If you did not get yours this morning, drop me a line. lyncho@lyncho.com.
Filed under: Uncategorized
• 11:16 am 0
Monday summary 7/21/08
The newsletter is back! Microsoft Entourage makes me crazy. Period. Thanks to all the kind friends I met at the Arkansas Broadcasters Association convention last week. Who would know that I have so many fans there????
My weekly column is in today’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on the Voices page in the Arkansas section. I am checking in on the New Yorker cover cartoon on Senator Obama.
My news capsules are on twice an hour at K-106.3 The Greatest Hits of All Time with John Lee and Spirit FM with Don Burns on 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
Governor Beebe is in the Fort Smith region for three economic developments announcements today. One will be on the old Fort Chaffee site.
Arkansas Public Service Commission Chairman Paul Suskie has returned from Iraq as a JAG officer in the Arkansas National Guard. Suskie is at Camp Shelby in Mississippi and should be released from active duty within the next week. He’ll resume his seat as PSC chairman on Aug. 1.
The Arkansas unemployment rate dropped one-tenth of a percentage point to 5 percent in June. There are 13,200 more employed Arkansas residents since June 2007.
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals rules the state Department of Correction didn’t violate a pregnant prisoner’s rights in shackling her to a bed until shortly before she gave birth.
The state Democratic Party has blocked former state Rep. Dwayne Dobbins from running as a Democrat for the position he resigned from three years ago to settle a felony sexual assault charge.
The Arkansas Ethics Commission says that a justice of the peace may accept a gratuity for performing weddings as long as it’s $100 or less.
The e-Stem charter schools in the old Gazette building open this morning. There will be new traffic patterns (two-way on Louisiana) and that might create a little confusion.
Helena-West Helena Mayor James Valley lost his right to practice law for 30 days over his representation of a 1999 child support case.
John McCain is bringing his Republican presidential campaign to northwest Arkansas on the 8th of next month.
The Little Rock School District is bracing to tonight’s 10 o’clock news on Channel 7 dealing with employees cell phone use during office hours.
A keeper at the Little Rock Zoo had to have part of her finger amputated after being bitten while feeding the zoo’s new black rhinoceros.
Van Buren teenager Bianca Calloway is still recovering at the Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville from a 16-hour cave-crawling nightmare trapped in a cold, dark cave at Devil’s Den State Park
Filed under: Arkansas
July 18, 2008 • 11:10 am 0
Friday summary 7/18/08
Filing for your local school board election closes today.
Dortown Wire reports that Bubba Lloyd has picked up papers for filing in the North Little Rock Mayor’s race. Lloyd said that projects like the Big Dam Bridge and the trolley got him interested. Mayor Hays has not yet announced his plans.
Four Arkansas death-row inmates say Arkansas’ lethal injection method still warrants court scrutiny because it is “substantially dissimilar” to Kentucky’s, which the U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld as constitutional.
Faulkner County sheriff’s deputies say a 15-year-old Jesse L. Burks of Greenbrier is dead after he huffed Freon from an air conditioner and got into a swimming pool. A second boy found in the pool had a black plastic bag over his head that tested positive for Freon.
The Arkansas Department of Higher Education says about 59 percent of students who go to universities in the state need two or more remedial classes, mostly in math.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Commission will be running television commercials featuring Little Rock boxer Jermain Taylor.
Creating a district in which adult-oriented businesses would be allowed within the city of Searcy is under discussion at city hall. The subcommittee of the planning and growth committee met to continue hammering out a proposed ordinance, a response to a situation in Clarksville.
The North Little Rock School Board authorized its attorney to continue settlement negotiations with state officials and neighboring school districts on phasing out nearly $70 million in state desegregation aid to Pulaski County’s three school systems.
A Jacksonville man who killed his best friend in a drunken driving crash will go to prison despite a plea for probation. Howard Ralph James III got six years in prison with three years suspended. He faced three to 10 years for his no-contest plea to negligent homicide, a Class C felony.
Bob King, who owned the King of Clubs nightspot in Swifton, where Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and other performers in the early days of rock’n’roll performed, has died. He was 83.
