Lynch at Large

My outstanding news capsules run on weekday mornings twice every hour at K-106.3 The Greatest Hits of All Time with John Lee and Spirit FM with Don Burns at 93.3 and 100.7.

My radio program is on at 9 this morning.

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In a speech he’s about to give this morning in Ohio, Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, will for the first time talk about a specific date for when he envisions direct American military involvement to be over in Iraq. It’s January, 2013. By then, he says, American combat involvement will be over and most U.S. troops back home.

Severe storms and flooding this spring have caused at least $27 million in damage to Arkansas infrastructure alone, according to a federal estimate provided to Gov. Mike Beebe’s office Wednesday. The estimate includes damage to roads, bridges, utility lines and other infrastructure from storms between Feb. 5 and April 3.

Congressman John Boozman is praising legislation to help Amtrak and promote public private partnerships for high speed rail corridors.

Former President Bill Clinton has been exiled to Missoula, Montana as his rural speaking tour continues.

State Sen. Sue Madison on Wednesday is ready with the latest draft of her proposal to make first-offense animal cruelty a felony crime and told lawmakers that she’s willing to do “some fine-tuning” if they have suggestions.

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel plans to include an anti-animal cruelty bill in his proposed legislation for the 2009 regular legislative session. Under McDaniel’s plan, the first time you torture an animal is not a felony.

We hear that Channel 7 has FOI’ed the Little Rock School District cell phone bills .

State Representative Steve Harrelson’s Under theDome Blog will be the official Arkansas political blog during the Democratic National Convention in August. He promises to be blogging live.

Bubba Lloyd is talking about running for Mayor of North Little Rock, according to the Democrat-Gazette. If he runs, it would be Mayor Pat Hays sixth term.

Andrew Golden, one of the Westside school shooters, was scheduled to give a deposition in Jonesboro today in a damage lawsuit. It has been postponed. Attorneys for Golden want to block his testimony from being made public.

A major natural gas services company plans to ask the Searcy City Council to authorize a $24 million bond issue to allow construction of its regional headquarters in Searcy. BJ Services is building the new $82 million facility on South Main Street within the city limits.

Acxiom. posted a $58.2 million fourth quarter net loss in large part due to restructuring charges and other one-time items. Revenue is down 2%.

Clear Channel  the largest U.S. radio broadcaster, agreed to a $17.9 billion buyout, less than the original accord, after private-equity firms and banks financing the deal reached a legal settlement.

The 96-year-old Bank of Eureka Springs will change its name to Cornerstone Bank this fall, pending approval from the Arkansas State Bank Department. They plan a regional expansion.

Anchor Packaging, which manufactures packaging material for the food, will invest an additional $40 million to expand one of its facilities in Paragould and create an additional 120 jobs.

Cross County bank president Frank Wallace pleaded guilty to one of six charges that he falsified records to hide banking practices from investigators with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Wallace admitted that when he heard that bank examiners would be inspecting the books at the First State Bank of Parkin, he made false entries to hide two delinquent loans that resulted in a $64,000 loss to the bank.

Tuesday is the deadline for Little Rock folks to register their pit bulls.

Russell Randall Real has only recently been released from the Arkansas prison system and is now accused in a fatal hit-and-run accident last week in Daly City, California.  Real had been serving time on charges related to shooting a man point-blank in the face at a Little Rock mini-market in 2001.

A gay love affair and an attempt to blackmail could be factors behind a murder this week in Truman, Arkansas.