Baton Rouge news

• Prison guard arrested for allegedly bringing in contraband

  26-09-2016 21:44 via wbrz.com
  
  COLUMBIA, Miss. - A guard at the Marion-Walthall Regional Correctional Facility in Columbia has been arrested for allegedly bringing contraband into the prison.Authorities say 22-year-old Cedeterius Jackson was arrested late Thursday on a charge of introduction of an electronic device into a correctional facility.Maj. Zack Guidroz tells WDAM-TV that Jackson attempted to bring a cellphone and a charger into the facility.Jackson posted a $10,000 bond on Friday and was released. It was unknown if h
  
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• Candidates arrive for 1st debate

  26-09-2016 20:13 via wbrz.com
  
  HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. - The presidential candidates have arrived at Hofstra University in New York and are moments away from their first face-to-face debate.Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump each entered the debate hall on suburban Long Island within the hour of the debate's start.The stakes are high. Clinton and Trump are close in the polls and the debate kicks off the final, six-week sprint of the general election. The two candidates are slated to square off for two more debates n
  
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• Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office: Inmate dies in custody

  26-09-2016 20:06 via wbrz.com
  
  AMITE - The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office says an inmate has died while in custody at the parish jail in Amite.Authorities said Monday that 55-year-old Brady Williams, of Hammond, died Friday of unknown causes.Foul play is not suspected but the sheriff's office says a cause of death will be determined by the coroner's office.NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune reports Williams was being held on numerous charges including aggravated assault, aggravated second-degree battery, burglary and theft.Perma
  
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• Homeowners will pay less property taxes

  26-09-2016 18:41 via wbrz.com
  
  BATON ROUGE- Homeowners with flood damage will pay less property taxes this year. Per state law parishes will reduce a home's value based on its damage.East Baton Rouge and Livingston parishes expect to mail bills a few months late, maybe early next year. The tax assessors need time to adjust property values for thousands of structures."We're trying to do as much as we can in a small amount time just to finish the project but it is very time consuming," said Kerry Hicks with the East Baton Rouge
  
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• Hammond police searching for 71-year-old man with dementia

  26-09-2016 15:56 via wbrz.com
  
  HAMMOND – The Hammond Police Department continues to search for a 71-year-old man with dementia who has been missing for a week. On Sunday, the police department spent five hours working with four volunteer canine crews from Louisiana Search and Rescue team to locate Edward Carr.Carr was last seen wearing a red shirt, camouflage shorts and brown shoes and has been missing since Sept. 18. People have reported seeing Carr, however efforts have been unsuccessful.People are urged
  
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• Boil water advisory issued for residents on Hwy. 405 to Iberville/Ascension parish line

  26-09-2016 15:37 via wbrz.com
  
  IBERVILLE PARISH – Iberville Parish Water District No. 3 has issued a boil water advisory for residents on Highway 405 from Texas Road south to the Iberville/Ascension parish line.The boil water advisory is due to a broken water line. According to the water district, residents on the intersecting streets may be experiencing low to no water pressure. Crews are working to repair the line.The boil water advisory will be lifted upon notification from the Louisiana Department of Health &
  
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• LSU's Davon Godchaux arrested Monday morning; Indefinitely suspended

  26-09-2016 15:27 via wbrz.com
  
  BATON ROUGE - LSU's defensive tackle starter Davon Godchaux was booked and released into jail early Monday after a fight with his girlfriend who he has a child with.Sheriff's deputies booked Godchaux on domestic abuse battery/child endangerment and false imprisonment charges following the pair's argument around 3 a.m. Monday. The fight happened at Godchaux's apartment in Indigo Park, a popular, gated apartment development off Nicholson Drive near its intersection with Gardere.Deputies wrote in a
  
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• New: Coroner reports pest control worker fell, died in crawl space Friday

  26-09-2016 15:04 via wbrz.com
  
  BATON ROUGE - A preliminary autopsy of a 31-year-old man who died in a building crawl space Friday found the pest control worker fell while on the job, leading to his death.The coroner's office said Joseph Bassett died from a "fracture of the neck due to blunt force injury to the head due to a fall." The autopsy was performed Monday. It is believed Bassett slipped and fell while working in a building near the corner of Lobdell and Jefferson Highway Friday afternoon.Concerned people called 911 af
  
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• Covington man pleads guilty: 79 counts of child pornography

  26-09-2016 14:29 via wbrz.com
  
  COVINGTON - St. Tammany Parish District Attorney Warren Montgomery says a 33-year-old Covington man has been sentenced to 18 years after pleading guilty to 79 counts of child pornography.He says in a news release that Christopher Cote pleaded guilty Thursday. Montgomery says District Judge Peter Garcia sentenced him to serve the time without probation, parole or suspension of sentence.Montgomery says an undercover officer in the multi-agency Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force identified
  
