leslie rutledge

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin greets Big Country Chateau tenants (L-R) Clara Edmonston, Delores McDaniel and Jay Richard at a Jan. 26, 2023, tenants' rally in front of Little Rock City Hall. (Photo by Sonny Albarado)

Owners of troubled Little Rock apartments held in contempt of court, fined $1,000 per day

BY: - September 20, 2023

A troubled Little Rock apartment complex, its holding company and its out-of-state parent company have each been fined $1,000 a day since Aug. 14 and will continue to be until they comply with a Pulaski County Circuit Court order from February, according to a Tuesday order from a judge holding them in contempt of court. […]

Arkansas Attorney General settles lawsuit against Texas company accused of pyramid scheme

BY: - July 27, 2023

A federal lawsuit against a wealth-building company accused of being a pyramid scheme targeting Black people settled last week, with Arkansas receiving $450,000, Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office announced Wednesday. Griffin’s predecessor, Leslie Rutledge, and the Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint in June 2021 against Blessings in No Time, a Texas-based company that claimed […]

North Carolina redistricting case decided by SCOTUS divided top Arkansas legal officers

BY: - June 27, 2023

The North Carolina case that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday had split two of Arkansas’s chief legal officers. Former Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge led a group of state attorneys general who filed an amicus brief in the case in support of the “independent state legislatures theory.” The theory mostly centers around congressional […]

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders reverses predecessor’s position on mask mandates

BY: - January 18, 2023

The Arkansas governor’s office asserts that it is unconstitutional for public entities to require people to wear masks as a COVID-19 prevention measure, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Wednesday, just over a week after taking office. Sanders’ predecessor, fellow Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, signed a 2021 law prohibiting state and local governments, including public school […]

House owned by landlord previously sued by AG no longer risks tenants’ life and safety, lawyer says

BY: - December 23, 2022

The house on West 24th Street in Little Rock where Terry Lauderdale and his two roommates live has had its problems since they moved in almost a year ago, he said. What caused the most distress for the tenants and caught the attention of city code inspectors was exposed electrical wiring. “A puppy bit into […]

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge speaks into a microphone at a podium

Arkansas Attorney General directs $140 million in opioid settlement funds to general revenue fund

BY: - December 15, 2022

This story was updated at 3:01 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16, to include additional comments from Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin and Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office. Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge wants the Arkansas Legislature to decide how to spend more than $140 million in opioid settlement money awarded to the state. Rutledge is directing the […]

Arkansas AG-elect Tim Griffin restructures office, appoints senior staff

BY: - December 9, 2022

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 […]

Man with face mask and blue shirt and gloves n front of white wall with mold

State settles 2019 lawsuit against Pulaski County landlord over health, safety risks

BY: - December 8, 2022

This brief has been updated at 2:15 p.m. on Dec. 8, 2022, with additional information about the settlement. The Arkansas Attorney General’s Office settled a lawsuit against a Little Rock and North Little Rock landlord in September, prohibiting the individual and his company from leasing units that risk the health and safety of the tenants. […]

Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership offers funding opportunities for mitigation programs

BY: - December 1, 2022

Overdose deaths are increasing in Arkansas and despite efforts to bring awareness to the opioid epidemic, recovery and support services are not always available in the communities that need them most. Exodus.Life executive director Myra Woolfolk hopes to change that with support from the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership, which is offering $16 million for programs […]

Trial challenging Arkansas ban on gender-affirming care for minors resumes

BY: - November 28, 2022

The trial against Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender youth resumed Monday with the second witness for the defense, led by Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office. Monday’s witness was Dr. Stephen Levine, an Ohio-based psychiatrist with a focus on sexual dysfunction and “transsexualism,” as transgender identity was called in the 1970s when his […]

Six GOP-led states win national injunction against Biden student debt relief plan

BY: - November 14, 2022

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Monday issued a nationwide injunction indefinitely blocking the Biden administration’s student debt relief program in response to a challenge by six GOP-led states. The unanimous ruling by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis came after the six states — Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and […]

Little Rock housing complex facing AG lawsuit set to go to city court Monday

BY: - November 14, 2022

Management of a housing complex on Colonel Glenn Road is scheduled for a Little Rock environmental court hearing Monday after multiple delays. Big Country Chateau faces several city code violations for unsafe and unhealthy living conditions, including mold, broken windows and scattered trash. Tenants have said that management often has not responded to maintenance requests […]