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After a bitterly cold start to the first day of Spring, the remainder of the workweek will see morning lows exit frost territory. A warming trend takes over and by the weekend, temperatures will flirt with the 80° mark once again.
Today & Tonight: Clear skies and much calmer winds overnight have allowed temperatures early Tuesday to drop into the upper 30's in the Capital Region. Those waking up in northern parishes/Mississippi counties might see the freezing mark before sunrise. Thankfully, once the sun rises, temperatures will quickly warm, into the upper 60s this afternoon under mainly sunny skies. Winds today will stay light and variable out of the NE.
Tonight, with temperatures in the mid-40s conditions will remain chilly but the threat for frost is gone. Skies will remain mostly clear and winds stay light as we head towards the middle of the workweek.
Up Next: The remainder of the week will have a more spring-like feel. Afternoon temperatures through the end of the workweek will be near 70° and morning lows will return to the mid-50s Thursday through Sunday. Our next chance of rain arrives on Thursday as a low pressure system passes to our south. Scattered showers will be around the state on Thursday with some lingering into Friday as well. Rain totals should be on the lighter side and no threats are associated with this rainmaker at the time. By the weekend, much drier, warmer, and sunnier conditions will be in place.
Get the latest 7-day forecast and real time weather updates HERE.
Watch live news HERE.
- Emma Kate Cowan
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BATON ROUGE - Louisiana's Department of Children and Family Services "took no action whatsoever" that would have prevented the death of a 2-year-old from a fentanyl overdose in 2022, the state Office of the Inspector General said in a report released Monday.
The OIG report detailed what the state agency and law officers did prior to the death of Mitchell Robinson III. The child had been taken to the hospital twice before his death after being unable to breathe. He responded positively to Narcan, a drug intended to halt or bring someone back from a fentanyl overdose, but the staff at DCFS was unfamiliar with Narcan's medicinal use, the report says.
Additionally, the drug screening performed on Robinson did not test for synthetic opioids, which led to multiple negative drug screenings and lowered the priority of the child's case in DCFS' system.
The negative drug screenings also meant the hospital was not required to contact law enforcement.
Further, the report details how the caseworker initially assigned to Robinson was overworked and that the department failed to assist her with her caseload. In the "critical period" between Robinson's second hospital visit on June 17, 2022, and the day of his death on June 26, 2022, the caseworker said she was called out to multiple cases despite having scheduled days off and the state Juneteenth holiday, which closed most governmental offices.
"There's a period of nine days after a confirmed fentanyl test for the little boy, where nothing was done," Inspector General Stephen Street said. "That nine-day period was, in our view, the most crucial part of this entire affair. And, unfortunately, he was brought in a third time nonresponsive and did not respond to Narcan and was declared dead."
In one case, the caseworker specified to the Inspector General's Office she worked until 3 a.m. and needed to be back at her desk at 8 a.m.. She ended up taking sick leave after working long-hour days for multiple days in a row and returned to work the day after Robinson's death.
"This is just a situation where it's going to require a joint effort by the citizens, by the government and by these frontline caseworkers to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again," Street told WBRZ on Monday. "Or, at least that we do everything possible to try to prevent it."
Robinson's mother, Whitney Ard, remains in jail on murder charges and is scheduled for trial in April, almost two whole years later.
ADDIS - A former Addis Police officer pleaded guilty to manslaughter and negligent injuring Monday for a fatal chase that killed two teenagers on New Year's Eve in 2022.
Former officer David Cauthron ran a red light while chasing a suspect and crashed into a car, killing Brusly High students Maggie Dunn and Caroline Gill. Cauthron was driving 85 miles per hour and never hit his brakes before the crash, sources told WBRZ.
Cauthron was allowed to resign from the Addis Police Department weeks after the wreck. The town council accepted his resignation in February.
Maggie Dunn's father spoke after Cauthron pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 32 years in prison, with 22 of those years suspended.
"We are glad that this process is over but it will never be over for us. We will continue to grieve for the rest of our lives and we all agree that David Cauthron issued a life sentence to our kids that day and we have to deal with it. He will get out of prison and be able to experience all those things that they were not able to experience. We hope he experiences those things and remembers Caroline and Maggie and that this changes his life forever," Randall Dunn said.
Upon release, Cauthorn is barred from working in law enforcement and must speak to law enforcement and schools about his actions to hopefully prevent something similar from happening in the future.
Cauthron will report to the West Baton Rouge Jail in May.
"You know, I've done this for 30 something years. Today was one of the most gut-wrenching moments I've had in court. I've prosecuted serial killers, I've prosecuted some of the toughest cases but hearing what I heard today just leaves you speechless," District Attorney Tony Clayton said.
The crash happened in Brusly while Cauthron was chasing Tyquel Zanders, who was accused of stealing a family member's car in Baton Rouge before fleeing into West Baton Rouge Parish. Zanders was also indicted on manslaughter charges.
Video obtained by WBRZ showed Cauthron speeding through a red light in his police unit and slamming into the side of the teens' car. Cauthron joined the chase as it made its way through West Baton Rouge and was leading the pursuit just seconds before the wreck.
Sources told the WBRZ Investigative Unit that Cauthron was going 86 miles per hour just before impact and that he did not use his brakes. District Attorney Tony Clayton said video from inside Cauthron's vehicle was critical to his case.
A brother of Maggie, Liam Dunn, was injured in the wreck and suffered from a concussion, a broken femur and a broken wrist and ribs. He survived and was able to speak to Cauthron directly about the loss of his sister.
"I always wondered where my sister would go to college and what kind of woman she would be. I know both Maggie and Caroline both would have gone on to do amazing things. You singlehandedly caused two beautiful, young girls to be gone forever. Robbing them of so many of life's little treasures and memories. You also altered the trajectory of my life," Liam Dunn said.
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