The Arkansas Supreme Court has upheld a state law allowing “electronic games of skill” at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs and Southland Greyhound Park in West Memphis.
School administrators warn lawmakers that facility standards intended to create equity statewide will end up costing the state millions of dollars in unnecessary building space. Springdale Superintendent Jim Rollins showed off his district’s new Willis D. Shaw Elementary School to visiting legislators, pointing out that the seemingly spacious brick building wouldn’t have met new state size standards.
The Little Rock School Board will register with the state its opposition to the establishment of six open-enrollment charter schools in Pulaski County, citing a potential loss of 1,000 students that could cost the district more than $5.5 million a year.
The attorney for the Little Rock School Board says the district’s stance of settling lawsuits is causing more cases to be filed and more taxpayer money spent outside of the classroom.
Six students and a driver were injured when the Greene County Tech School District bus they were in sideswiped a bridge railing on Arkansas 168 between Lorado and Fontaine and slid into a muddy field,
The University of Central Arkansas has announced the largest gift in its 100-year history – a $3 million bequest from the estate of an Elaine couple, Mary Ellen White Crow and Jake Crow. UCA President Lu Hardin also announced the start of a campaign to raise $35 million by December 2009. The university already has raised $19 million toward the goal. The money will be used for scholarships, capital projects and faculty needs.
A plan to reduce the budget for St. Francis County government by $200,000 next year will result in the loss of at least two jobs at the county jail. Both cooks at the county jail are being laid off in an effort to cut spending. May said that trusties will take on the job of preparing meals for the inmates at the jail.
The executive director of the Sebastian Retired Citizens Association said she can justify the $338,000 the organization has requested from the city for 2008. Each year, the Fort Smith Board of Directors appropriates funding for senior citizen services within the city. A recent audit showed that up to $70,000 had been spent to offset deficits at centers in Greenwood, Hartford, Mansfield and Hackett.
Craighead County Judge Dale Haas says that work on levees performed along the St. Francis River to comply with a directive to beef them up has received an initial thumbs-up from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control Division has received a second application for a private club permit to allow alcohol sales in Crawford County. The permit is for Eagle Crest Golf Course in Alma. Eagle Crest manager Scott Curtis filed the permit earlier this month.
Floodwaters caused powerful and freak explosions inside two homes near the Farrville community. No injuries were reported. Fire Battalion Chief Kenny James said the explosions happened after floodwaters entered the garage area and overturned plastic containers filled with gasoline. “The gas fumes moved to the water heater, which is located in the garage area of these homes,” James said. “When the fumes reached the flame on the heater there was an explosion.”
The former Mena police chief and his wife have filed a lawsuit in Polk County Circuit Court, alleging illegal termination, invasion of privacy and defamation. Marvin T. and Judy Hubbard filed the suit naming as defendants the city of Mena; its mayor, George McKee; and Mena City Council members, and KENA 102.1, a Mena radio station, station owner Jay Bunyard, manager Douglas and employee Norman Gray.
Former state Sen. Roy C. “Bill” Lewellen of Marianna has been reprimanded and fined $5,000 for the way he represented a client who sought legal help after being bitten by a dog, the state committee that disciplines lawyers announced Thursday.
Roger Dale Barrett will get a new capital murder trial in the death of his mistress in 2000, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The court upheld Benton County Senior Circuit Judge Tom Keith’s October ruling that Barrett should be granted a new trial because his defense attorney failed to adequately represent him. The state had appealed Keith’s ruling.
The state Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a Van Buren man who was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences plus 100 years on nine counts of rape. A Crawford County jury found Thomas Lee Stone, 46, guilty of raping two young boys several times over a two-year period. The jury acquitted Stone of raping a third boy. The Supreme Court said it could not address his arguments raised on appeal because they were not raised at his trial.
The appointed defense attorney for James Aaron Miller, who faces the death penalty in the December slayings of his girlfriend and her two children, filed 23 motions on Miller’s behalf in Sebastian County Circuit Court. Coy J. Rush Jr. argues in several motions against the death penalty and devotes several others to jury selection in the capital case.
The Fort Smith woman accused of causing the death of her 4-year-old stepson was arraigned Wednesday on a charge of second-degree murder. Maria Vasquez and her husband, Belton Vasquez, brought Flowers to St. Edward Mercy Medical Center on the night of Dec. 11, and said that their son was not breathing. The autopsy revealed that Jujuan Flowers had suffered several injuries from physical abuse on occasions prior to his death, including rib fractures, bruises and several old injuries.
A wild rush-hour shooting that sent bullets flying across Little Rock’s Asher Avenue and cars swerving to avoid the chaos left one man dead and another shot in the gut. According to their accounts, a group of men drove up and parked about 5 p.m. in the small lot next to the Pro-Cut & Styles barbershop on Asher just east of Fair Park Boulevard.
A police chase spanning two counties ends with the arrest of a suspected illegal immigrant now accused of shooting at a Malvern police officer. Police say the chase covered more than 15 miles from Pine Bluff Street in Malvern to Shady Grove Road in Garland County.
A Fayetteville man faces 61 charges of forgery and another count of criminal possession of a forgery device, according to the Washington County prosecuting attorney’s office. Laif Douglas Poulton is accused of counterfeiting checks and driver’s licenses to obtain cash and credit.
People who were recently tattooed will now be able to donate blood at United Blood Services if the tattoo was received at a state-regulated tattoo shop with sterile needles and ink that is not reused.
