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(Editor’s note: The charges listed here and the narratives that go with them are provided by the police agencies that made the arrests. Guilt or innocence has not been determined in court.)

St. Mary Parish deputies reported three arrests on theft charges Monday and Tuesday, while Morgan City officers arrested a Patterson man on a third synthetic marijuana charge.

St. Mary

Sheriff Gary Driskell reported that over the last 24-hour reporting period, the Sheriff's Office responded to 63 complaints and made these arrests:

--Timothy Reese Lopez, 40, Amelia, was arrested at 2:45 a.m. Tuesday on charges of criminal trespass and theft. Bail has not been set at this time.

--Zacharieth Paul Lopez, 35, Morgan City, was arrested at 2:45 a.m. Tuesday on charges of criminal trespass and theft. Bail has not been set at this time.

--Daffaney M. Mitchell, 41, Franklin, was arrested at 4:25 p.m. Monday on a charge of theft. Mitchell was released on a $1,800 bond.

--Catina Marie Vaughn, 51, Franklin, was arrested at 3:34 p.m. Monday on a warrant alleging failure to appear on charges of speeding and operating a vehicle while license is suspended, revoked or canceled. Vaughn was released on a $1,000 bond.

Morgan City

Chief Chad M. Adams reported that the Morgan City Police Department responded to 39 calls for service in the last 24-hour reporting period. And made these arrests:

--Trent Henry Duhon, 30, St. Luke Street, Patterson, was arrested at 12:56 a.m. Wednesday on charges of possession of synthetic marijuana (third offense) and introduction of contraband into a penal facility.

--Christopher Joseph Adams Jr., 44, Harvest Hill Drive, Broussard, was arrested at 11:12 a.m. Tuesday on three counts of failure to appear to pay fine (6th Ward Morgan City Court).

Metal Shark and HavocAI, a leading builder of maritime swarm autonomy, on Wednesday announced a strategic partnership integrating Havoc's autonomy platform across Metal Shark's existing fleet of high-speed maneuverable unmanned surface vessels.
This first-of-its-kind deployment further demonstrates that the autonomous maritime capabilities required to defend the United States are real, and they’re available right now, Metal Shark said in a press release.
Already deployed with the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army, and used in live operational settings by multiple international allies, Havoc's collaborative autonomy technology will allow a single operator to quickly and effectively conduct complex operations involving multiple Metal Shark autonomous surface vessels simultaneously. This technology enables unprecedented interoperability and lethality through autonomous, intelligent boat swarms that overwhelm adversaries, Metal Shark said.
Metal Shark has won multiple major U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to produce various patrol boats. The company is currently producing the U.S. Navy’s next-generation 40 PB combatant craft , and 85’ Near Coastal Patrol Vessels, establishing itself as a key supplier of welded aluminum military vessels to the Navy and other branches of the U.S. Armed Forces.
"We're not just announcing a partnership — we're once again demonstrating that real autonomy is available right now for existing warfighting platforms," said Paul Lwin, CEO of HavocAI. "Metal Shark's engineering excellence and track record of delivering thousands of reliable vessels to military and commercial operators worldwide makes them the ideal partner for expanding Havoc’s proven collaborative autonomy capabilities."
"Simply put, we chose to partner with Havoc because they are demonstrating real and substantial, head-turning operational results in the autonomous surface vessels space," said Chris Allard, CEO of Metal Shark. "Over the years, Metal Shark has built and delivered over 400 autonomous or remote operated vessels, and the scale and maturity of Havoc’s platform in such a short time made them the perfect partner for us.”
The partnership addresses the U.S. and allied militaries’ critical needs for heterogeneous fleet coordination – mixed fleets of different sizes and capabilities to operate cohesively, maximizing mission flexibility and asset utilization, Metal Shark said.
In the past 20 years Metal Shark has designed, built, and delivered over 2,000 vessels for U.S. and foreign militaries and first responders , while more recently debuting innovative autonomous platforms like the United States Marine Corps long-range unmanned surface vessel, Prowler semi-submersible USV and Frenzy micro-USV, and delivering their new high-speed autonomous surface vessels at production rates of up to one unit per day.
This year, Havoc AI has announced production and integration partnerships with Lockheed Martin, PacMar Technologies, and Tocaro Blue, and their products have been effectively utilized by warfighters in nearly a dozen official U.S. Department of War missions and exercises.
Metal Shark specializes in the design and construction of welded aluminum vessels from 16 feet to over 300 feet for military, law enforcement and commercial operators. Key customers include U.S. and foreign militaries, law enforcement agencies, fire departments, and other clients worldwide. With two boat-building facilities in Louisiana, a research, design and testing facility in Alabama, plus a dedicated engineering facility in Croatia, Metal Shark’s 400-plus employees produce over 200 vessels per year.
HavocAI has already delivered fully operational products to the U.S. Department of War. The company recently hosted a demonstration where one operator controlled 25 autonomous vessels deployed in Europe, Rhode Island and San Diego from one maritime operations center.

