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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.)

Assumption Parish deputies on Sunday arrested a Bayou L’Ourse man wanted in Morgan City on charges of theft and battery.

Assumption

Sheriff Leland Falcon reported these arrests:

--Timothy Wayne Collier, 25, Honey Lane, Bayou L’Ourse, was arrested Sunday on fugitive warrants from the Morgan City Police Department alleging two counts of theft, battery of a dating partner and resisting an officer.

--Ali Azadi, 36, Lilac Drive, Gray, was issued summons on charges of view obstructed, no insurance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The arrests resulted from a traffic stop on La. 398 near La. 1010 west of Labadieville on Sunday.

A uniformed patrol deputy stopped a vehicle for a traffic violation and made contact with the driver, now identified as Azadi

The deputy noted the vehicles windshield to be broken, obstructing the driver’s view, and the vehicle was uninsured. The deputy then made contact with the passengers occupying the vehicle, one of whom was Collier.

During the initial interview, Collier provided false identifying information to the deputy. Upon learning Collier’s correct identity, it was determined that he was wanted by the Morgan City Police Department on numerous charges. Wayne Collier was arrested.

The investigating deputy requested and was granted consent to search the suspect vehicle. During that process, assorted drug paraphernalia was seized and was attributed to Azadi.

Collier was booked into the Assumption Parish Detention Center pending transfer to the Morgan City Police Department.

Collier was booked Monday at the Morgan City Police Department on the theft counts and four counts of failure to appear to pay fine (6th Ward Morgan City Court).

Morgan City

Chief Chad M. Adams reported that the Morgan City Police Department responded to 43 calls for service over the last 24-hour reporting period and made this arrest:

--Rachel King, 41, Fifth Street, Morgan City, was arrested at 10:39 a.m. Monday on a charge of failure to appear for review (6th Ward Morgan City Court).

St. Mary

Sheriff Gary Driskell reported that over the last 24-hour reporting period, the Sheriff's Office responded to 30 complaints and made these arrests:

--Christopher Louis Keiffer, 41, San Leon, Texas was arrested at 7:05 a.m. Monday on a warrant alleging failure to appear on a charge of speeding. Keiffer was released on a $430 bond.

--David Allen Ackman, 44, Morgan City, was arrested at 10:40 a.m. Monday on two warrants alleging failure to appear on charges of possession of methamphetamine and possession of a firearm or carrying concealed weapon by convicted felon. Bail has not been set at this time.

--Dayton Madison, 29, Jeanerette, was arrested at 1:19 p.m. Monday on a warrant alleging failure to appear on the charges of operating a vehicle while license is suspended, revoked, or canceled and operating a vehicle with an unlit license plate. Bail has not been set at this time.

Franklin

Chief Cedric Handy reported that the Franklin Police Department responded to 15 calls for service in the last 24-hour reporting period and made these arrests:

--Shane Gibson, 26, Joseph Street, Baldwin, was arrested 4:30 p.m. Monday a warrant alleging attempted first-degree murder, illegal use of weapons or dangerous instrumentalities, and aggravated assault. Gibson was booked, processed and held with no bond set at the time of press release.

--Jaydon Richard, 20, Lee Charles Street, Franklin, was arrested at 4:29 p.m. Monday on a charge of simple criminal damage to property. Richard was booked, processed and held on a $1,000 bond.

--Jarmontay Roberson, 31, Robertson Street, Franklin, was arrested at 5:11 p.m. Monday on a warrant dated Feb. 8 alleging aggravated battery. Roberson was booked, processed and held with no bond set at the time of press release.

--Djuanielle Diggs, 39, Magnolia Street, Franklin, was arrested at 8:49 p.m. Monday on a charge of charge of disturbing the peace (language). Diggs was booked, processed and held on a $1,000 bond.

