Wednesday summary

It’s time for the Wednesday Wake-Up  on KARK TV Channel 4 with Bill Vickery and me. There is a load to discuss about the Florida results. Tune in, or set your DVR, for around 6:30.

The radio show is on at 9 and today could be something of a first. The Pat Lynch Show will discuss health, but we won’t get carried away with it.

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

A fire fanned by 35 mph winds destroyed at least 60 World War II-era buildings Tuesday on land that was once part of Fort Chaffee.

High wind fanned flames at grass fires throughout Northwest Arkansas. Fire departments throughout Washington and Benton counties responded to more than a dozen fires Tuesday. One grass fire near Farmington spread over more than 20 acres. Four fire departments spent four hours putting it out.

Strong winds knocked down power lines across the state Tuesday, leaving about 70,000 households without power.

Strong winds caused a metal structure to collapse at the Beebe Animal Shelter, briefly trapping 30 dogs, said Desiree Bender, Arkansas director of the Humane Society of the United States.

Susan McDougal of Camden, who became well known in the late 1990s for refusing to cooperate with a special Whitewater prosecutor, is seeking to have her federal grand jury testimony unsealed. “There’s going to be a movie produced about Susan’s role in this [the Whitewater investigation], and there’s some information in her grand jury testimony that’s relevant to that, and Susan and I think the public ought to have aright to know about it,” said her attorney, Bobby McDaniel of Jonesboro.

The Arkansas Department of Human Services is investigating its Ashley County office to see whether officials followed up on abuse reports before the December beating death of a Crossett toddler. The state is investigating an allegation from 17-month-old Joshua Robinson’s aunt, Bobbie Robinson, who said she called the department’s Ashley County branch at least 10 times in the five weeks leading to the boy’s death.

Supporters have dusted off plans for constructing a new state office complex on the Capitol grounds that was first proposed more than 20 yeas ago. It is popularly known as Big Mac II.

An advocacy group has repitched the idea of depositing revenues from an increased severance tax on natural gas into a trust fund for a statewide college scholarship program.

Men’s athletics at the University of Arkansas had an economic impact of about $3 billion on the Fayetteville area during Frank Broyles’ tenure as head football coach and athletic director, according to a study released Tuesday.

Former Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson returned to the spotlight. Richardson was the featured speaker at the Northwest Arkansas Tip-Off Club at the Holiday Inn of Northwest Arkansas.

A group of Hempstead County landowners on Tuesday appealed a ruling by the Arkansas Public Service Commission approving construction of a 600-megawatt coal-fired plant.

State Sen. Gene Jeffress argued before the state Athletic Commission on Tuesday that $100,000 he helped get last year for the commission to benefit Boys and Girls Clubs was meant only for two clubs, both in his district, and not for any of the other clubs in the state.

Seven Arkansas school districts where voters rejected proposed tax increases for construction projects in September’s elections will try again by the end of April. » Read story.

Following the advice of its legal counsel the Craighead County Quorum Court will rescind an existing ordinance governing sexually oriented businesses and start over, in light of attorney Jeremy McNabb’s blunt assessment of how a court challenge would have likely played out. “We have looked at similar ordinances in other states in terms of court cases and found that they have not held up or withstood constitutional questions.”

Plans for a city dog park will appear on a coming Conway City Council agenda. The city’s Parks Advisory Board met Monday night and decided on a location at the west border of Laurel Park.

A federal jury convicted Jonesboro-Westside school gunman Mitchell Scott Johnson of a federal gun charge related to a 2007 traffic stop.

Filed under: Arkansas