Baton Rouge news

• After winning first basketball title in LSU history, Kim Mulkey says it's time for a better stadium

  26-04-2023 19:40
  
  BATON ROUGE - Coach Kim Mulkey has big ideas for the PMAC after LSU's national title win this season.Just a month after bringing a trophy back to Baton Rouge, Mulkey spoke at the Baton Rouge Rotary Club on Wednesday. Mulkey told attendees that she hoped the team could ride this season's unprecedented fan support and get the ball rolling on major renovations at the PMAC or a new stadium entirely."Now's the time to talk about it... I'm gonna talk about it publicly now because we've got to get the
  
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• Metro council votes down proposal to ban balloon releases

  26-04-2023 19:01
  
  BATON ROUGE -  Parish officials won't back a proposal to ban balloon releases in East Baton Rouge. The proposed ordinance was one of a handful of items discussed at Wednesday's Metro Council meeting. Councilmembers voted 6-4 to kill the proposal.The idea to ban such displays, which are common at vigils and memorials, was introduced at the council earlier this month. Those who supported the ban argued that the balloons create litter across the parish, potentially harming the en
  
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• DOTD: Completion dates for multiple projects pushed back due to weather

  26-04-2023 18:43
  
  BATON ROUGE - If you've been near Oklahoma Street recently, chances are you've seen a lot of construction. The through street between Nicholson Drive and Highland Road has been closed for months.The Department of Transportation and Development has big plans for the little street. Plans call for the exit from I-10 to be reconfigured to push drivers onto Oklahoma Street instead of Terrace Avenue.Work started in June of 2022 and was expected to wrap up later this year, but like many construction p
  
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• State senator verbally assaults colleague, issues apology

  26-04-2023 18:02
  
  BATON ROUGE- It was your typical law-making discussion inside the Hainkel room, during a senate committee on Monday."Nothing outside of the norm, It was a discussion about Senate Bill 193, there was some debate about it," Dadrius Lanus, EBRPS board president, said.Several East Baton Rouge officials and law makers from other parishes spoke against Senator Stewart Cathey's Senate Bill 193.It's a bill that would take $7.5 million in tax revenue coming from certain railroad collections in East Bato
  
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• Police ID mother wanted in Baton Rouge bus driver attack; daughters also face charges

  26-04-2023 16:25
  
  BATON ROUGE - Police are looking for a mother and daughter accused of jumping a school bus driver during her route. On Thursday, the Baton Rouge Police Department announced officers were looking for Brittany Banks and the unidentified juvenile.A BRPD spokesperson said Banks was initially supposed to turn herself in Thursday morning but never showed up. A GoFundMe page that appeared to be set up by Banks indicated she was trying to raise money to pay for her bond before she tur
  
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• Baton Rouge police investigating video showing attack on school bus driver

  26-04-2023 16:25
  
  BATON ROUGE - Police are investigating a video circulating on social media showing what appears to be an angry parent attacking a school bus driver.See the video here (content warning)The Baton Rouge Police Department confirmed to WBRZ it was looking into the confrontation but had little info to share. The East Baton Rouge School System said the bus did not belong to the district.Videos posted online showed the driver arguing with what appeared to be a a student just moments before the attack.
  
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• 18-year-old arrested for attacking bus driver Tuesday afternoon

  26-04-2023 16:25
  
  BATON ROUGE - A woman was arrested on Wednesday night after jumping on board a school bus and attacking the driver. The Baton Rouge Police Department said 18-year-old Carlicia Lewis was arrested for pummeling the bus driver when the vehicle was stopped along Bradley Street at 5:30 p.m.Policed say Lewis and another person showed up after a student and the bus driver got into an argument. Lewis, the other person and the student all attacked the bus driver. Officers say the drive
  
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• Report: 6-year-old dead in Harahan, possibly found in bucket