Sheriff Gary Driskell took to Fadebook on Thursday for a live-streamed town hall meeting. The discussion centered on mental health, pay for deputies and the new Sheriff’s Office building planned for Centerville.
Driskell, Chief Deputy John Kahl and David Spencer, the public information officer, said they’re excited about the new building that will bring the Criminal Division together in one place, along with the Sheriff’s Office motor pool.
Spencer talked about the advantages of having a place to perform investigations on vehicles in one climate-controlled location.
The ease of communication will help deputies provide better service, Driskell said.
“The building that we’re all so excited about will help us do that,” the sheriff said.
“What we want to build and provide for our people and citizens is a professional law enforcement environment,” Kahl said.
The preliminary work for the building on U.S. 90 in Centerville is underway, and construction is expected to take about a year. The cost will be $6 million-$6.5 million, Driskell said.
That led an online questioner to ask when the request for a property tax is coming given the $6.5 million price tag.
“It’s not going to be anytime soon,” Driskell said. “We have the funds to pay for the building already.”
The office may use bonds to borrow money for some of the cost, he said. Otherwise, the office has economized to put it in position to construct the building.
Belt-tightening was also the key to answering more viewer questions about the pay rate for deputies.
The starting pay for deputies has been raised from $11 per hour to $16 in about four years.
Pay across the board is up 38% in four years, Kahl said.
The Sheriff’s Office also offers incentive pay for some specialties, help with college tuition for deputies who keep their grades up in fields applicable to law enforcement, and extra pay for long-time deputies.
Another questioner asked about the role of mental health.
Driskell said deputies have undergone training in how to deal with emotionally troubled people, who pose a challenge for law enforcement.
“We end up handling mental health issues,” Driskell said. “These people don’t need to be in jail.”

A legal challenge to a sweeping constitutional amendment backed by Gov. Jeff Landry could derail his broader tax reform agenda, raising questions about the future of his signature fiscal policies.
The lawsuit, filed by two teachers and a pastor, challenges the legality of HB 7— now known as Amendment 2 — a measure that would dramatically rewrite Louisiana’s tax and budgetary policies.
The plaintiffs argue the amendment violates state law by misleading voters and bundling a disparate set of policy changes into a single ballot measure.
The outcome of this case could determine whether Landry’s tax reforms — crafted in response to longstanding GOP complaints about Louisiana’s tax structure — move forward or are sent back to the drawing board. Landry has promoted the amendment as a necessary step toward economic growth and stability, framing it as a tax cut that will make Louisiana more competitive.
If the court rules against the governor, it would be a significant setback, forcing lawmakers to revisit the issue and possibly delaying some of the tax overhaul’s proposed by Landry, including doubling the standard deduction for seniors.
Teachers would also lose the $2,000 stipend they’ve been receiving for the past two years, with nothing budgeted to replace it, and individuals would lose the chance for their income tax to be permanently capped.  
The lawsuit, filed in the 19th Judicial District Court, contends that the amendment’s ballot language is “biased and misleading” because it obscures the true impact of the proposed changes. 
The amendment is also being challenged by religious leaders across the state over the removal of constitutional protections for religious nonprofits.
The proposed amendment would allow the Legislature to more easily remove tax exemptions for “[p]roperty owned by a nonprofit corporation or association organized and operated exclusively for religious…purposes.” 
The exemptions would not be done away with immediately, but they would lose their constitutional protections, leaving them vulnerable to the whims of the Legislature. 
The measure, set to appear on the March 29 ballot, condenses over 100 pages of constitutional revisions into a single sentence, which plaintiffs say highlights only the most appealing aspects while omitting significant consequences.
The plaintiffs, represented by Most & Associates, argue that state law requires ballot language to be “simple, unbiased, concise, and easily understood.” 
They claim the wording of Amendment 2 fails this test.
“The core arguments for why this is illegal are that it violates certain basic guardrails that serve to protect transparency and honesty,” William Most said in an interview. 
“The ballot language fails to communicate the range of constitutional changes voters may find unappealing, including the elimination of constitutional protection for early childcare, STEM initiatives, and dyslexia training – programs that will impact more than 26,000 students across the state if the amendment is passed,” Most & Associates wrote in a press release.
Most is also arguing that the Amendment includes too many reforms for one piece of legislation.   
“Voters are supposed to be presented with one object, one change to the Constitution at a time that they can vote up or down,” Most told The Center Square. “But this amendment packs 40 or 50 things in that are completely unrelated.”
Even if the measure survives the legal challenge, the case will continue, Most said.
“The question of a preliminary injunction isn’t about whether one side wins or loses the case,” Most said. “It is about whether to maintain the status quo while the case proceeds. So the case will proceed regardless of the decision on the preliminary injunction request.”
In other words, a preliminary injunction only decides whether to maintain the status quo while litigation proceeds. Even if the injunction is denied, the case will move forward, and Amendment 2 could still be retroactively invalidated depending on the final ruling, meaning the preliminary injunction will not be the end of the challenges to the amendment, and the fate of Landry’s tax reforms will still be uncertain.
A hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for Wednesday before Judge Louise Haring. If the plaintiffs succeed, the state could appeal to the First Circuit Court of Appeals, and eventually the Louisiana Supreme Court.
With early voting set to begin on March 15, the legal battle is unfolding on a tight timeline. A ruling against the amendment could leave lawmakers scrambling to salvage key elements of Landry’s tax reforms through separate legislation.
If Amendment 2 is struck down, Landry may have to return to the Legislature with a piecemeal approach, potentially making it harder to achieve the sweeping tax changes his administration envisions.

