TheRepublic.com - Baton Rouge News

Escaped work release inmate captured

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:22:25 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - Authorities say U.S. marshals captured Tederick Bessie in Baton Rouge, 35 hours after he walked away from his work release job in Ponchatoula.

LSU, Southern boards must list scholarship awards

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 06:23:04 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - Members of the LSU and Southern University system governing boards will have to disclose which students receive scholarships from them.

BESE approves $2M for 'Course Choice' program

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:16:28 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - The state education board is on track to spend $2 million from an oil and gas trust fund for a pilot program to expand online high school course offerings to public school students, after the previous financing source was declared unconstitutional.

Research Park Corp. could sell stake in Bon Carre

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:10:31 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - The Research Park Corp. board of directors is set to vote next month on selling off its interest in the Bon Carre Business Center development in Baton Rouge.

Ex-club owner gets 25 years in rape case

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:58:23 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - The former owner of the now-defunct House of Blues Club on Airline Highway has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for raping an intoxicated 18-year-old woman in a private room at the Baton Rouge club in 2009.

Morgan City firm charged in wastewater case

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:30:22 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - The owners of a Morgan City wastewater brokerage have been charged in Baton Rouge federal court for alleged participation in a conspiracy that illegally injected more than 380,000 gallons of industrial wastes down a well in Assumption Parish.

'Parent trigger' bill for RSD signed by Jindal

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:09:20 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - Parents will soon be able to try to get poor-performing schools in the Recovery School District returned to local control.

NO company to pay nearly $60K in OT back wages

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:58:04 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - A construction services employment agency has agreed to pay more than 100 workers nearly $60,000 in back wages after an investigation by the federal labor department.

New Basin bass rule effective June 20

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:23:50 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - New regulations for the tens of thousands of bass fishermen who take to the Atchafalaya Basin and surrounding waters will be in place later this month after Thursday's Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission voted to change more than 20 years of regulations.

7 selected for Louisiana Justice Hall of Fame

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 09:13:35 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - Seven people, including West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Mike Cazes and former judge and U.S. Attorney L.J. Hymel, will be inducted July 12 into the Louisiana Justice Hall of Fame.

Federal charges filed alleged bank fraud scheme

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 09:11:52 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - Two Baton Rouge businessmen are charged with bank fraud in what federal prosecutors say involved $368,469 in loans they obtained for construction of a fitness center that did not open.

Police: OSHA to join La. blast investigation

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 17:13:21 -0400

DONALDSONVILLE, Louisiana - Federal investigators are expected in south Louisiana over the weekend at the site of an explosion that killed one worker at chemical plant in Donaldsonville - the second such blast in the area in as many days.

La. wildlife focus of AgCenter forum

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 15:05:18 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - The LSU AgCenter will sponsor a natural resources symposium on Aug. 1-2 at the Lod Cook Conference Center on the Baton Rouge campus of Louisiana State University.

Man arrested in fatal Baton Rouge shooting

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 12:55:05 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - Baton Rouge police have charged 51-year-old Michael Hebert with second degree murder in a Saturday shooting in which Hebert's brother was killed.

Charter school was in debt, audit shows

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 12:44:38 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - The charter school group that ran Crestworth Middle School owed almost $79,000 when the group handed the school back to the state Department of Education a year ago, according to an audit made public this past week.

Women upset at being turned away from bingo game

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 11:56:49 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - A dispute over a bingo game at a Baton Rouge senior center has led state officials to suggest the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging should implement sensitivity training for its staff.

Explosion reminds La. that plants not always safe

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 00:38:38 -0400

By some measures, chemical plants like the sites of separate fatal explosions this week in Louisiana are among the safest manufacturing workplaces in America. That doesn't stop residents and emergency responders from keeping wary eyes on the hundreds of facilities stretched along the Mississippi River from New Orleans to Baton Rouge.

Explosions remind La. that plants not always safe

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 00:23:50 -0400

2nd victim dies after blast at La. chemical plant

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:40:07 -0400

GONZALES, Louisiana - Authorities say a second victim has died following an explosion at a south Louisiana chemical plant.

Parker: Why 2 black Louisiana Republicans switched...

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 13:20:41 -0400

By STAR PARKER - Anyone who doubts that the Republican Party can attract black voters need only look south to Louisiana.

W. Baton Rouge council extends bars closing time

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:53:06 -0400

PORT ALLEN, Louisiana - The West Baton Rouge Parish Council has issued an executive order establishing a 2 a.m. Sunday closing time for all alcohol-serving businesses in the parish's unincorporated areas.

Court upholds East Feliciana murder conviction

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:46:39 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - A three-judge panel of the state 1st Circuit Court of Appeal has upheld the second-degree murder conviction of a Port Hudson woman in the slaying of an armed robbery accomplice.

Court rejects ex-alcohol chief's suit on firing

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 05:05:43 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - Former Louisiana Alcohol and Tobacco Control Commissioner Murphy Painter's claim that he was wrongfully fired in 2010 was rejected Thursday by a state appeal court.

St. Tammany coroner sues over recently-passed bill

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 16:17:13 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - The St. Tammany Parish coroner is suing the state over newly-passed legislation that shifts financial control of his agency to parish government officials.

DA: Turtle owner won't face prosecution

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 07:28:20 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - Robert Zinn will not face criminal prosecution for the misdemeanor citation he received when state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries agents seized 103 of his 115 box turtles April 2, saying he did not have the proper permits to house them.