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• Protesters join discussion about police reform in Baton Rouge

  26-09-2016 14:15 via wbrz.com
  
  BATON ROUGE - Instead of marching through downtown streets, a group upset over the perceived slow investigation into the officer-involved shooting death of Alton Sterling this summer took over a meeting where city leaders were outlining ideas on new police policies."We want to press upon our local government but also go all the way to feds that we want a decision on the investigation," Cleve Dunn, Jr., said about why he and others gathered Monday. "We are pressing upon the Department of
  
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• Protesters gather at City Hall to demand decision in Alton Sterling shooting

  26-09-2016 14:15 via wbrz.com
  
  BATON ROUGE - Protesters have gathered outside of City Hall in downtown Baton Rouge demanding answers in the shooting death of Alton Sterling that happened in July.Protesters, dubbed #BlackOutBR, plan to march from City Hall to the Governor's Mansion in an effort to demand a decision in the murder of Sterling that involved two police officers outside of a convenience store in North Baton Rouge. Cell phone video from the owner of the store showed the officers wrestle Sterling to the grou
  
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• 18-wheeler accident causes traffic delays at I-10/I-12 split

  26-09-2016 14:13 via wbrz.com
  
  BATON ROUGE – Traffic is backed up at the I-10/I-12 split due to an accident involving an 18-wheeler.The accident happened just before the College Drive exit.According to authorities, there are no injuries reported however gas is leaking from the vehicle.Keep up with Traffic Reporter Ashley Fruge on Twitter for updates.Permalink| Comments
  
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• Clinton, Trump battle fiercely over taxes, race, terror

  26-09-2016 12:57 via wbrz.com
  
  HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — In a combative opening debate, Hillary Clinton emphatically denounced Donald Trump Monday night for keeping his personal tax returns and business dealings secret from voters and peddling a "racist lie" about President Barack Obama. Businessman Trump repeatedly cast Clinton as a "typical politician" as he sought to capitalize on Americans' frustration with Washington.
  Locked in an exceedingly close White House race, the presidential rivals tangled for 90-minutes over t
  
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• Driver dies in Airline Highway crash, child ejected in stable condition

  26-09-2016 12:56 via wbrz.com
  
  BATON ROUGE – Baton Rouge Police are investigating a fatal crash on Airline Highway that took the life of one driver and ejected a small child from the vehicle.The crash occurred in the 8000 block of Airline Highway around 10:50 p.m. on Sunday when a Chevrolet Impala was traveling eastbound on Airline in the outside lane. A Cadillac Deville, traveling eastbound in the inside lane, entered the outside lane and struck the Chevrolet.The Cadillac then exited the roadway in a construction a
  
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• Driver dies in Airline Highway crash, child ejected

  26-09-2016 12:56 via wbrz.com
  
  BATON ROUGE – Baton Rouge Police are investigating a fatal crash on Airline Highway that took the life of one driver and ejected a small child from the vehicle.The crash occurred in the 8000 block of Airline Highway around 10:50 p.m. on Sunday when a Chevrolet Impala was traveling eastbound on Airline in the outside lane. A Cadillac Deville, traveling eastbound in the inside lane, entered the outside lane and struck the Chevrolet.The Cadillac then exited the roadway in a construction a
  
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• Ex-Verizon worker accused for selling customer phone records

  26-09-2016 12:40 via wbrz.com
  
  ATLANTA - Federal prosecutors in Alabama say a former Verizon Wireless technician used the company's computers to obtain customers' private call records - plus data showing where customers' phones were - and sold them to an unnamed private investigator.Newly filed court records accuse Daniel Eugene Traeger of selling the confidential information for more than four years, from 2009 to 2014. Traeger worked in the Birmingham area.The court records don't say how many customer records were sold, or h
  
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• Woman dies after crashing into guardrail on LA 68

  26-09-2016 12:15 via wbrz.com
  
  JACKSON - State Police said a women died after her vehicle crashed off the side of LA 68 Monday afternoon.Officials said around 2 p.m. on Monday, State Police began to investigate the crash that took the life of 32-year-old Amie McGraw of Jackson. Investigators learned that McGraw was driving southbound on LA 68 when she ran off the right side of the road, over-corrected, lost control of the vehicle and crashed into the guardrail which caused her vehicle to become airborne. It would come to rest
  
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• Woman arrested after confessing to starting house fire

  26-09-2016 09:35 via wbrz.com
  
  BATON ROUGE – Police arrested a woman after she confessed to setting a home on fire.On Thursday around 10:30 a.m. a house fire was reported in the 700 block of Buchanan Street. The fire was processed by investigators and the cause was determined to be arson. According to the arrest report, 34-year-old Lucretia Johnson told her roommate that she was going to burn the house down earlier in the day because she had been drinking and was upset.Johnson was later pulled over by State
  
