Baton Rouge news

• After WBRZ report of road rage shooting, gun range says self defense classes can save lives

  22-08-2023 21:39
  
  BATON ROUGE- A bullet hole was left in the door handle of Ashley Mitchell's car on Sunday after someone was tailgating her and decided to pull a gun."It sounded like a rock hit my car, and when I got out to see what it was, it was a bullet hole in my car, I was in total shock," Mitchell told the WBRZ Investigative Unit Monday.Mitchell was driving her two children to the store when the shooting happened. All of them are okay.The chilling story about road rage turning into gunfire is why the FRC
  
  Read more

• WBRSO: Woman jumps from deputy's car, into Mississippi River after being rescued from domestic situation

  22-08-2023 20:28
  
  BATON ROUGE - The West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office is working to upgrade procedures after a woman who requested assistance attempted suicide. According to a spokesperson for the sheriff's office, deputies responded to a domestic situation in West Baton Rouge on Saturday around 4:30 a.m. A woman asked deputies to take her to somewhere in Baton Rouge to get her away from where she was.During the drive, the woman was not in handcuffs because she was not under arrest. She asked the
  
  Read more

• School district and bus drivers making progress in talks

  22-08-2023 17:44
  
  BATON ROUGE - School was closed Monday to allow bus drivers to talk with school leaders, and it appears those talks went well as the majority of drivers returned to work Tuesday morning."Today was a pretty good day. We had about 324 bus operators that came in today most of all of our routes were covered. We had about eight routes that we had challenges with," said Superintendent Sito Narcisse, who spoke to the Volunteers In Public Schools at a luncheon Tuesday."We've been working diligently for
  
  Read more

• Louisiana sees another spike in heat deaths; 25 reported since June

  22-08-2023 16:29
  
  BATON ROUGE - Louisiana has seen another spike in heat-related deaths, saying 25 had been reported to the state since the start of June. That's based on a new report released by state health officials Tuesday. It comes a week after the governor declared a state of emergency due to the dangerous, sustained heat across Louisiana. It's a worrying number considering Louisiana averages about 10 heat-related deaths annually, according to data collected by the state in recent years.O
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Longtime cattle ranchers fearful of future amid severe drought conditions

  22-08-2023 16:16
  
  CLINTON - An hour north of Baton Rouge on a sprawling piece of property, you'll find rolling hills and grass that is supposed to be lush. Instead, it's brown and scorched down to the soil.Glenn Delee has been a cattle rancher for his entire life. His family business dates back more than a century, when his dad and his family started it."This drought has severely impacted us and everyone else involved," Delee said. "From row crop to the cattle farmer. There is no production."Delee points to pict
  
  Read more

• Spotless arrival: Rare giraffe without coat pattern is born at Tennessee zoo

  22-08-2023 16:10
  
  A giraffe without spots at a Tennessee zoo may be plain, but she’s definitely not ordinary.The female reticulated giraffe was born July 31 at the family-owned Brights Zoo in Limestone, a rural community in northeastern Tennessee.David Bright, one of the zoo’s owners, said the plain brown animal is a rarity: Research found another giraffe that was born without a pattern in Tokyo in 1972 and two others before that. The spots serve as camouflage for giraffes in the wild.The yet
  
  Read more

• Poll: Landry, Wilson likely to advance, but one of them is 'best positioned' to become governor

  22-08-2023 15:57
  
  BATON ROUGE - The frontrunners at the start of the 2023 campaign for Louisiana governor are the frontrunners today, according to a new statewide poll -- but it is Republican Jeff Landry who is "best positioned to win" the race this fall.WBRZ and several partner organizations commissioned the poll, which was conducted by Faucheux Strategies from Aug. 14-19.Landry, the current Louisiana Attorney General, holds the lead position with 36 percent support. The only major Democrat to qualify, former D
  
  Read more

• Concrete truck runs off road, shuts down one lane of Highway 74

  22-08-2023 15:20
  
  GEISMAR - One lane of Highway 74 near Bluff Road has been shut down for hours after a concrete truck ran off the road. According to the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office, crews were working to get the concrete truck off the road around 9:45 a.m. As of 3 p.m., the road has been cleared. No information on injuries or what caused the crash has been released. Permalink| Comments
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Fight over game console led to shootout at Bogalusa home

  22-08-2023 15:01
  
  BOGALUSA - Three people were badly hurt after a fight between family members over a video game console led to an exchange of gunfire at a home in Washington Parish.The Bogalusa Police Department said Tuesday morning that the shooting unfolded at a house on Huron Avenue. All three people, two men and a woman, were taken to a hospital in critical condition.The department later told WWL-TV that the gunfire started after the two men got into an argument over a game console. The woman reportedly tri
  
  Read more

• High-profile attorney calls for federal civil rights investigation into Ronald Greene's deadly arrest

  22-08-2023 14:00
  
  FARMERVILLE, La. - Renowned attorney Ben Crump is calling for federal civil rights charges against the officers involved in the 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene, a Black man who died in police custody after he was beaten and tased.Crump, who has worked on several high-profile civil rights cases across the U.S., held a news conference alongside Greene's family in north Louisiana on Tuesday to discuss the case, according to KTVE."We know the federal charges have more latitude to look at more things t
  
  Read more

• High-profile attorney calls for federal civil rights charges for officers in Ronald Greene's deadly arrest