SCRIPTURE
CAKE PROGRAM
9:30 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 26, New Salem Baptist Church, 1412 Cherry St., Patterson. The Rev. Samuel Calhoun, pastor, will deliver the message. There will be speakers from various ministries of the church. Everyone invited.

Louisiana higher education officials can point to steady progress toward the educational attainment goals they set in 2019. 
But as they try to continue hitting their marks ahead of the 2030 deadline they’ve set, they must navigate numerous hot-button topics, from campus safety to speech to paying student-athletes, while still keeping the central goal in mind. 
“We really do have to significantly address the poverty issue in our state,” Commissioner of Higher Education Kim Hunter Reed said. “That is the challenge, and that is the opportunity. So that’s the work that we do every day.”
Federal funding is an important revenue stream for higher education institutions, who use those dollars for research and to pay for care at their hospital health science centers. So uncertainty about whether that money will continue to flow was a major topic of conversation in higher ed circles even before the current shutdown, which has only heightened the concern. 
For now, there’s little they can do but wait and see, and hope the shutdown is brief. 
“We were already in these conversations as changes were happening at the federal level with grants and other research opportunities,” Reed said. “So this is just continued watch and oversight and analysis that’s happening on our campuses as a result of the shutdown.”
The White House has proposed giving nine universities preferential access to federal funding in exchange for promoting the Trump administration’s political goals, such as weeding out structures that allegedly “purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas.”
This proposal raises questions about whether universities that are not on the list, such as those in Louisiana, might get shortchanged. But it also highlights how campuses have become culture war battlegrounds, where promoting “free speech,” however that might be defined, ties into the broader goal of campus safety. 
Following the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, Attorney General Liz Murrill and 16 Republican colleagues from other states signed a letter to college administrators warning them not to impose a “tax on free speech” by asking student organizations to pay high security fees for controversial speakers. 
Reed said institutions have a responsibility to promote “diversity of voices and thoughts and ideas, because that enriches the educational experience for students and it increases their value in the marketplace,” adding that campus leaders are aware of those expectations, while still focusing on safety. 
She noted that Southern University’s Baton Rouge campus, along with other historically Black colleges and universities across the South, received racially charged threats in the wake of the Kirk shooting. While the FBI has not found the threats to be credible, Southern has locked down a few times in recent weeks, and Reed said she is looking for federal guidance about how to respond. 
She said the Legislature appropriated $2 million to have LSU’s center for emergency preparedness and response training conduct a review of safety at every campus and recommend improvements.
“We’ve been vigilant on it and the Legislature has been supportive of that,” Reed said. “But it’s needed now more than ever.”
As is typically the case, higher ed stakeholders and lawmakers are engaged with multiple task forces that will report to the Legislature ahead of next year’s session. One is looking at the feasibility of adopting a phased retirement program for higher education faculty and staff. 
The Caleb Wilson Hazing Prevention Task Force, named after a Southern University student who died in a hazing-related incident, has focused in part on making sure that middle school and high school students aren’t normalizing hazing and bringing those expectations to college. The group also is discussing standards of evidence rules for student disciplinary proceedings, Reed said. 
Another task force led by Rep. Rashid Young, a former Grambling State football player, is considering future state laws regarding student-athlete endorsement deals, typically called “name, image and likeness” or “NIL” deals. Lawmakers are hoping to bring some order to a relatively new phenomenon with shifting rules and norms, while still allowing Louisiana universities to compete for top athletes. 
Some of the recent conversations have centered around protecting high school students who are approached about signing NIL contracts, possibly without fully understanding what they are committing to, Reed notes. 
But while all of these issues are related to the core mission of higher education, job No. 1 remains educating students. When the Board of Regents adopted a new master plan in 2019, they set the goal of having 60% of the state’s working-age adults with a degree or other post-secondary credential by 2030. The proportion was 44% at the time. 
The regents recently announced that the level had been raised to 52.5 percent. A new record of 80,000 graduates earned credentials in Louisiana in 2025, just 5,000 annual completers short of the 2030 goal of 85,000, according to the board. Much of that increase comes from short-term credentials tied to specific industry sectors. 
Traditionally, the regents approved academic programs one at a time, without real insight into any strategic planning across institutions or across time, Reed said. Now, each institution approves a strategic academic plan which is submitted to regional economic developers to ensure it will help to fill high-demand jobs in each region. 
“And if not, then those programs are not given a green light to proceed to develop,” she said.
Looking ahead to next year’s regular session, the big question, as always, will be about funding levels. Reed wants to keep talking about ways to give schools more autonomy to decide how to manage their own business. 
“We know that we’re not going to receive massive amounts of funding,” she said. “And so the conversation around the business model for higher ed and ensuring there’s enough flexibility for institutions to support themselves and diversify their own budgets is an important one.”
For more Louisiana political news, visit www. LaPolitics.com or follow Alford on X @ LaPoliticsNow.