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• FBI data show increase in murder, violent crime in 2015

  26-09-2016 09:19 via wbrz.com
  
  WASHINGTON - The FBI says the number of murders reported by local law enforcement agencies jumped by roughly 10 percent in 2015 from the year before.New crime statistics released on Monday show the estimated number of murders in the nation was 15,696, or a 10.8 percent jump from the 2014 estimate.The FBI says that, overall, violent crime rose by 3.9 percent in 2015. But it's still down from where it was five and 10 years ago.Attorney General Loretta Lynch addressed the new statistics in a speech
  
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• Appeals court revives World Trade Center contract lawsuit

  26-09-2016 09:16 via wbrz.com
  
  NEW ORLEANS - A lawsuit over future development of the riverfront World Trade Center building has been restored by a state appeals court after a judge dismissed the case.The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that Orleans Civil District Judge Tiffany Chase should not have required a company bringing the lawsuit to post $750,000 in security before going to trial in October.The city selected a development team led by Carpenter & Co. and Woodward Interests to lease and renovate the va
  
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• Fatal crash involving pedestrian on Winbourne Avenue under investigation

  26-09-2016 08:58 via wbrz.com
  
  BATON ROUGE – Baton Rouge Police are investigating a fatal crash on Winbourne Avenue that took the life of one pedestrian.The crash occurred on Sunday around 6:30 a.m. in the 4100 block of Winbourne Avenue when a 2012 Chevrolet Equinox was traveling east bound on the street in the outside lane. A pedestrian, 45-year-old Reginald Holden was walking north on Bartlett Street.For unknown reasons Holden entered the outside lane of Winbourne Avenue and as a result was struck by the Chevrolet
  
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• First of hundreds of jurors report in Charleston 2015 shooting trial

  26-09-2016 08:41 via wbrz.com
  
  CHARLESTON - Hundreds of potential jurors report to the federal courthouse in Charleston, South Carolina, in the coming days as the jury selection begins in the trial of a white man charged in deaths of nine black church parishioners.Dylann Roof faces hate crimes and other federal counts in the June 2015 shooting deaths at Emanuel AME Church. The first jurors report Monday for initial screening.Three thousand jurors have received summonses - a group that will be whittled to a pool of 700 jurors
  
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• Lower flood insurance rates coming to St. Charles Parish

  26-09-2016 08:02 via wbrz.com
  
  HAHNVILLE- Officials say as many as 4,000 homeowners in St. Charles Parish may be eligible for a dramatic reduction in flood insurance rates.Starting Oct. 1, residents on the parish's east bank may be eligible for something called a "preferred risk policy," which is available only to homeowners who live in areas thought to be at minimal risk for flood damage.Earl Matherne, administrator for the parish's Planning and Zoning Department, tells The New Orleans Advocate (http://bit.ly/2dlN87K) those
  
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• Houston officials: Shooting suspect was lawyer

  26-09-2016 07:32 via wbrz.com
  
  HOUSTON - The Houston police chief says that the suspect who wounded nine people in southwest Houston was a lawyer and there were issues with his law firm.Chief Martha Montalvo did not identify the shooter at Monday's news conference.The shootings began at about 6:30 a.m. When the officers found the suspect, the suspect began firing at them and police shot the suspect. The suspect, who lives in the neighborhood, died at the scene.Numerous weapons were found at the scene, and a bomb-squad robot i
  
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• Active shooter taken down by police in southwest Houston

  26-09-2016 07:32 via wbrz.com
  
  HOUSTON - Authorites have shot the suspect of a shooting on Weslayan near Bisonnet Monday morning.According to KTRK, multiple people are injured in the shooting at the strip center border by Weslayanm, Bissonnet and Law Street. Traffic was shut down in the area in attempt to protect drivers.A KTRK news crew said firefighters and officers are running up and down the street as gunfire continues.Houston Police says the victims have been transported to the hospital. No further details have
  
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• Time running out to reclaim Livingston Parish rescued pets

  26-09-2016 07:12 via wbrz.com
  
  AMITE - Time is running out for the owners of hundreds of dogs and cats to reclaim their pets rescued during the August flooding.Jeff Dorson, executive director of the New Orleans-based Humane Society of Louisiana, says only about 10 percent of the more than 500 pets have been reunited with their owners since the flooding began Aug. 12.Dorson tells The Advocate he expects hundreds of pets to remain homeless after the deadline.The group has been renting the Florida Parishes Arena in Amit
  
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• 3 in custody in California triple slaying

  26-09-2016 07:02 via wbrz.com
  
  FULLERTON, Calif. - Two men are under arrest and a 17-year-old girl is being detained on suspicion of killing three people inside a Southern California home over the weekend.Police in Fullerton won't say if the 17-year-old is the missing daughter of two of the victims.But police say the victims' teen daughter was found unharmed after an alert was issued.On Saturday, police found the bodies of Christopher and Jennifer Goodwill Yost and a family friend. Two girls, ages 6 and 9, were found unharmed
  
