, they'
  
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• Lawson fails to appear in court for Matassa bribery case

  14-08-2017 14:02
  GONZALES - Monday morning, former Ascension Parish President Kenny Matassa was in court for a motions hearing regarding his bribery charges. However, the man who accused Matassa of offering him money, was not. Wayne Lawson, says Matassa and a Gonzales business man offered him cash to drop out of the Gonzales City Council District E race. Lawson was subpoenaed for the hearing this morning to submit his tax returns.
  
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• Gonzales police seek armed robbery suspect

  14-08-2017 13:49
  GONZALES - Police are searching for a suspect who is believed to be responsible for an armed robbery at Advance America in Gonzales.According to the Gonzales Police Department, the robbery occurred early Saturday morning. Police offered few details, but released photos of the suspect that were captured on the business' surveillance cameras.No injuries were reported as a result of the robbery.Anyone with information regarding the suspect's identity is urged to contact police at (225) 64
  
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• Debris being cleared from Denham Springs canals, basins

  14-08-2017 13:39
  DENHAM SPRINGS - The City of Denham Springs is clearing out hundreds of debris-filled catch basins and canals in order to address frequent flooding issues. According to a post on the city's Facebook page, 257 catch basins were vacuumed out and nearly 6,000 feet of outflow canals have been cleared of debris. City officials say they have identified 179 locations with pipe issues and are developing a plan to fix them. They have predicted it will take 18 months to fix the
  
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• Mayor-President Broome announces launch of childhood development program

  14-08-2017 13:31
  BATON ROUGE — Last week, Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome announced the launch of her Cradle to K initiative. A program she says is part of her ongoing commitment to education at all stages of life. The program focuses on early childhood development and school readiness for children up to the age of five. The peer-oriented program consisting of expecting and current mothers will serve as a platform for parents to share ideas and advice.“We now know that
  
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• BREC receives grant to construct trail connecting Downtown and North Baton Rouge

  14-08-2017 13:05
  BATON ROUGE – Thanks to a large federal grant, a new bike/walking trail is in the works.Monday morning, BREC received a federal grant valued at more than $3.7 million to construct a multi-use trail connecting Downtown and North Baton Rouge.The first phase of the project will begin at Memorial Stadium Sports Complex and end at Scotlandville Parkway. This phase will connect people and neighborhoods along the way to recreational facilities, schools, churches and more. The second
  
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• Ben Carson praises Louisiana flood program

  14-08-2017 12:55
  DENHAM SPRINGS- President Donald Trump's Housing and Urban Development head gave Louisiana's flood response a ringing endorsement Monday. Ben Carson said he was "very impressed" with how the state is using the HUD money allocated for the Restore Louisiana program."I don't think any state has more experience in dealing with disasters than Louisiana," said Carson. "And that's one of the reasons we wanted to come here because there's a lot of knowledge here that can be spread around the rest of th
  
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• Watson residents remember 2016 flood, learn from experience

  14-08-2017 12:21
  WATSON - People in the Livingston Parish town of Watson are still recovering after getting more than 30 inches of rain during last year's flood.One couple went door-to-door as the water rose, and remember the Friday before the devastation as a picture perfect day."I had pictures of my kids in the pool at 6:30 Friday evening it was beautiful," Jodi Rushing said. "About 2:30 in the morning an alarm went off and woke us up and I was like, I'm just gonna go look, just gonna go look. And it took a m
  
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• Firefighters respond to house fire on Oswego Street

  14-08-2017 12:11
  BATON ROUGE - The Baton Rouge Fire Department responded to a reported house fire on Oswego Street Monday night.According to BRFD, the cause of the fire is still unknown. Crews arrived at the home in the 3100 block of Oswego Street around 8 p.m. to find smoke coming from the house.The fire was contained to one of the bedrooms, while the house received little fire and smoke damage, according to BRFD.Seven people were present at the time of the fire, but no one was hurt. Red Cross was called to as
  
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• Gert strengthens into season's 2nd hurricane in Atlantic

  14-08-2017 12:00
  MIAMI  - Forecasters say Gert has strengthened to become the second hurricane of the season in the Atlantic Ocean.  The National Hurricane Center says Gert was about 445 miles (720 kilometers) west of Bermuda late Monday and had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph). The storm was moving north at 8 mph (13 kph).  Gert is expected to strengthen in the next 48 hours. The forecast calls for it to turn toward the northeast and increase its forward
  
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• SpaceX is about to launch a few tons of research to the International Space Station

  14-08-2017 09:31
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.- SpaceX is about to launch a few tons of research to the International Space Station, plus ice cream.An unmanned Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to blast off at 12:31 p.m. Monday from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. Experiments make up most of the 6,400 pounds of cargo. That includes 20 mice.The Dragon capsule is also doubling as an ice cream truck this time. There was extra freezer space, so NASA packed little cups of vanilla, chocolate and birthday cake ice cream for the sta
  
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• GoDaddy taking away internet domain from white nationalist website

  14-08-2017 08:10
  CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.- A prominent white nationalist website that promoted a Virginia rally that ended in deadly violence Saturday is losing its internet domain host.GoDaddy tweeted late Sunday night that it has given the Daily Stormer 24 hours to move its domain to another provider because the site has violated GoDaddy's terms of service.GoDaddy spokesman Dan Race tells the New York Daily News that the Daily Stormer violated its terms of service by labeling a woman killed in an attack at the ev
  
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• United States wants to peacefully resolve standoff with North Korea

  14-08-2017 07:43
  WASHINGTON- The top U.S. military officer says the United States wants to peacefully resolve a deepening standoff with North Korea but is also ready to use the "full range" of its military capabilities in case of provocation.The comments by Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford in meetings Monday with senior South Korean military and political officials appeared to be an attempt to ease anxiety over tit-for-tat threats between President Donald Trump and North Korea while also showing a willingness t
  
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• Pope calls welcoming migrants a way to show brotherhood

  14-08-2017 06:48
  ROME, Italy - Pope Francis is praising acceptance for migrants as a way to show brotherhood, even as Europe's welcome mat wears thin.Francis sent a message Monday to a diocesan-organized conference in southern Italy promoting brotherhood in the Mediterranean area. He encouraged Christians, young people and "all persons of good will to consider the presence of migrants an opportunity for human growth, encounter and dialogue" as well as an opportunity to practice charity.In the last few years, It
  
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• Mississippi man arrested on dog fighting charges

  14-08-2017 05:59
  JACKSON, Miss.- A sheriff's department says nearly 20 Staffordshire Terriers have been rescued from a suspected dog fighting operation in Mississippi.Local news outlets report the dogs were transported for examination and treatment after a search by Rankin County Sheriff's deputies led to the arrest a 39-year-old man on Saturday. Anton Jerome Clayborne is charged with felony dog fighting, animal cruelty and other violations after the animals were found at his home.Paraphernalia and equipment in
  
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