  26-04-2023 15:55
  
  HARAHAN - Law enforcement is investigating the death of a kindergarten-age child in Harahan. According to WWL, deputies from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office and Harahan police officers swarmed Sedgefield and Donelon drives around 12:30 Wednesday afternoon. It is unclear how the child died, but sources told WWL a woman was seen Tuesday night pulling a wagon with a bucket inside of it. It is believed that the child's body was found inside the bucket. No arrests ha
  
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• 6-year-old girl found dead in a bucket Wednesday morning; father's girlfriend arrested for murder

  26-04-2023 15:55
  
  HARAHAN - A 43-year-old woman was arrested for the murder of a 6-year-old girl whose body was found in a bucket Wednesday morning. According to Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto, a father came into the Harahan Police Department around 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday and reported that his 6-year-old daughter Bella Fontenelle and 43-year-old girlfriend Hannah Landon were missing. Officers searched the father's home and the mother's home, which are a block apart near Sedgefield and
  
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• Prairieville High names its first-ever principal

  26-04-2023 15:29
  
  PRAIRIEVILLE - The Ascension Parish School District has appointed the first principal for the newly created Prairieville High School. School officials formally announced the hiring of Randall "Randy" Loving on Wednesday. Loving — who will formally take over the job on July 1 — has a 30-year career in education, including time as a coach and math teacher. The school, the fifth high school in the district, is set to open in fall 2024.RELATED: Future Prairievi
  
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• Pine Grove man arrested for sexually abusing disabled person

  26-04-2023 15:26
  
  PINE GROVE - A man was arrested on Friday for allegedly sexually abusing a person with disabilities. According to the St. Helena Parish Sheriff's Office, 58-year-old Russell Housley was booked for the sexual battery and molestation of a person with a physical or mental disability. It is unclear if Housley and the victim knew one another before the assault. Permalink| Comments
  
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• Police called to scrum at LSU baseball game Tuesday night

  26-04-2023 14:58
  
  BATON ROUGE - Police were summoned to a baseball game at Alex Box Stadium after getting reports of a fight in a suite Tuesday.The disturbance was reported around 9:30 p.m., late into the Tigers' 6-5 loss to Nicholls.The university and stadium personnel did not respond to questions about the situation Wednesday. However, university records confirmed that campus police were called to the stadium around that time in response to a battery. The reports also suggest someone may have tried to
  
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• Police called to brawl at LSU baseball game Tuesday night

  26-04-2023 14:58
  
  BATON ROUGE - Police were summoned to a baseball game at Alex Box Stadium after getting reports of a fight in a suite Tuesday.The disturbance was reported around 9:30 p.m., late into the Tigers' 6-5 loss to Nicholls.The university and stadium personnel did not respond to questions about the situation Wednesday. However, university records confirmed that campus police were called to the stadium around that time in response to a battery. The reports also suggest someone may have tried to
  
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• Angry confrontation at Capitol prompts apology from Louisiana lawmaker

  26-04-2023 14:01
  
  BATON ROUGE - Republican Senator Stewart Cathey Jr. gave an apology after a spat with fellow lawmaker Regina Barrow, a Democrat, at the State Capitol on Monday.The confrontation happened after a contentious legislative hearing. Barrow claimed that Cathey put his finger in her face in the hall outside the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee and cursed her out. USA Today reported that Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome also got involved. "Stewart Cathey came within two seconds of getting
  
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• INVESTIGATIVE UNIT: Man sought after LSU shootout had been arrested in deadly Grambling shooting

  26-04-2023 13:35
  
  BATON ROUGE - Multiple sources confirmed to the WBRZ Investigative Unit on Wednesday that a man wanted by police for a shooting on LSU's campus this week had been arrested after a mass shooting at Grambling State University two years ago.Arrest documents revealed that on Sunday, April 23 a shooting occurred behind Bayou Hall near West Chimes Street. LSU Police records said shots were exchanged between someone in a white Dodge Challenger and an unknown suspect.Marvin Young, 22, was driving the C
  
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• Gonzales hosting a crawfish boil-off - expect good food for a good cause

