Friday morning summary

Before we adjourn for the weekend, my morning headlines ate on K-106.3 The Greatest Hits of All Time with John Lee and Spirit FM with Don Burns on 93.3 and 100.7 in Heber Springs. I am on twice an hour between 6 and 9.

The radio show is on at 9. Glen Hooks from the Sierra Club is on at 10 to talk about Earth Day.

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

The proposed immigration initiated act is back in the Attorney General’s office. Secure Arkansas has culled the title to its previously-rejected ballot initiative down from four to two pages and added some specifics.

Federal and state authorities made 65 arrests in a major meth bust. It was a sophisticated interstate operation and the Arkansas hub was in Batesville.

London’s Economist is running a major piece on American prisoners being exonerated by DNA evidence and the West Memphis Three is prominently mentioned. Their appeal hearings are set for September.

Arkansas’s highest court has upheld $1.4 million in fines levied against the owner of a string of payday lending companies.

The Arkansas Death Penalty Moratorium Campaign Committee, which includes former State Supreme Court Justice Steele Hays,  announced it will collect signatures on a petition asking Gov. Mike Beebe to impose a moratorium on executions in the state and create a commission to study the issue.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will pay $300,000 to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf of a job applicant who claimed he wasn’t hired because he has cerebral palsy

Eight of the 42 new positions authorized last year for the state’s Adult Protective Services will remain vacant because of cuts in the projected budget for the next fiscal year.

David Casters’ family in McRae has lost everything in a house fire. They have 6 sons between the ages of 3 and 13. David is currently serving with the 39th Infantry Brigade in Iraq.

When Sean Perkins was kicked out of Michelle Morris’ class at Lincoln High school, he decided to get even. Perkins and his teenage pal Nick Cortes are facing numerous felony charges after allegedly burning Morris’s Volkswagen beetle in the school parking lot.

The Arkansas Travelers have scored the first win of the season against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. It was 7 – 5. Attendance 6,600.

Bob Holt reports in the Democrat-Gazette that Arkansas’ new head football coach and its old one will be the only two among their SEC peers calling plays next season.

Regional officials are conferring on how to establish high speed rail transportation in the Little Rock to San Antonio corridor. No new land would need to be acquired.

Mike Huckabee will join John McCain when he attends a fundraiser in Arkansas next week.

The effort to oust Little Rock City Director Erma Hendricks has failed, for now.

The Department of Prisons is beginning the feasibility study on the final phase of the federal prison in Forrest City. The last element wil be construction of a maximum security facility.

A Faulkner County Detention Center officer hired to provide security at a University of Central Arkansas-sanctioned End of the World has been suspended without pay for two weeks for improper conduct. Widespread claims among UCA students report that officer William Brents carried an AR-15 assault-style rifle while at the event.

Pine Bluff Police Chief John Howell will soon be asking area ministers to help his department recruit new officers.

Jonesboro Police Chief Mike Yates has received approval to recruit five additional officers as the first step in developing a task force that would deal with a growing gang problem.

Arkansas Post National Memorial will commemorate the 225th anniversary of Arkansas’ only Revolutionary War engagement April 19. The event will begin at 10:30. The Spanish Fort Carlos III at Arkansas Post was attacked by British partisans in 1783, with the help of the Chickasaw.

Filed under: Arkansas