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El Dorado’s Shepherd elected Arkansas House Speaker for third time
The Arkansas House gaveled into the 2023 legislative session on Monday with the swearing in of its members and the election of House Speaker Matthew Shepherd (R-El Dorado). Shepherd’s election to a third term means he will be the longest serving House speaker in state history. Only one member, Hope Hendren Duke (R-Gravette) voted against […]
Sarah Huckabee Sanders taps federal prosecutor to be Arkansas’ inspector general
Arkansas Gov.-elect Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday that she plans to appoint Allison Bragg, an assistant U.S. attorney in Little Rock, to be the chief state government watchdog. Bragg, who serves as the spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas, is Sanders’ pick for secretary of the Arkansas Department of […]
Long-running lawsuit on Arkansas’ fourth casino license nears conclusion
A judge expects to rule in the coming days on whether Legends Resort and Casino is entitled to open a casino in Pope County. Both sides promise to appeal to the Arkansas Supreme Court, but a decision at the circuit court level will finally begin to resolve the nearly four-year-old question of who should operate […]
Sarah Huckabee Sanders taps Arizona prison official to lead Arkansas Department of Corrections
Gov.-elect Sarah Huckabee Sanders will appoint an Arizona prisons official to lead the Arkansas Department of Corrections after she takes office next week. Joe Profiri, whom Sanders plans to tap as her corrections secretary, is the deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, which he also led in an interim capacity in 2019. Profiri […]
Will a new governor and shifting Legislature mean the expansion of school choice in Arkansas?
A new governor and turnover in the state Legislature have proponents hopeful for the expansion of school-choice programs in the state during the 2023 legislative session. A coalition of Democrats and Republicans from mostly rural areas have blocked numerous school voucher bills in committee in past sessions. No legislation has been filed, but in interviews, […]
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, nearing the end of his term, reflects on eight years in office
As Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson looks back on his eight years in office, what he’s most proud of might surprise you. Sure, he takes pride in shepherding through the largest income tax cuts in state history, but that’s not the first thing he mentioned in a wide-ranging interview about his administration. “Whenever you look at […]
Privatization, more fees among proposals to fix Arkansas’ tire recycling problem
The architect of Arkansas’ waste tire disposal program plans to introduce legislation to dismantle it and privatize the disposal of worn rubber. The state Legislature will be forced to take action on the Tire Accountability Program because it ran out of money to reimburse scrap tire processors in August. The shortfall triggered an ongoing audit […]
Arkansas becomes latest state to ban TikTok on public devices after governor’s directive
Arkansas recently became the latest of a growing number of states to ban the use of the popular social media app TikTok on state devices and networks due to fears of data misuse by the Chinese government. Under direction from Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Arkansas Division of Information Systems Director Jonathan Askins sent a Dec. 8 […]
Arkansas medical marijuana companies complain about seed-to-sale tracking software
Arkansas’ medical marijuana companies are again clashing with the software vendor that operates the state’s seed-to-sale tracking system. Cultivators and dispensaries complain that patient and product data disappear, the software often goes down, available training is insufficient and that customer service is poor when problems do arise. The vendor, BioTrack, called the complaints misleading and […]
Arkansas AG-elect Tim Griffin restructures office, appoints senior staff
Arkansas Attorney General-elect Tim Griffin will restructure the attorney general’s office staff, eliminating the chief of staff and two deputy chief of staff positions. Griffin in a Friday announcement said the office’s new “unified supervisory structure” would be led by newly named Chief Deputy Attorney General Bob Brooks Jr. Griffin, currently Arkansas’ lieutenant governor, also […]
Sarah Huckabee Sanders announces appointment for Arkansas Public Safety secretary
This story was updated at 4:40 p.m. on Dec. 5, 2022, with additional details about Capt. Mike Hagar’s U.S. Marshal nomination. Arkansas Gov.-elect Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday announced her first cabinet appointment, tapping a current Arkansas State Police troop commander to be her public safety chief. Sanders said she would nominate Capt. Mike Hagar, […]
Arkansas Supreme Court stops revocation of medical marijuana cultivation permit for now
The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday granted a Fort Smith medical marijuana cultivator’s request to pause the state’s decision to revoke its growing license. The court agreed to expedite its review of an appeal from River Valley Relief Cultivation after a Pulaski County circuit judge ruled that its license should be stripped and regulators took […]