Friday summary

My news capsules are on twice every hour on 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 show is on at 9.

KSMD 99.1 FM – Searcy/Batesville

KWCK 1300 AM – Searcy

KAPZ 710 AM – Bald Knob/Augusta

KAWW 1370 AM – Heber Springs/Clinton

Here is the link to a very sad and compelling story. The L. A. Times reports on the death of the final iron lung survivor of the polio epidemic of the early 1950’s.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ironlung29-2008may29,0,7229858.story

Senator Blanche Lincoln supports Senator Hillary Clinton staying in the presidential race till the Democratic convention. The Democratic National Committee will meet this weekend to figure out what to do with delegates from Michigan and Florida where primaries were held too early.

The Faulkner County Election Commission is still sorting through last week’s election results. Touch screen voting machines wrongly sorted votes actually coast from one race into the district 45 state house race. Three cartridges used to electronically record results were discovered after election night.

Democrat-Gazette reports some of the county judges and mayors who were listed as endorsing the proposed lottery amendment aren’t so enthusiastic about it, it turns out.

Arkansas’ highest court ordered an inmate off of death row, citing a 1940 court decision that gave an exception from an aggravated-robbery conviction to people trying to recover gambling losses. Justices ordered a new sentencing hearing for Michael B. Daniels, who said he was attempting to recover $20 he lost in a game of three-card monte when he stabbed and killed James Williams,  on Jan. 8, 2006.

The state high court has ruled that a school district may buy out the contract of a superintendent. It was a hearing about the half-million dollar settlement with former Little Rock superintendent Roy Brooks.

Legal briefs are flying as a deadline approaches in the appeal for the West Memphis Three. Among defense contentions is that prosecutors withhold evidence in the 1994 trials.

The Arkansas Department of Higher Education has begun checking students’ Social Security numbers and alerting colleges and universities if they appear invalid. The goal is to ensure that illegal aliens aren’t allowed to pay instate tuition rates when state officials think they’re ineligible under federal law.

13 year-old Samia Nawaz is competing in her second Scripps National Spelling Bee. She has made it to the semi-finals which will be on ESPN at 10 today. The finals are on ABC tonight at 7. The last word she got past was “podotheca.”

Arkansas Children’s Hospital ranked 24th in general pediatrics of 113 children’s hospitals nationwide, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2008 edition of “America’s Best Children’s Hospitals,”

Ozark Gas Transmission plans a new $400 million plus natural gas pipeline that will originate in White County, and extend 160 miles into Tennessee and terminate near Dyersburg.

Ruby Tuesday’s in Russellville has been granted a private club permit.

Filed under: Arkansas