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Police in Morgan City and Franklin reported four arrests Monday.

Morgan City

Chief Chad M. Adams reported these arrests:

•Cherie Craigo, 36, Maine Street, Patterson, was arrested at 8:46 a.m. Monday on a charge of theft (under $1,000). (Released on summons.)

•Benjamine Vinning, 29, Nevada Street, Morgan City, was arrested at 3:32 p.m. Monday on a charge of contempt of court (6th Ward Morgan City Court).

•Wayne Singleton, 63, 11th Street, Morgan City, was arrested at 10:26 p.m. Monday on a charge of possession of marijuana (first offense). (Released on summons.) 

Franklin

Chief Cedric Handy reported this arrest:

•Darrius Gordon, 38, Plantation Teche Drive, Franklin, was arrested at 10:42 a.m. Monday on a warrant dated May 3, 2021, alleging two counts of domestic abuse battery (child endangerment) and simple criminal damage to property. Gordon was additionally arrested on six counts of charge of resisting an officer. Gordon was booked, processed and held with no bond set.
press release.

Warren Boyd
Warren Boyd, a resident of Morgan City, Louisiana, died Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, at Lafayette General Hospital.
Visitation will be Friday from 9 a.m. until services at 11 a.m. at Siracusaville Recreation Center in Morgan City.
He is survived by his wife, Lakeysha Harris-Boyd; daughters, Rashyra Pharagood and Ky’Layjah Boyd; son, Malik Harry; step-sons, Jaden Harry and Je’Caryous Harris; sisters, Jackie Jupiter, Cynthia Gautier, Genell Boyd, Karen Charles, Quindolyn Boyd, Sabrina Charles, Bridger Young and AAliyah Charles; brothers, Michael Boyd, Charles Boyd, Morris Charles, Ronald Charles, Greg Duncan, Jason Boyd, Timothy Boyd and Grover Boyd; and two grandchildren.
Jones Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Commercial fishermen who experience unexpected losses from foreign competition would be eligible for federal assistance under a proposal to expand the current relief rules.
The Magnuson-Stevens Act currently provides aid to the seafood industry if is hurt by natural or manmade disasters such as hurricanes or oil spills. A bill from U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., would amend the law to include “economic cause” as an allowable trigger for a disaster declaration when that harm is tied to activities carried out by a foreign person or state. 
Mace’s bill targets coastal states where fishermen say they have been undercut by cheap imports and alleged illegal practices abroad. Mace has framed the bill as a way to steer buyers toward domestic seafood and protect the commercial fishing way of life. The bill has eight other cosponsors and bipartisan support.
As previously reported, the U.S. Treasury has a history of adding to the industry’s burden by doling out hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to foreign competition. 
Louisiana shrimpers say the market has been reshaped by foreign competition as well as U.S. policy and financing. For years, industry advocates have argued that taxpayer-backed development funding has helped expand shrimp farming overseas even as imports surged and domestic harvests fell. 
The result, they say, has been chronic oversupply that keeps prices depressed, worsened by alleged mislabeling of imported shrimp as local. Communities like DuLac, once anchored by processing plants and seasonal harvests, have watched boats run aground, plants close and costs rise. 
“When you start over-importing, you start shutting down America,” Kermit Duck, a Morgan City shrimper, told The Center Square. “We can’t compete with the market, so we’re stuck having to sell our shrimp here to make ends meet because we can’t afford to sell them at the dock.”
Duck wouldn’t be able to file a federal disaster request on his own. Under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the process typically starts when a state or tribe formally requests a “fishery resource disaster” determination.
In 2023, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards asked the federal government to activate the Magnuson-Stevens Act to declare a disaster after an influx of foreign shrimp drove dockside prices to lower than $1 per pound. The request was never granted, and the state instead tried to squeeze relief from other federal sources. 
“The impacts of a hurricane, fish stock collapse, or the economic impacts of unethical imports are the same – shrimpers can’t go fishing,” said Blake Price of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “America is rapidly losing its ability to produce its most consumed seafood.”
The industry has worked its way onto the priority lists of federal and state lawmakers in recent years. 
Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas have passed laws requiring restaurants and retailers to disclose whether seafood is imported or domestic and whether it’s wild-caught or farm-raised.  
In December, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., introduced legislation aimed at forcing Customs and Border Protection to distribute money Louisiana seafood producers say has been stuck in Washington for years: $38.5 million in interest tied to antidumping duties on Chinese imports, including $10.6 million earmarked for crawfish producers, according to Cassidy’s announcement.

Louisiana is set to receive more than $208 million in federal funding in fiscal year 2026 under a new $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program aimed at bolstering care in communities nationwide, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
"The use of this funding will transform lives through innovative approaches to improve healthcare access in rural communities across the state,” said Secretary Bruce D. Greenstein.
The program, created under the Trump administration's Working Families Tax Cuts legislation, will distribute $10 billion a year from 2026 through 2030, with first-year state awards averaging about $200 million and ranging from roughly $147 million to $281 million, CMS said.
CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said the funding is meant to help states expand rural access and modernize care delivery.
Louisiana has around 1.1 million residents who live in rural areas, and state officials have pointed to widespread provider shortages and chronic disease burdens outside the state’s urban cores.
The Louisiana Department of Health says 44 of 64 parishes are fully or partially rural, and about 29.1% of Louisianans live in rural areas.
The state estimates 73% of residents live in a primary-care shortage area, 93% in a mental-health shortage area and 86% in a dental-health shortage area.
In its application for federal funding, the Department of Health said its plan to widen access includes six initiatives spanning workforce expansion, technology and data-sharing, value-based payment models, prevention and nutrition-based interventions, care integration for high-needs populations and capital support for essential services.
LDH’s timeline shows the state submitted its application Nov. 4, with first-year funds expected to be distributed in January, followed by state funding opportunities for on-the-ground projects later that month.