Louisiana’s sugar cane farmers are once again assessing the impact of extreme winter weather on their fields.
The most recent freeze, which brought frigid temperatures but no snowfall, raised concerns about potential damage to the 2025 crop. Unlike the historic snowstorm in early January, which provided an insulating layer of protection, this latest cold snap arrived with only rain, leaving crops without nature’s protective blanket.
“The main concern was how deeply the cold penetrated the soil, but after assessing crops in the cane belt, it appears that damage is minimal. You can already see the cane starting to green again,” said Wilson Judice, an agronomist with the American Sugar Cane League.
“You can see on the tops of the plants that anything that started to grow before the temperatures plummeted was impacted, but underneath those tops, the green is already showing again, which means most of the cane had enough energy to recover.”
Judice noted that any damage is likely to be limited to stubble, ratooned cane that has already been the source of several harvests, or cane that was planted in less-than-ideal conditions. He said more dry, sunny days are needed to get the cane “jumping” again.
The historic snowstorm that blanketed south Louisiana in January 2025 came with a chilling punch — temperatures plummeted to single digits, freezing much of the region. For Louisiana’s sugar cane farmers, the cold snap brought a sense of déjà vu, evoking memories of the devastating freeze of 1989.
But this time, an unexpected ally emerged: snow.
In 1989, a similar cold front hit Louisiana, but without the protective cover of snow. The freeze, combined with dry conditions, had devastating consequences for the region’s sugar cane crops.
“In 1989, there was no snow and no moisture to protect the roots,” Judice explained. “That freeze was much drier, and the snow would have made all the difference back then.” This time, the rare snow event served as a blanket, insulating the ground and preventing the kind of damage that devastated cane farmers decades ago.
For Judice, the real concern during such extreme cold isn’t the above-ground cane, which has already been harvested, but the roots beneath the soil. “Right now the harvest is finished, so we’re not worried about mature cane deteriorating. We’re worried about the roots,” Judice said. “The snow acts like a blanket, insulating the roots of the cane.” This insulating layer, he explained, adds several inches of protection to the ground, preventing the roots from freezing and ensuring that the buds, which will regenerate the next crop, remain viable.
The snow’s effect is similar to the role that ice played during the January freeze, particularly in places like Alexandria. Judice pointed out that below-ground temperature readings in the northern part of the cane belt stayed above 35-36 degrees Fahrenheit thanks to a layer of ice, which kept the underground temperature from dipping dangerously low. “The snow and ice did the same thing. Even though we had a lot more snow this time, it protected the roots,” he said.
The ability of snow and ice to insulate is critical because if the roots freeze, the buds — those crucial points of germination for the next sugarcane cycle — will die, resulting in a crop failure. “It’s a double-edged sword,” Judice said, reflecting on the complex nature of such weather events. “Conditions may set themselves up to be problematic, but a layer of snow or ice means that everything should be fine.”
While the snow’s insulating effect is a big part of the 2025 crop’s potential survival, the more resilient, cold-tolerant varieties of sugar cane that have been developed over the years also play a critical role. Sugarcane Specialist Dr. Kenneth Gravois emphasized that newer sugar cane varieties are bred with increased cold tolerance, which improves their ability to withstand harsh temperatures.
“This is certainly an unusual event,” Gravois said, “but we think that with the science of our new varieties, we can mitigate some of the effects of extreme cold.” Unlike in 1989, when older varieties struggled to survive the freeze, today’s varieties are more resilient, providing an added layer of protection against such extreme weather.
Despite the promising signs, the full extent of the damage from both the recent freeze and the January snowstorm won’t be clear for another month or more. The cane remains dormant during the winter, and it’s only once temperatures begin to rise and the sun comes back out that the plants will start to wake up.
As Gravois noted, “We won’t know the true extent of the damage for a month to a month and a half, when the sun starts to shine and knocks the cane out of its winter dormancy.”
But thanks to a combination of snow cover during the earlier freeze and more resilient sugarcane varieties, Louisiana’s sugar cane industry may have weathered the worst of this winter’s challenges.
“It’s always hard to say what’s going to happen,” Gravois said, reflecting on the unpredictable nature of farming. “But the advances we’ve made in breeding and the protective layer of snow give us hope for a strong 2025 crop.”