The Advocate's Top Headlines

with Matthew Albright | Assistant metro editor

Good morning! There's a lot going on in and around Baton Rouge, so let's get you all caught up.

COVID cases climbing in hospitals

As the highly infectious delta variant of COVID spreads through Louisiana, hospitals are starting to fill up again.

Saturday night, Our Lady of the Lake here in Baton Rouge admitted the most patients it has seen since December. By the end of the weekend, enough COVID patients came in that the hospital had to open up a whole new floor for them. 

The steadily-growing cases are spurring hospitals to start putting tighter restrictions on their visitation policies; read the latest here.  

A 'threat to the public'

Our reporters have dug up more information on the FBI agent in Ascension Parish who has been arrested. We learned that the case against him started in Florida, has been built over three different states, and includes a slew of charges in Orleans, East Baton Rouge and Ascension.

We've also learned that the agent was specifically assigned to investigating child sex crimes; he's accused of committing similar crimes against both adults and children. And we dug up why a judge said he shouldn't be allowed out on bail. 

Details on a deadly shooting

We found out what happened Sunday in a shooting at a Zachary home that left one dead and one wounded. 

Police say a 17-year-old snuck into the home to see the homeowner's daughter by climbing a ladder into a second-story window. He was caught, and the father and other family members confronted him; an argument broke out and the father and the boy started shooting at each other.

This story has all the details we know about the incident.