Friday morning summary

The slayings of three West Memphis boys weren’t the work of three unsophisticated teenage killers, but that of a single person who set out to taunt and “punish” the victims, contends John Douglas, a former longtime FBI criminal profiler.

The Disability Rights Center in Little Rock charges in a report that workers at the state’s largest youth lockup facility abused a 16-year-old girl and left her bruised after they struggled with her during a suicide-prevention tactic last month. But the state contractor at the Arkansas Juvenile Assessment and Treatment Center denied any abuse occurred, a finding seconded by an internal affairs investigation by the Division of Youth Services, the state agency responsible for troubled youth.

A private contractor doesn’t have to turn over receipts and other financial details related to a $35 million University of Arkansas dormitory the firm built, at least not yet, the Arkansas Supreme Court has ruled.

Arkansas Court of Appeals Judge Wendell Griffen has started the process of trying to reinstate his federal lawsuit challenging a state judicial panel’s rules about what judges can say in public.

Arkansas will begin screening all newborns for 22 additional diseases under a new regulation the state Board of Health adopted Thursday.

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel cleared the way for supporters of a proposed state lottery in Arkansas to launch a petition drive to put the issue on the ballot.

News on the manufacturing front as Rheem announces temporary layoffs in Fort Smith due to the housing downturn. Low sales figures have caused the company’s Fort Smith-based heating and cooling division to temporarily cease production for a total of three weeks over the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year holidays.

Matt Bell, namesake of Bell-Corley Construction, left the firm a few weeks ago to pursue other business interests. Bell hopes to revitalize a downtown block near the old train station with a $7 million loft project known as Vertical Modern Urban Lofts.

Midnight Wednesday was the deadline to suggest new nicknames to replace Arkansas State University’s Indians mascot. More than 1,400 nicknames were submitted on an ASU Web link set up for that purpose.

A crew from the British Broadcasting Corporation — the BBC — arrived in Springdale Thursday to tape segments about changes in the United States that English “telly” viewers might not know. The story will focus on the growing Hispanic population in the U.S., using Springdale as an example.

A Jacksonville capital murder suspect died during surgery Thursday morning, two days after a Pulaski County Circuit judge went to the hospital to arraign him. Ausencio Gamaliel Lopez died during a operation, but that sheriff’s authorities do not know the nature of the surgery. The airman had been hospitalized since Aug. 16, when he slit his wrists and jumped off the Interstate 630 overpass near Arkansas Children’s Hospital, where his 2-year-old stepson, Jaden Cotton, was being treated for head injuries. The child died four hours after Lopez jumped. Sharilyn Ann Lopez, also an airman, was arrested the following week. She is charged with permitting child abuse, a Class B felony.

Little Rock police are investigating the city’s 41st homicide of the year.  A woman in her 50’s was found dead in a garage.  It appears she was shot several times.  Police do not have a suspect at this time but are speculating that it may have been a robbery gone wrong.

A Russellville man faces charges of video voyeurism after the man’s wife told police she found videos on her husband’s cell phone that depicted him engaged in inappropriate touching with two girls under the age of 14. Russellville Police Department Det. Charles Waits testified during a bond hearing that James Isaal Johnson “produced some videos on his cell phone” that featured the girls, including one video in which Johnson could be seen fondling one or more of the girls.

Suspicious materials found by University of Arkansas at Fort Smith staff members resulted in the discovery of a meth lab operating in a university apartment. Officers confiscated chemicals and have sent them to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory in Little Rock to determine how much meth was being produced. Investigators suspect that three people were living at the apartment, but can only confirm one to be a leased resident.

A former police officer was found not guilty of misdemeanor harassment in connection with accusations that he tried to take unwanted pictures of a female co-worker. The woman reported two occasions of the suspected. On the day the woman reported the incidents, Arter left the police station and later told investigators he panicked and threw his cell phone in the river.

Sabrina Edwards filed a police report, alleging Greenwood Alderman Jim Newcomb has been following her, driving past her home and taking pictures of her. Edwards is the wife of Greenwood Mayor Ken Edwards. The Greenwood Police Department is investigating the allegations.

Filed under: Arkansas