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• Police: 5 shot, 1 dead, after fight at Illinois campus party

  26-09-2016 07:01 via wbrz.com
  
  CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - One man was killed and four other people were wounded in a pair of shootings early Sunday, including one that happened on the University of Illinois campus.Police believe the two shootings in the eastern Illinois city of Champaign may be related. They say the first apparently stemmed from an argument shortly after midnight at an apartment party on Green Street, the commercial heart of the campus. Shots were fired as the fight escalated, striking four people, including one who d
  
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• 1 of 2 boaters missing for week found alive, adrift in raft

  26-09-2016 06:59 via wbrz.com
  
  BOSTON - The U.S. Coast Guard says one of two Connecticut boaters who had been missing for a week has been found alive.Twenty-two-year-old Nathan Carman was found Sunday by a freighter, drifting on an inflatable life raft off the coast of Massachusetts.Carman and his 54-year-old mother, Linda, disappeared Sept. 18 after leaving Rhode Island marina to go on a fishing trip on a 31-foot aluminum boat.Nathan Carman is listed in good condition. His mother is still missing.Permalink| Comments
  
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• 1 of 2 boaters mising for week found alive, adrift in raft

  26-09-2016 06:59 via wbrz.com
  
  BOSTON - The U.S. Coast Guard says one of two Connecticut boaters who had been missing for a week has been found alive.Twenty-two-year-old Nathan Carman was found Sunday by a freighter, drifting on an inflatable life raft off the coast of Massachusetts.Carman and his 54-year-old mother, Linda, disappeared Sept. 18 after leaving Rhode Island marina to go on a fishing trip on a 31-foot aluminum boat.Nathan Carman is listed in good condition. His mother is still missing.Permalink| Comments
  
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• Cedar Rapids prepares for flooding

  26-09-2016 06:57 via wbrz.com
  
  CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - School is canceled through Wednesday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and thousands of people have been evacuated as flooding threatens the state's second-largest city. The Cedar River crested Saturday night in Waterloo and Cedar Falls, about 55 miles upstream. Water levels have been slightly lower than in 2008, when a major flood devastated the region.Permalink| Comments
  
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• Surfer in stable condition after Australian shark attack

  26-09-2016 06:53 via wbrz.com
  
  SYDNEY - Police say a teenage surfer is in a stable condition after he was bitten by a shark at the same Australian beach where a Japanese surfer was fatally mauled last year.A police statement says the 17-year-old sustained a single bite wound to his hip as he surfed off Ballina's Lighthouse Beach early today.He made his own way from the water to the beach where he was assisted by a nurse who happened to be in the area.He was taken to Lismore Base Hospital, where he is in stable condition.In Fe
  
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• Missouri couple killed in crash during Disney vacation

  26-09-2016 06:17 via wbrz.com
  
  ORLANDO, Fla. - The Florida Highway Patrol says a Missouri couple is dead and their two young daughters are recovering from injuries after a traffic crash near Orlando during a Disney World vacation.The Orlando Sentinel reports Greg and Sarah Moyers saved for months to take 13-year-old Hailey and 8-year-old Sophia to Disney World. The Leadwood, Missouri, family visited the theme parks and were headed to the beach Sunday before their long drive home.Troopers say a vehicle driven by 43-ye
  
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• Charlotte mayor lifts curfew

  26-09-2016 04:32 via wbrz.com
  
  CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Charlotte, North Carolina, has lifted its midnight curfew, following six days protesters over the fatal police shooting of a black man.The first two nights of demonstrations were violent, with more than a dozen police officers injured.Last night, protesters tried to block traffic on Interstate 277 through the city's downtown.Permalink| Comments
  
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• Debate Night: Clinton, Trump set for high-stakes showdown

  26-09-2016 03:31 via wbrz.com
  
  WASHINGTON - After months of tangling from afar, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are preparing to confront each other face-to-face in the first presidential debate, laying out for voters their vastly different visions for the nation's future.The high-stakes Monday night showdown is the first of three presidential debates. It comes as both candidates are viewed negatively by large numbers of Americans, with Democrat Clinton facing questions about her trustworthiness and Republican Trump struggli
  
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• Protest planned in Ohio over fatal police shooting of teen

  26-09-2016 03:30 via wbrz.com
  
  COLUMBUS, Ohio - Protesters in Columbus, Ohio, say they'll hold a demonstration outside City Hall today to push for an independent investigation into the fatal police shooting of a 13-year-old boy.Police say Tyre King was shot Sept. 14 after he ran from an officer investigating a reported armed robbery and pulled out a BB gun that looked like a real firearm.Authorities say a grand jury will look into the case.Permalink| Comments
  
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