Winter Storm Open Line – UPDATED

My home page now features a number of links for weather and road information. While this entire “event” will blow over in a day or so, you still might find it handy. If you can think of any links I should add, drop me a line: lyncho@lyncho.com.

While I know that most of you are not in the habit of posting, I am turning OFF the “moderation,” so you can just have at it! What’s going on with you? How are the TV stations doing with the storm coverage? Are you all stocked up? We are over here, so let’s make the most of it!

UPDATE: Blow over in a day or so? Some great storm, huh? Have a super day and let’s cheer on the Hogs this weekend. Monday’s column is about Lake View and the high court keeping the case open. Moderation is still “off.” Feel free to leave your comments.

FURTHER UPDATE: Next time we have a REAL winter story, the home page will be all fired up with great links to useful information.

Filed under: Uncategorized

More Lake View arguments

The State of Arkansas, through its’ Attorney General Mike Beebe, has responded to the school districts which are asking the Supreme Court to keep jurisdiction in the Lake View case.

The argument, I think, can be summed up in three parts. The first is that districts have waited too long to file, a technicality. The things that lay folks like us might call technicalities are actually important and often deserve consideration. Maybe the time has passed to petition. Who knows? The second matter has to do with the supposed mismanagement of the Rogers district, which the General’s office accused of wasting taxpayer money on luxury skyboxes and club seating for a high school football stadium. That allegation is untrue, and a careful reading to the news accounts proves it. The Democrat-Gazette covered this exhaustively. The state also argues that the high court should not become a permanent board of review. Amen to that.

So, what should the Supremes do? It is a close call but it would be all right with me if the court kept jurisdiction until after this upcoming legislative session. Let us make sure that the appropriations for facilities are made and that the General Assembly follows its’ own laws. Has the legislature met its’ own deadline? That will be a very important technicality that could evolve into an enormous reality. Bet on the court to take a wait and see approach.

(Broadcast November 29, 2006)

Filed under: Uncategorized

Getting ready for the storm Thursday summary

Weyerhaeuser Co., with no advance notice, permanently closed its Mountain Pine veneer and plywood plant Wednesday, eliminating about 340 hourly and salaried positions For the first time in 78 years, the town of 772 in the wooded hills west of Hot Springs has no mill.

Three investor groups are vying to acquire Raytheon Aircraft Co., which employs 645 workers in a plant near Little Rock National Airport, Adams Field, according to a recently published report.

Discount retailer Dollar General Corp. said Wednesday that it plans to close 400 stores next year and open about 300 new locations to improve profitability.

Nearly half of Arkansas college professors who teach freshman-level courses are not satisfied with the work their first-year students are doing, according to survey results. The survey, conducted by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education and state Department of Education, found that 82 percent of the professors questioned said their freshmen students are “somewhat prepared” or “not very prepared” for college.

Rogers school administrators are polling teacher support for a federally supported merit-pay program that rewards educators with bonuses for improving students’ test scores.

Workers have installed a 26-foot Christmas tree, to be decorated with hand-painted ornaments, in the state Capitol rotunda

Even though some of Pine Bluff’s commissions and departments are exempt from the city’s new living wage ordinance, Mayor Carl Redus Jr. said Tuesday all city employees should be brought up to the minimum levels imposed by the new law, which voters approved at the Nov. 7 general election.

Seventy-four years of free parking at Arkansas Travelers games will all but end next year under a proposal made by North Little Rock, the team’s new landlord. Fans would pay $3 per vehicle to park in 533 spaces on a lot adjacent to the city’s new Dickey-Stephens Park.

Several jurors gasped upon seeing video images of Arkansas State Police Trooper Mark Carthron being struck by another trooper’s car, during testimony Wednesday in the capital-murder trial of a West Memphis man accused of causing Carthron’s death.

The scheduled jury trial of a Dover man accused of raping and attempting to murder an 87-year-old woman is being reset because only half the jury pool showed up for court. “I’ve never had this happen before,” 5th Judicial District Prosecutor David Gibbons said Tuesday. “Twenty-six jurors showed up. There should have been at least 50 here.”

Jackson, Ms. Police Department Internal Affairs is investigating an officer after a video-recording surfaced that shows the officer, in uniform, making derogatory remarks about Mayor Frank Melton and making a reference to marijuana while smoking. Robert Wilkins, the attorney for officer Javin Walker, said Wednesday night that Walker made the video of himself using his own cellular phone, which was later stolen.

Filed under: Uncategorized