Monday summary

The Arkansas doctor’s union, The Arkansas State Medical Board, is considering a anti-competitive regulation that would bar graduates of some offshore medical schools from receiving an Arkansas medical license, including nine foreign medical schools whose graduates the Medical Board of California won’t license. That state visited and reviewed the school in 2004, something the State Medical Board says it lacks the resources to do.

The Arkansas Supreme Court has revised the state’s Rules of Criminal Procedure to once again allow for police discretion in serving misdemeanor arrest warrants, the legality of which had been made murky by an Arkansas Court of Appeals ruling earlier this year.

The House of Representatives approved a big boost in the Pentagon’s non-war budget for President George Bush’s signature, including three appropriations for the Pine Bluff Arsenal.

The attorney general’s office says that it cannot answer questions involving a feud over whether the state had a right to close access to a popular fishing hole in Ouachita County. Residents had fished at Woodard Lake near Camden for generations until this summer, when the Department put a gate at the end of a public access road. The Department erected the gate at the request of Cal Partee Jr., a Magnolia native who bought the land around the lake and had provided legal documents claiming he owned the lake.

Athletic expenses at the state’s 10 four-year universities increased nearly $20 million, or 26 percent, last year with the bulk of that being spent by the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee has learned. Stanley Williams with the state Department of Education says the university was able to spend $16.4 million more because of a 37 percent hike in ticket sales revenue, an 83 percent rise in donations from foundations and private gifts, and a 53 percent hike in the sale of sweat shirts and other trademarked items.

The Arkansas Activities Association will not enforce a new policy restricting sales of photographs at athletic events until next month. Meanwhile, attorneys from the AAA and the Arkansas Press Association meet will try to resolve their differences on the policy that the press association has threatened to fight in court, both sides said.

Negotiations are at a standstill between the city of Sherwood and owners of the former North Hills Country Club over the purchase of the club’s 105 acres, both parties said this week.

Southwest Airlines Co. said last week that it would offer elite business travelers the chance to pay higher fares to board sooner and get frequentflier bonuses and a cocktail.

The Greenwood School Board voted unanimously Thursday to approve application for a chance to participate in a teacher partnership that would bring a Chinese educator to the district. Only five school districts in the state will be selected, said Superintendent Kay Johnson.

A state merit pay grant may give Rogers teachers up to $4,000 per year to help improve student test scores. The Rogers School Board will consider applying for the state Rewarding Excellence in Achievement Program. The General Assembly created that program with Act 1029 in the spring session.

Superintendent James Sharpe’s “dream project” is to create an Internet-based “cyber high school” in which children would learn at home with curriculum provided by the district. The online school would potentially attract some of the more than 800 home-schooled students within the Pulaski County Special School Distict’s boundaries. If they were enrolled in the school, the district would draw at least $5,770 per student in state funding.

Voters in Bald Knob will decide Tuesday on a temporary sales tax that supporters say could save the local school district. Supporters of the Bald Knob School District have raised more than $1.6 million since the state took over the school in August. The Arkansas Department of Education took over the Bald Knob district after it projected the district would be $2 million in the red at the end of the current school year on June 30.

A Little Rock man was fatally shot while with his brother in southwest Little Rock, authorities said. Mark Washington and his brother William Washington were stopped in a Jeep Grand Cherokee at the intersection of West 65th Street and Butler Road about 2:50 a.m., when several shots were fired from a passing car.

A woman convicted of her 10th driving while intoxicated charge has received the maximum sentence, 10 years in prison.  The Saline County jury deliberated for 24 minutes, and spent 12 minutes determining Blair’s sentence.

A Pulaski County Circuit judge chose probation over jail time Friday for an Alexander man who was at the wheel when a May 2006 car crash in west Little Rock killed two co-workers, noting that the victims had a responsibility to wear their seat belts. Javion McGehee has “significant” history of traffic offenses, with 2003 misdemeanor convictions for reckless driving and careless driving with an accident. Judge Marion Humphrey indicated there was no evidence McGhee was speeding. No drugs were involved.

The former treasurer and recorder of Felsenthal in southern Arkansas faces theft and other felony charges after a state audit revealed she improperly received $77,000 in city funds, a state auditor told lawmakers.

For Sale: Spacious 106-bed cross bar hotel and 10 acres of land on a dead end street in southwest Pine Bluff. Amenities include nearby access to food, laundry and medical facilities, and one of the most secure locations in the entire county. A steal at $3 million. For information, contact Jefferson County Judge Mike Holcomb.

Filed under: Arkansas