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The dwindling local news environment makes us all less informed
(This commentary has been updated to reflect new information. See editor’s note at end.) People have a right to know what their government is doing in their name. As the editor of a small weekly newspaper in Louisiana in the late 1970s, I helped uncover insider dealing by a city commissioner and regularly covered a […]
UAMS partners with UCLA, Howard to improve health, longevity in impoverished areas
A UAMS project aimed at improving the health of medically underserved people in the Arkansas Delta is expanding its outreach in partnership with UCLA and Howard University researchers. Both the Arkansas project and the UCLA/Howard project seek to gather data on health needs and outcomes as well as provide information and resources to “historically marginalized […]
School safety panel proposes hardening schools, improving mental health response
The Arkansas School Safety Commission adopted a dozen recommendations Tuesday aimed at hardening schools against intrusion and making sure staff and teachers are trained to respond not only to physical threats but also to students in mental distress. Commissioners voted to recommend that school campuses “should always have armed personnel when staff and students are […]
Welcome to the Arkansas Advocate, a fresh voice in state news
Thirty-eight years ago, my bride and I drove up from Baton Rouge and into Arkansas in her Datsun B210 hatchback. Looking for adventure, we planned to camp and hike during our honeymoon. We pitched our tent on Mount Nebo on July 4. Over the next few days, we toodled along scenic routes through the Bostons […]
$50M set aside for school security grant program
Arkansas legislators last week set aside $50 million for a school-safety grant program for which the rules have yet to be written. At least one legislator said the size of the grant program could grow during next year’s General Assembly. “I don’t think $50 million is the final price tag,” Rep. Lane Jean, co-chair of […]