  22-08-2023 14:00
  
  FARMERVILLE, La. - The family of Ronald Greene — a Black man who died in police custody after he was beaten and tased — and renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump are calling for new federal charges against the officers involved in the 2019 arrest. Crump is planning to have a news conference in north Louisiana on Tuesday to discuss the case, according to KTVE.Last year, a grand jury in Union Parish charged five officers who were there during Greene's arrest: four
  
  Read more

• 1-year-old dies after being left in hot day-care van in Nebraska; driver arrested

  22-08-2023 13:45
  
  OMAHA, Neb. - A 1-year-old girl died after being left inside a day care center's van on one of the hottest days of the year, and the driver of the van was arrested, police in Nebraska said Tuesday.Officers and medics were called Monday afternoon to Kidz of the Future Childcare in Omaha for an unresponsive baby inside the van, police said. The call came as temperatures reached into the upper 90s (mid-30s Celsius) and the heat index soared to around 110 degrees (43 Celsius), part of a he
  
  Read more

• Alabama can enforce ban on puberty blockers and hormones for transgender children, court says

  22-08-2023 13:03
  
  MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal appeals court ruled Monday that Alabama can enforce a ban outlawing the use of puberty blockers and hormones to treat transgender children, the second such appellate victory for gender-affirming care restrictions that have been adopted by a growing number of Republican-led states.A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a judge’s temporary injunction against enforcing the law. The judge has scheduled trial for Ap
  
  Read more

• Beauregard Parish town issues voluntary evacuation due to fire in the area

  22-08-2023 12:24
  
  MERRYVILLE - Residents of Merryville were under a voluntary evacuation Tuesday evening due to a fire in the area that is out of control. According to the Beauregard Parish Sheriff's Office, the evacuation is out of abundance of caution. Deputies said winds were constantly changing and gusting, making the fire unpredictable. Deputies helped people without transportation to leave the area if they wanted and opened two places where residents could go.The evacuation may become man
  
  Read more

• Hammond councilmember aiming to change city laws; wants police chief to be elected, not appointed

  22-08-2023 12:23
  
  HAMMOND - Tuesday's agenda for the Hammond City Council meeting included a controversial discussion about the chief of police position. Councilman Devon Wells proposed the discussion. Several members of the public took their dissatisfaction to the podium, saying that the current system is corrupt."The citizens of Hammond, Louisiana deserve a better chief of police than what we're dealing with," Resident Sal Nicolosi said.The current Chief of Police, Edwin Bergeron has been under scruti
  
  Read more

• Baton Rouge firefighter dies after battle with cancer; disease likely stemmed from his work

  22-08-2023 12:02
  
  BATON ROUGE - The Baton Rouge Fire Department is mourning the loss of one of its own after a hard-fought battle with cancer. Captain Phillip Paternostro died Monday. He worked with the BRFD for 23 years. He was 54 years old. The BRFD said his cancer was believed to have stemmed from his work as a firefighter. "Captain Paternostro was dedicated and committed to the citizens of Baton Rouge, whom he served faithfully throughout his career," the department said. "He was a
  
  Read more

• Baton Rouge firefighter dies after battle with cancer; department says it stemmed from his job

  22-08-2023 12:02
  
  BATON ROUGE - The Baton Rouge Fire Department is mourning the loss of one of its own after a hard-fought battle with cancer. Captain Phillip Paternostro died Monday. He worked with the BRFD for 23 years. He was 54 years old. BRFD said his cancer was believed to have stemmed from his work as a firefighter. "Per Louisiana law, the type of cancer Captain Paternostro developed is presumed to have been caused by his work as a firefighter," the department said. "He
  
  Read more

• Missing 10-year-old found safe

  22-08-2023 07:43
  
  BAKER - Officials are searching for a missing boy last seen late Monday night. According to his parents, he was last seen in his room around 11:30 p.m. Monday. When his parents checked his room again around midnight, he was gone. He was found safely later Tuesday morning. Permalink| Comments
  
  Read more

• Power restored along Highland Road after major outage Tuesday morning, Entergy says

  22-08-2023 07:18
  
  BATON ROUGE - Thousands of people were without power in the capital area after an outage Tuesday morning. According to the Entergy outage map, as of 8:00 a.m., 4,452 customers were without power.School officials said McKinley High, McKinley Elementary, and the Eva Legard Center were left without power, but it was unclear whether classes were canceled or delayed. LSU and University Laboratory School both closed for the day, and all classes were canceled. LSU officials said boxe
  
  Read more

• High school football programs battle the grueling heat

  22-08-2023 06:42
  
  BATON ROUGE - Even though the heat is no stranger to those of us in southeast Louisiana, that doesn't make us immune to heat-related illnesses. With high school football season just days away, schools across the area have been battling the heat.Programs like the Zachary High School football team have been taking extra measures to combat the high temperatures. David Brewerton is the district athletic director and the head coach of the team. He says they've had to change up the practice times to
  
  Read more

• Suspect wanted for June burglary of Gonzales hardware store arrested in string of cross-state thefts

  22-08-2023 05:21
  
  GONZALES - Months after burglars were caught on video stealing thousands of dollars in power equipment from an Ascension Parish hardware store, one of the suspects was arrested for a string of burglaries that took place across multiple states. The Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office said Monday that Gary Simmons II, 22, of Houston was arrested and is in jail in Texas following a joint investigation between Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, and Tennessee authorities. Simmons, operating with Kian
  
  Read more

Follow @BatonRougeNews_ on Twitter!