Beet L. Jooz

The classified-ad website Backpage.com was no longer operating Friday — just hours after FBI officials raided the home of co-founder, Michael Lacey.

Conor McGregor was arraigned in a Brooklyn courtroom Friday on charges related to an attack on a bus a day prior at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

BATON ROUGE - Police are looking for a man who pretended to be an Uber driver before demanding money from a group of LSU students at knifepoint in March.

According to the LSU Police Department, 23-year-old Austin Ragusa of Pride is wanted on one count of aggravated assault for the March encounter.

The victims told police they believed they were getting into an Uber car that they had called for around 3 a.m. in Tigerland. Once they got in, they asked the driver, now believed to be Ragusa, to bring them to LSU's North Residential College dorms.

When they arrived at their destination, the driver revealed he wasn't an Uber driver, but rather claimed to be a taxi, and demanded payment for the ride.

The four passengers argued with the driver and gave up some of the money before getting out of the vehicle. Police say surveillance video showed the driver hop out of the vehicle behind them and follow them while brandishing a knife.

All four ran into the nearby dorms and were able to get away without harm.

According to an arrest warrant, the investigation led officers back to Fred's Bar in Tigerland, where they found footage of Ragusa's vehicle in the parking lot. Police say Ragusa parked his car and then spent some time walking around both Fred's and a neighboring bar, Reggie's.

Police are still searching for Ragusa. Anyone with information is urged to contact LSU Police at (225) 578-3231.

Police have not released photos of the suspect at the time of this post.

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BATON ROUGE – A tree-trimming truck became tangled in utility poles, causing utility lines to fall across I-12 Friday morning.

The lines blocked travel lanes in both directions and resulted in a morning-long closure of the busy highway system.

A picture shared with WBRZ showed the truck headed toward Essen on Quarters Lake Road and appeared to stop just after pulling the lines down.  

According to the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office, the driver worked for Arbortech Tree Services and had failed to lower the truck's boom. The sheriff's office says the trucks extension caught on the power lines and pulled them down, causing a crash on I-12 and shutting down the interstate.

The driver of the truck has been cited for careless operation and for the hours-long hazard clean-up.

Authorities said the truck pulled between 20 and 30 lines down.  The situation caused a mess on surface streets and both interstates 10 and 12.

When the lines fell, two vehicles that were traveling westbound on I-12 were involved in a crash with the lines.  There was minor damage to both vehicles and one driver sought medical attention on their own as a precaution, authorities told WBRZ. 

Traffic was moved off I-12 West at Airline Highway and eastbound traffic was diverted onto I-10, not allowed to head east at all on I-12. Traffic from Livingston Parish was congested nearly to the parish line and the Amite River; Eastbound traffic stretched to La. 415.

I-12 reopened around 1 o'clock.

Click HERE to monitor traffic conditions, live, through WBRZ's advanced traffic-tracking technology and map software.

Police said the best plan of action was to leave planning to the utility companies and not just simply cut the lines and pull them off the interstate. It was not immediately clear if the lines were a mixture of power lines and fiber optic cable, which could also provide data, internet, cable and phone service to thousands of people.

Police were manning intersections and manually adjusting traffic signals on surface streets.

Check back for updates.

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BATON ROUGE – A handful of people have been charged in what appears to be a renegade city-wide paintball “war.”

As many as four people were cited for shooting off rounds from a paintball gun after police were dispatched to suspicious incidents and damage to property Thursday night. The group was ticketed for damage to property and their paintball guns were confiscated, a Baton Rouge Police spokesperson told WBRZ.

Friday, police and East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's deputies were on alert after hearing of a group potentially meeting up at an abandoned apartment complex. Authorities were patrolling around Brandywine on Darryl Drive.

Police said they've received reports related to people shooting paintball guns at property and learned of the juvenile “war.”

“We received reports of a flyer that was circulating asking guys to put their guns down and pick up paintball guns,” L'Jean McKneely, a BRPD spokesperson, said.