  26-04-2023 13:20
  
  GONZALES - Saturday morning, the Bob Jackson Foundation will host the 8th annual crawfish boil-off. The Bob Jackson Foundation is named after Robert Jackson Sr., a big part of the Ascension Parish community. "My father founded the Geismar Fire Department when he saw a need and there wasn't one," said Derrick Jackson, Bob Jackson's son. "He also participated in the Jambalaya Festival Association for several years, as well as the regional airport here in Gonzales; he sat on that
  
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• Feds approve Louisiana for more pandemic childcare assistance

  26-04-2023 13:08
  
  BATON ROUGE - The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services announced Wednesday that the state was getting its for round of Pandemic EBT benefits.The state will begin dispersing the benefits in May to the families of children eligible for the 2022-2023 school year. The additional payments will be tiered and range from roughly $24 to $147 based on the number of days missed per month due to covid.DCFS says there is no need to apply separately for the benefits in most cases, as schools
  
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• Eleven years after wreck, man still waiting for judgement payout from EBR schools

  26-04-2023 13:03
  
  BATON ROUGE - It's been about 11 years since Octavius Fitzpatrick was involved in a bus accident in East Baton Rouge. Now at 27, he's working in Dallas, but his injuries from that crash still affects him today."It's really been that long and I'm still really dealing with this," Fitzpatrick said.At 17, he was on his way home from school when the bus he was riding in collided with the one in front of it. Fitzpatrick estimates the bus was going fast, about 40 miles per hour."There really wasn't mu
  
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• Councilwoman blames parish attorney after ordinance which would help convicted criminals get hired was deferred

  26-04-2023 12:32
  
  BATON ROUGE- After two hours of debate and confusion over the Fair Chance Ordinance, the Metro Council decided to defer it and Councilwoman Chauna Banks blames the Parish Attorney's Office.The ordinance would keep city contractors from asking potential hires about their criminal record until after proper assessment of their skills.Councilwoman Banks says she has been working on this for about a year. Banks, as well as Kaitlyn Joshua with the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, thou
  
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• Former Ascension Parish deputy federally charged for alleged child molestation

  26-04-2023 09:30
  
  ASCENSION PARISH - Former sheriff's deputy Todd Tripp, who was convicted of indecent behavior with a juvenile and multiple counts of attempted possession of child pornography, was federally indicted for similar charges years later. Tripp was arrested several times in 2013 and 2015, and accused of more than 300 counts of possession of child pornography, along with counts of computer-aided solicitation of a minor, carnal knowledge of a juvenile and indecent behavior with a juvenile.He pl
  
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• Pope allows women to vote at upcoming bishops' meeting

  26-04-2023 08:01
  
  VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has decided to give women the right to vote at an upcoming meeting of bishops, an unprecedented change that reflects his hopes to give women greater decision-making responsibilities and laypeople more say in the life of the Catholic Church.Francis approved changes to the norms governing the Synod of Bishops, a Vatican body that gathers the world’s bishops together for periodic meetings, following decades of demands by women to have the right
  
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• Second graders at Zachary elementary school get hands-on learning in water safety

  26-04-2023 07:27
  
  ZACHARY - With summer around the corner, there's a new program being introduced in the Zachary School District to help students learn water safety. They're partnering with the YMCA where they're offering swimming classes every week.It's a great opportunity for kids who may not be familiar with the water and help ease them into swimming and the importance of water safety.The second graders at Rollins Place Elementary are getting hands-on experience in and around the pool at the YMCA in Zachary.
  
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• Multiple people, including infant, injured in Central crash Tuesday night

  26-04-2023 06:11
  
  CENTRAL - Police and fire officials responded to a crash on Hooper and Sullivan Roads in which an infant was injured Tuesday night. According to the Central Police Department, the crash happened around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. While the cause of the crash was not immediately clear, the CPD said multiple people, including an infant who was not properly restrained, were taken to a hospital. "The Louisiana Highway Regulatory Act, specifically 32:295, states that 'a child who is younger
  
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