Filed under: Arkansas
July 17, 2008 • 11:39 am 0
Welcome Arkansas Broadcasters
Lock up your valuables! Little Rock Police cancel all leaves! Red Cross goes on standby! The Arkansas Broadcaster’s Association Annual Convention is today and tomorrow. The event will be held this year at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at I-630 and Shackleford Road in West Little Rock. The hotel just completed a multi-million dollar renovation and is a beautiful new facility. I will be on hand!
Filed under: Uncategorized
• 11:31 am 0
Thursday summary 7/17/08
UCA President Lu Hardin will repay the $300,000 he received as accelerated payment of a deferred compensation plan. He will receive the bonus eventually only if funded by private money and only after faculty pay increases.
Helena-West Helena Mayor James Valley, under fire for handling of the city dog pound wants charges against a Monticello Humane Society activist for, he says, cutting the lock on the dog shelter and taking animals, among others.
The Arkansas Health Department says two cases of West Nile virus and one case of St. Louis encephalitis, which is another mosquito-borne illness, have been confirmed this year. The three victims were from central Arkansas.
A third of the payday lenders that Attorney General Dustin McDaniel ordered to shut down or face lawsuits have remained open and restructured their businesses to avoid state regulation. The report by Arkansans Against Abusive Payday Lending shows that 55 of the 156 payday lenders have adjusted their business model and are still open.
The Arkansas House of Representatives will meet soon to devise a change in rules to ban former state Rep. Dwayne Dobbins, D-North Little Rock, from being seated if he wins the general election. Dobbins resigned in 2005 as part of a plea bargain that reduced a felony to a misdemeanor.
State auditors will look into allegations teachers in a college studies program for high school students were pressured into giving students higher grades than they deserved. The Arkansas Early College High School Program is a distance learning program offered by the Southeast Arkansas Education Service Cooperative in Monticello.
Fox 16 is on the story of the Little Rock police killing of a burglary suspect in an exchange of gunfire in Leawood. William Spradling was being sought for questioning in a local burglary.
The Hino Motors Manufacturing plant in Marion will remain open, even though the Toyota truck plant it supplies is to shut down for three months.
Tyson Foods Inc. announced Wednesday that it plans to buy 60 percent of Xinchang Group, a Chinese poultry processor located in the coastal province of Shandong. This is Tyson’s second investment in China.
Peyton Hillis will be a Denver Bronco. Hillis was picked in the seventh round of the NFL draft and terms were not disclosed.
Bud Walton Arena may be pretty nice digs, but the Razorbacks basketball team is the only one in the SEC without its own separate practice facility.
Filed under: Arkansas
July 16, 2008 • 11:03 am 0
Wednesday summary 0716/08
Check out the Wednesday Wake Up on KARK TV Channel 4 with Bill Vickery and I. Tune in at 6:45 or set your DVR’S. We have this past week’s winners and losers. It is very funny and informative.
Many of you have asked about the newsletter. I expect to have it going in a few days. We hit a little software snag but I will have that taken care of soon.
Gov. Mike Beebe rebuked good friend Lu Hardin, the president of the University of Central Arkansas, for initially concealing a $300,000 bonus from the school.
Sen. Mark Pryor has raised nearly $5.4 million for his campaign against Green Party nominee, Fort Smith lawyer Rebekah Kennedy. Pryor has no Republican opposition.
Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter is using his staff and office to promote a proposal to pass a state lottery. Jerry Cox of the Arkansas Family Council says that is legal, but it doesn’t pass the “smell test.”
A campaign to create a state-run lottery reports that it had raised more than $470,000.
Facing a $19 billion shortfall for state highways over the next decade, Arkansas highway officials are carefully monitoring trucking industry lobbyists’ efforts to get Congress to increase weight limits on roads to around 97,000 pounds
A helicopter with workers inspecting power lines in northern Arkansas crashed Tuesday near the Norfork Dam, killing two people aboard.
Central Arkansas Transit says ridership is up about 1,000 a day over this time last year.
The murder trial for Gordon Randall Gwathney of Marianna, who is accused of killing three family members in February 2007, is scheduled to begin Monday in Lee County.
Pilgrim’s Pride will eliminate 600 chicken processing plant jobs in El Dorado. Animalists link the decision to increased feed prices caused by ethanol production.
Michael R. Reagan, Springdale Har-Ber High School’s baseball coach since the school opened, was arrested Tuesday in connection with two counts of rape involving juvenile males, according to Springdale police.
