Louisiana news

• New report says tourists spending more money in Las Vegas

  16-04-2016 20:04 via wbrz.com
  
  LAS VEGAS - Tourists are spending more money on their trips to Sin City, according to a new report by the Las Vegas tourism board.The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority issued its visitor profile study this month, which showed average spending in most expense categories increased in 2015, including lodging, food and drinks, local transportation, shows and sightseeing. The length of the stays inched up, to an average of 4.4 days for the record 42.3 million visitors last year. In 2014, La
  
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• Man accused of attacking, strangling wife

  16-04-2016 17:25 via wbrz.com
  
  ZACHARY - Deputies say a Baton Rouge man was arrested Friday after his wife said he tried to strangle her at her home.East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a home on Buck Horn Drive after a friend said she was driving by the victim’s home and saw a car door open. The friend said she found 39-year-old Edward Higgins and his wife at home. The wife told the friend to leave before Higgins started to beat her again.At the home, deputies found the front door open and hea
  
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• Teen charged with DWI, hit-and-run on LSU campus

  16-04-2016 16:55 via wbrz.com
  
  BATON ROUGE – Police arrested an 18-year-old Friday after they say he drove while drunk, hit two cars at an LSU parking lot then fled the scene.LSU Police officers were dispatched to Blake Hall around 9:33 p.m. Friday in reference to a hit and run. A witness told police that he saw a black Honda Ridgeline hit two cars and drive off.Police later found the truck parked in the Miller Extension parking lot with 18-year-old Charles Hutton Jr. hiding on the back seat floor.According to court
  
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• More than 3 dozen Cuban migrants caught at sea

  16-04-2016 15:35 via wbrz.com
  
  MIAMI - Nearly 40 Cuban migrants are being repatriated to Cuba after being caught at sea by U.S. Coast Guard officials.The 39 migrants, who were first captured Monday aboard a rustic vessel in waters northwest of Havana, were returned Saturday to Bahia de Cabañas, Cuba, the Coast Guard reported.Cubans are increasingly leaving their island amid fears they might lose a special status that gives Cubans automatic residency in the United States if they reach U.S. soil and in the wake of no
  
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• President Obama, Warriors star Stephen Curry team up on PSA

  16-04-2016 14:35 via wbrz.com
  
  OAKLAND, Calif. - President Barack Obama has teamed with reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry on a public service announcement calling for Americans to mentor youth in their community to make a positive impact.The video was shown Saturday on ABC's "NBA Countdown" ahead of Curry's playoff opener with the defending champion Golden State Warriors against the Houston Rockets on Saturday.Curry and Obama golfed together last August and Curry also visited the White House with the Warriors in February - and O
  
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• US frees 9 Guantanamo prisoners, sends them to Saudi Arabia

  16-04-2016 14:33 via wbrz.com
  
  MIAMI - Authorities say the U.S. has released nine prisoners from Guantanamo Bay and sent them to Saudi Arabia for resettlement.All nine are Yemeni but have family ties to Saudi Arabia. None of the men had been charged and all but one had been cleared for release from the U.S. base in Cuba since at least 2010. One was approved for release by a review board last year.They could not be sent to their homeland because of instability there.The prisoners include a frequent hunger striker whose weight
  
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• Man leaves anonymous $1,000 tip for college-bound waitress

  16-04-2016 14:29 via wbrz.com
  
  GUN BARREL CITY, Texas - A customer eating alone at a Texas restaurant left a big surprise behind for an 18-year-old waitress - a $1,000 tip.Alesha Palmer says she was so stunned by the gift she began crying in the middle of Vetoni's Italian Restaurant in Gun Barrel City, a small community about 50 miles southeast of Dallas.The high school senior told Tyler television station KLTV (http://bit.ly/1VrIF15 ) that she was serving a couple she knew last weekend and they asked about her college plans.
  
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• United Airlines workers ratify new contracts

  16-04-2016 14:27 via wbrz.com
  
  United Airlines workers have ratified a set of new contracts that will increase their pay and benefits over the next five years.Airline and union representatives said Saturday that the vote was "overwhelming" in favor of the contracts, which govern about 30,000 employees including airport workers, security officers and other staffers.The new pacts will increase pay by about 30 percent over five years, raise pension benefits and halt outsourcing of some union jobs.United said the agreements follo
  
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• Financial markets are calmer, but world economy faces risks

  16-04-2016 14:25 via wbrz.com
  
  WASHINGTON - The world economy is still sluggish. But at least markets are calmer and China's economic problems look more manageable than they did the last time the world's top finance officials met back in February.Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 major economies emerged from their meeting in Washington on Friday relieved that financial markets had recovered from the turbulence rocking them at the last G-20 meeting in Shanghai.Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz told
  
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• New Orleans police: 2 killed, 1 injured in shooting

  16-04-2016 14:23 via wbrz.com
  
  NEW ORLEANS - New Orleans police are investigating a shooting that left two men dead and a third wounded on Friday night.The shooting took place at about 9:30 p.m. in eastern New Orleans.Police say both men died after being shot multiple times. Police had no details about the condition of the third victim. The victims were not immediately identified by police.The city has long struggled with violent crime and shootings, but outrage over violence has grown since former New Orleans Saints defensiv
  
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• Slain former Saints defensive end to be laid to rest

  16-04-2016 14:21 via wbrz.com
  
  NEW ORLEANS - Funeral services are to be held for former defensive end Will Smith, who was shot and killed a week ago.A private funeral and burial are to be held Saturday.Smith died a week ago after police say he was shot by 28-year-old Cardell Hayes during a traffic altercation.A visitation was held Friday at the Saints practice facility in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans.Fans - many wearing their black and gold Saints gear - gathered to pay their respects at Smith's orchid-covered coffin.Mem
  
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• Livingston and Ascension shut down waterways due to flooding

  16-04-2016 12:25 via wbrz.com
  
  GONZALES - Officials in Ascension and Livingston Parish announced Saturday morning that the Amite River and Diversion Canal and all other waterways will be closed to recreational boat traffic.Livingston Parish shut down all waterways at 10 a.m. due to flooding issues. Officials said that southeast winds are currently the problem.Ascension Parish officials say the closure is effective immediately, and the canal will remain closed until further notice.We'll have updates on News 2's at 6:00 and 10:
  
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• Murdered Southern students laid to rest Saturday

  16-04-2016 08:39 via wbrz.com
  
  LAKE CHARLES – One of two funerals scheduled Saturday for murdered Southern University students will take place in this southwest Louisiana city.LaShuntae Benton was laid to rest around noon. Visitation started at 9 a.m. A wake was held the day before.Annette January was buried almost simultaneously at a service 1,000 miles away in January's hometown outside Chicago, Illinois - a community in Indiana.Benton and January were shot and killed Sunday at The Cottages compl
  
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