A Twitter feed shared a thread of messages related an ongoing assault using paintball guns over the last 18 hours and advertised for a 4 o'clock shootout at Brandywine.

Video on the feed showed people shooting at a bicyclist from a passing car and also of a paintball shootout in the parking lot of a business near the corner of Sherwood and Choctaw.

“Ain’t nobody safe in BR,” the account tweeted with the video of someone shooting a bicyclist with a paintball gun.

On April 3, the account tweeted a picture with the words “community clean up” and paintball guns.

McKneely said officers have been advised and told to be on the lookout for people randomly shooting paintball guns.

In videos posted online, most of those involved appear to be teenagers or people in their 20s. 

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Follow the publisher of this post on Twitter: @treyschmaltz

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Washington Post

Facebook's Zuckerberg long resisted going to Congress. Now he'll face a 'reckoning,' lawmakers say Washington Post When Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress next week, the Facebook chief executive will face off with lawmakers who have long been itching to confront him — on everything from a privacy mishap involving 87 million users to a litany of issues that ... How to stop Facebook from recognizing your face and tracking your online movesUSA TODAY Sheryl Sandberg: Facebook knew about Cambridge Analytica 2 1/2 years ago but didn't follow upBusiness Insider Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg says the company is not a surveillance operationMarketWatch Deadline -New York Times -NPR -The Hill (blog) all 399 news articles »

Washington Post

'I'm not going to be a Gabby Giffords': Congressman pulls out loaded gun at constituent meeting Washington Post A lawmaker from South Carolina pulled out his loaded pistol during a meeting with his constituents Friday to make a point about gun safety, according to advocacy group members who were present. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) placed the gun on a table for ... A Congressman Pulled Out A Loaded Gun In A Constituent Meeting And Said He's "Not Going To Be A Gabby Giffords"BuzzFeed News Congressman Pulls Out Loaded Gun at Constituent Meeting: “I'm Not Going to Be a Gabby Giffords”Slate Magazine "I'm not going to be a Gabby Giffords": Congressman pulls out gun at constituent meetingCBS News Politico -The Hill -TIME -Charleston Post Courier all 98 news articles »

Comedian and progressive talk show host Bill Maher defended Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham on Friday, arguing with guests on his HBO show that a boycott led by Parkland, Fla., school shooting survivor David Hogg was un-Am...

Arizona and Texas will be sending 400 National Guard members to the southern border in response to President Donald Trump's Wednesday Executive Order directing the troops to "assist the border patrol" in guarding the nation's existing border fence - and of course the many miles of completely unprotected crossing zones. 

The troops will be armed for self defense "depending on the mission set," according to Brig. Gen. Tracy Norris, commander of the Texas Army National Guard, who added that it was "premature right now to know what the cost will be" of the overall operation.

“Tonight there are National Guard troops moving in support of the border security mission,” said chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana White, who added ""The National Guard's efforts will include aviation, engineering, surveillance, communications, vehicle maintenance and logistical support."

The deployment will be a joint effort between Trump's federal imitative and state-level management under what's known as Title 32. Governors will retain control of the National Guard troops, however the federal government will finance the patrols. 

150 Arizona Guard members from will deploy next week, while the Texas National Guard confirmed a deployment of 250 troops over the next 72 hours as an "initial surge" which began shortly after 7 p.m. Friday at the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Austin, according to a Guard spokesman. 

Brig. Gen. Tracy Norris, commander of the Texas Army National Guard, said the deployment would begin meeting “the priorities of the governor and the president in securing our border.” In addition to troops, the Guard said it would send ground surveillance vehicles and light and medium aircraft. -New York Times

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey confirmed his state's deployment over Twitter.

Our office is working closely with @AZNationalGuard, @DeptofDefense and @DHSgov on plans to deploy approximately 150 national guard members to the border next week

— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) April 6, 2018

The initial wave of troops falls short of the 2,000 to 4,000 members of the National Guard that Trump told the media he wanted to send - however Defense Secretary James Mattis signed orders on Friday authorizing funding for an additional 4,000 National Guard troops until Sept. 30, who would remain under the "command and control of their respective governors."

