Thursday morning summary

First of all, many thanks to Jimmy Smith for taking charge of the show yesterday morning. Great job as always! Today will be a particularly fast paced program, so pay attention. Mike Masterson is on at 9 to discuss the Janie Ward case. The original autopsy material has emerged and the consequences are significant. I have posted those somewhat disturbing photos on the photo section of my home page.

Rev. Philip Jones (soon to be Bishop Jones) is stopping by at 10 for a quick visit about Alpha, which starts at St. Andrews in Little Rock next Wednesday. Alpha is a non-threatening, non-judgmental introduction to basic Christianity. At 10:30, Michelle Page has a fast update on Philips County government. I have loads of commentary to squeeze in someplace. The fun starts at 9 and I do my best to post the important segments on my web page by early afternoon.

KSMD 99.1 FM – Searcy/Batesville
KWCK 1300 AM – Searcy
KAPZ 710 AM – Bald Knob/Augusta
KAWW 1370 AM – Heber Springs/Clinton

Also, coming up on the show:

• Bishop John Rucyahana of Rwanda is on Tuesday at 9.
• Lisa Armstrong – Holistic Arkansas is on Wednesday of next week.
• Wed. 1/23 Steve “Wildman” Wilson, from Arkansas Game and Fish

My home page has cool interviews for free download, a cool biography, and cooler links.The train blog has some new good material too.

Arkansas was rewarded for years of overhauling education policies with an eighth-place national ranking in education quality – even though student achievement is below average. Education Week’s Quality Counts 2008 survey gave Arkansas an overall grade of B-, despite its lower-than-average test scores.

University of Arkansas Chancellor John A. White, whose decade-long tenure has marked the largest fundraising campaign in the school’s history, announced Wednesday that he will retire June 30.

Score sheets have been lost for nearly 100 students from a practical exam conducted a month ago for the state Board of Cosmetology, a glitch that has delayed them from starting work, state and private officials said Wednesday.

Bobby Petrino’s first set of on-the-field assistant coaches at the University of Arkansas will earn a combined $1.9 million this year, a jump of $145,000 from the combined earnings of Coach Houston Nutt’s final staff in 2007.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit seeking to make the entire process of executions in Arkansas open to the public U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright dismissed with prejudice the suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the northwest Arkansas chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Arkansas Times weekly newspaper and its editor, Max Brantley.

The former president of Hino Motors Manufacturing U.S.A. has been hired as director of the state Economic Development Commission’s office in Japan, lawmakers learned Wednesday.

For a third time, the state attorney general’s office has rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would set term limits for city and county elected officials. In an opinion released Wednesday, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel rejected the proposal on the same grounds that he cited in October: Ambiguities in the text of the proposed measure.

States cannot deny the general availability of a free public education to children of illegal immigrants who have either been deported or no longer reside in a school district, a state lawyer told a legislative panel Tuesday. Educating children under those circumstances is required by both the U.S. Constitution and Arkansas Constitution, according to Scott Smith, general counsel for the Arkansas Department of Education.

The Federal Reserve and the Arkansas Bank Department have entered into a written agreement with Southern Bank of Commerce in Paragould to restore the financial soundness of the bank. Southern Bank is told to strengthen board oversight of management and operations within 90 days, not to extend or renew credit to any borrower who has a loan that has been charged off, and to eliminate from its books all assets classified as a loss.

A proposed $17.5 million construction campaign for the White Hall School District was unanimously approved by the district’s directors. The board has indicated it will ask district patrons to approve a millage increase in September 2009 to help pay for the proposed improvements.

Sheridan voters again turned down a measure to fund school improvements.

Jury selection in the capital murder trial for Kenneth Osburn starts this morning in Hamburg. Osburn is accused in the 2006 kidnapping and murder of Pine Bluff teen Casey Crowder.

The Arkansas Board of Parole announced that Willie Mae Harris, 60 legally blind, and now serving a life sentence for the murder of Clyde Edward Harris, her husband of nearly 12 years, in January 1985, should receive clemency. The final decision rests with Gov. Mike Beebe.

The state says that it will appeal a federal judge’s ruling vacating a 1998 death sentence for Jason McGehee of Harrison, whose jury was prevented from hearing about traumatic events in his childhood involving his pet dogs.

A Sherwood man on whose property a body was found on the morning after he had reportedly fired shots into the air to scare off intruders has been charged with manslaughter. Sherwood police charged Larry Staley in the October shooting death of Bryant Cross of McAlmont on Staley’s 3.5 acres off Arkansas 107.

A Saline County jury convicted William “Bill” Hale of Little Rock of Internet stalking of a child. Circuit Judge Grisham Phillips followed the jury’s recommendation in sentencing Hale to 23 years in prison. Hale was arrested during a sting set up by the Saline County Sheriff’s Department. After a short online chat with Deputy Charles Barker, who was posing as a 14-year-old girl, Hale drove from Little Rock to a house in Saline County.

A former Gravette High School drama teacher admitted he had sexual contact with a 17-year-old student and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Casey Lee Helms pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault. The statute applies to a teacher who has sexual contact with a student younger than age 21.

Thanks for keeping up with me,
Pat

Filed under: Arkansas