Filed under: Arkansas
July 15, 2008 • 11:02 am 0
Tuesday summary 7/14/08
The United Methodist Church in Arkansas has launched a campaign against the proposed state lottery. Rev. Roger Glover, senior pastor of Dardanelle United Methodist Church is co-chairman along with Little Rock lawyer Scott Trotter.
Gov. Mike Beebe has named two new members of the state Board of Education, His first two appointees: Little Rock lawyer Sam Ledbetter and Alice Mahony of El Dorado.
The State Board is education is taking over the financially troubled Greenland School District for one year. Education Ken James will appoint an interim superintendent.
A sharply divided Little Rock School Board decided to settle four racial discrimination lawsuits against the district. The vote was the usual 4 – 3.
Pulaski County Special School District Board President Charlie Wood is urging the school board to not recognize PACT, the teacher’s union, and PASS, the support staff union.
Lake Maumelle’s water does not have any significant amount of pharmaceuticals and other contaminants, according to testing by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Arkansas Business reports that Little Rock lawyer Sam Perroni has been retained to represent former Twin City Bank executive Brent Geels in connection with a reported $2 million dollar embezzlement. Geels is the son-inlaw of former TCB chairman Terry Renaud.
A Russellville man pleaded innocent to charges in the shootings of four people during a creekside wedding in rural Pope County. The attorney for Patrick Duvall says his client is an Iraq war veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome and has no previous criminal record.
Windmill maker LM Glasfiber is hiring 300 people for its Little Rock factory, which is planned to eventually have 1,000 workers The company has begun production at a temporary site in south Little Rock with about 200 workers. Glasfiber is building a $150 million manufacturing plant at the Port of Little Rock and expects to be at full employment after about five years.
Two Arkansas stores are included in Starbucks first round of closing 600 locations nationwide.
Filed under: Arkansas
July 14, 2008 • 11:15 am 0
Monday summary 7/14/08
My column runs in this morning’s Democrat-Gazette, as it does every Monday. This week, Rita Sklar and Pat Lynch lunch and converse on many things, including the death penalty.
My morning updates run twice an 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. (Actually Don is on vacation this week, so tune in to Tom Scott.)
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
The University of Central Arkansas Foundation sent the college $100,000 Friday afternoon after UCA administrators realized that a bonus paid to the university’s president one year ago was illegally funded with taxpayer dollars. A $300,000 bonus paid to Lu Hardin last month has also drawn scrutiny.
State representative Donna Hutchinson of Bella Vista says she will renew her effort to persuade her colleagues to institute an annual state salestax holiday on school supplies and clothing as a way to make it easier for parents to provide their children with the basics.
Arkansas Medicare recipients and their doctors are waiting to see whether President Bush will follow through with threats to veto a bill that would avert a 10.6 percent reduction in Medicare reimbursement rates.
The time period for filing as a candidate for election to one of Arkansas’ 245 public school boards opened Friday and is very short this year. Filing closes this Friday.
A spokesman for Lt. Gov. Bill Halter says he was not sure whether Halter had to report the expenses of staff members who travel the state speaking on Halter’s lottery proposal, but he said the lieutenant governor would report any expenses over $500 anyway.
While Pulaski County’s population grew by about 2 percent since the 2004 presidential election, the number of registered voters in the county shrank by about 8.5 percent.
Forty-six women from across the state will participate in the Miss Arkansas Pageant, beginning today at the Hot Springs Convention Center.
Allied Tube & Conduit will close its Pine Bluff manufacturing facility by the end of the year, putting 226 employees out of work. Tyson Foods Inc. will add 370 jobs to its plant in Green Forest, when hiring starts later this month.
Take note, from now on women’s athletic teams at the University of Arkansas will be known as Razorbacks.
A 74-year-old woman accused of hiring a hitman to kill her sister-in-law has been named a person of interest in the 35-year-old Nashville, Arkansas murder of her husband.
Filed under: Arkansas
Join me and Bill Vickery for the WEDNESDAY WAKE-UP around 6:45 every Wednesday morning on KARK TV Channel 4. We pick winners and losers from the past week and comment on the day's top news. Sometimes we play rough, but it is always a million laughs.
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