Trump's deployment was welcome news to Texas Republican leaders, who have been outspoken in their condemnation of cartel-related crime, including drugs, violence and human smuggling. Many Texas legislators had pushed to deploy the National Guard to the border years ago. Texas in fact already has approximately 100 troops at the border as part of a state-level border security operation which began four years ago under then-governor Rick Perry in order to "help combat the brutal Mexican drug cartels that are preying upon our communities," said Perry. 

The 100 National Guard troops who have been at the border play a supporting role to state and federal law enforcement, acting, as state officials describe it, as a “force multiplier.”

“We stand ready to support the needs of the state and the nation at the request of the governor or the president,” Lt. Col. Travis Walters, a spokesman for the Texas Military Department, the agency that oversees the state’s National Guard branches, said in a statement. -NYT

This isn't the first time in recent history that the National Guard has been deployed to the border. 

In 2006 the Bush administration deployed 6,000 Guardsmen as part of the border support mission known as Operation Jump Start.

President Barack Obama deployed 1,200 guardsmen in 2010 as part of a similar mission called Operation Phalanx. -ABC

Zero Tolerance

Meanwhile, the DOJ announced on Friday the implementation of a "zero-tolerance" policy when it comes to prosecuting those trying to cross into the United States illegally. 

“The situation at our Southwest Border is unacceptable,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a statement. “Congress has failed to pass effective legislation that serves the national interest -- that closes dangerous loopholes and fully funds a wall along our southern border."

“As a result, a crisis has erupted at our Southwest Border that necessitates an escalated effort to prosecute those who choose to illegally cross our border,” added Sessions.

The National Guard deployments follow a tense week in border security, as a giant caravan of over 1,500 Central Americans began to make its way to the U.S. border in hopes of seeking asylum. While the caravan is now "mostly" defunct, Trump said earlier this week that the National Guard would remain at the border until the wall is funded and built. 

To that end - as Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King explained last September - "if we don't build a wall," whatever border security measures Trump employs, no matter how effective, can all be undone by the next president. 

A "massive border security deal ... doesn't address domestic enforcement" says @SteveKingIA in response to Trump https://t.co/wl2rqYYIeK

— New Day (@NewDay) September 14, 2017

'Do people really believe this stuff'

'No one should have left these animals sealed inside the house any more than they would have done children – clearly, they should have been rescued'

The New York Times published an article comparing President Donald Trump to George Wallace, a Southern Democratic politician in the 1960s who embraced the practice of segregation between white and black Americans. Both, the Times claimed, were outspoken populists and used an angry populace against the establishment. Townhall reported that the video said the following: […]

Alex Jones delivers a morning news report regarding Sen. Ben Sasse’s remark about President Trump and David Hogg’s reaction whe...

The president was famously roasted by Barack Obama in 2012

Immediate public response reflects deep divisions in country, as hundreds gather outside court supporting once leader, while many praise new head of state for promising reforms

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Three members of the Swedish Academy, the body that selects the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, have withdrawn from its board in protest over the handling of allegations of sexual misconduct by a man married to another member.

Slidell police asking for public's help to identify iPad thief.

'He is the worst. He is the worst'

The 5.3 magnitude earthquake that hit off the coast of Los Angeles moved the earth a bit, which was captured on cameras.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas said he assumes the Trump administration would try to use U.S. farm bill legislation, which helps farmers withstand economic slumps, to shield the sector in a growing U.S.-China trade dispute.

Former first lady Michelle Obama likened her husband's presidency to having "the good parent" at home at a women's leadership conference on Thursday.At the Simmons Leadership Conference in Boston, Obama appeared to...

A team of professional appraisers will provide an estimated value for items and answer collectors' questions.

The 38-year-old lost his money and his car in a botched drug deal in Gentilly early Friday morning (April 5).

Space is scheduled to get its first luxury hotel thanks to Houston-based startup Orion Span. The company aims to launch its Aurora Station in late 2021.

'They are problematic and raise issues'