Government & Politics
With election looming and no drug supply, future of death penalty in Arkansas is uncertain
Arkansas is actively searching for a new supply of lethal injection drugs, and the next governor will likely decide whether to use them. What that means is unclear with an election still months away and a hodgepodge of positions on capital punishment. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month upheld Arkansas’ execution […]
How election-denying GOP governors could tilt the 2024 presidential election
Republican candidates who claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump have been nominated for governor in four critical swing states, raising concerns that if elected they could try to sway election results in 2024 and beyond. In Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, Republican primary voters elected a candidate who has denied the […]
Abortion access is on the ballot in November in these states
WASHINGTON — Voters in at least three states will determine at the polls in November what abortion access looks like for their neighbors, colleagues, friends and family — becoming some of the first Americans to deliver their own verdicts on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Residents of California, Kentucky and […]
Farmers in 40 Arkansas counties can receive drought-related financial aid
Farmers in more than half of Arkansas’ 75 counties can apply for federal funds to help them cope with the effects of ongoing drought conditions, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Thursday. The USDA declared a “primary natural disaster area” in 20 counties: Benton, Boone, Carroll, Clay, Cleburne, Conway, Faulkner, Independence, Izard, Johnson, Lawrence, Madison, […]
Fix for underfunded Arkansas tire recycling program must wait for legislative review
A stop-gap measure to keep Arkansas’ tire recycling program running fell through on Friday, meaning scrap tire piles will keep growing in large sections of the state. A request from the Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality for $1 million from state savings to shore up the Arkansas Used Tire Recycling and Accountability Act Program was […]
Legislators OK additional $124M in recovery funds for schools
The state Department of Education received legislative approval Friday to disburse $124.3 million in federal emergency relief money to 36 more school districts. The Arkansas Legislative Council accepted a report from its Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review subcommittee to authorize spending for 35 districts and suspended its rules to add a 36th district — Rector, […]
Court releases partially redacted affidavit for Mar-a-Lago search
WASHINGTON — A judge granted the Federal Bureau of Investigation a search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s home earlier this month after agents found 184 documents with classified markings had been kept at Mar-a-Lago. The property — which hosts Trump’s private residence, a golf club and other housing — is not authorized to store […]
Arkansas Senate reviews complaint from disciplined senator
The Senate Ethics Committee will take action next Thursday on a complaint that state Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, filed earlier this month against another senator. The committee met Friday morning to review documents pertaining to the complaint filed Aug. 18. Chairman Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, sent the meeting into executive session immediately, so the substance […]
Federal judge dismisses challenge to “failure to vacate” law after plaintiffs leave Arkansas
A federal lawsuit challenging Arkansas’ criminal eviction statute, the only one of its kind in the nation, was dismissed Monday in light of the plaintiffs’ move to another state. The dismissal upholds a “draconian law” and allows the “discriminatory practice” of eviction for failure to pay rent to continue in Arkansas, according to a news […]
Crawford County sheriff says deputy received concussion in melee
Crawford County Sheriff Jimmy Damante on Thursday said one of his deputies suffered a concussion Sunday during the arrest of a suspect that was filmed by a bystander. The citizen video doesn’t show deputy Levi White being injured, but it did capture White, deputy Zack King and Mulberry police officer Thell Riddle striking the suspect […]
8th Circuit overturns judgment against Arkansas senator’s company
A federal appeals court on Thursday reversed a more than $1.1 million judgment against Arkansas Sen. Jim Hendren’s company over its acceptance of labor from participants in court-ordered drug and alcohol treatment programs. A federal judge in Fayetteville had found that a substance-abuse treatment program and Hendren Plastics failed to pay the rehab-program participants for […]
Appeals court allows transgender care to continue in Arkansas
A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld an injunction blocking Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender children. The three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals kept in place U.S. District Judge James Moody’s order that temporarily blocked Arkansas authorities from enforcing Act 626, which was enacted in 2021 after the […]