Wednesday Wake Up and summary

The Wednesday Wake Up is on this morning at around 6:45 on KARK TV Channel 4. Bill Vickery and I will have the week’s winners and losers.

My morning headlines are 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. AND, the entire staff and management at the Lyncho Intergalactic Headquarters welcome 100kw.Y-95 in Camden. You can hear my morning updates all over south Arkansas on this MONSTER FM powerhouse.

The 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

Advance America, Cash Advance Centers of Arkansas will cease its business operations in Arkansas no later than October 31, 2008.  Advance America has been the largest provider of payday loans in Arkansas for the last several years. The company cited losses this year of $900,000.

Lt. Gov. Bill Halter’s response to a legal challenge of his ballot proposal for a state-run lottery for college scholarships has stirred debate over another thorny gambling issue in Arkansas: Whether the state constitution bans casino gambling. In a court filing Monday, Halter’s Hope for Arkansas campaign advanced the argument that the constitution bans lotteries, not casinos, calling the argument by lottery opponents that the lieutenant governor’s proposed constitutional amendment would open the door to casinos a “red herring.”

The proposed $700 billion bank bailout under consideration by Congress lacks federal oversight and leaves too much on the table for banking executives, U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., said Tuesday. Lincoln, who sits on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a letter to colleagues on the panel that draft legislation did not include enough oversight and accountability, and she criticized executive compensation provided in the plans.

Seven girls removed from the Tony Alamo facility at Fouke remain in DHS custody today. Authorities are investigating allegations of physical and sexual abuse of children and the transportation of minors across state lines for criminal activity.

State education officials say they will talk with nine school districts whose voters recently rejected millage increases this month to discuss how the votes will affect state funding for mandatory school-building improvements.

If a legislative task force has its way, Mike’s Hard Lemonade and other “alcopops” will be pulled off grocery and convenience store shelves as part of an effort to curb underage drinking.

A lawyer for a Mount Ida man is scheduled to argue Thursday before Arkansas’ highest court that a circuit judge should not have dismissed his lawsuit alleging the University of Arkansas chancellor failed to thoroughly investigate a Nutt supporter’s profanity-laced e-mail in December 2006 to Mustain, the highly touted quarterback from Springdale who later left the UA program.

Today’s Democrat-Gazette reports none of the state-issued vehicles used by Arkansas’ executive branch officials gets more than 25 miles per gallon in highway driving. Auditor Jim Wood, pilots a 2007 Lincoln Town Car, earning the distinction of having the most fuel-efficient vehicle used by these officials. The Town Car’s estimated miles per gallon are 17 city and 25 highway.

Voters in Sharp County may yet get to vote on the wet-dry issue this November after a contentious court hearing. The petition form was found to be legal, but challenges to the signatures are next.

A hostage situation south of Vilonia ended without injuries. Cody Babcock is under arrest after the daylong standoff. A 4-year-old child was released to the custody of relatives.

One of the three men convicted in the 1993 killing of three West Memphis boys will appear today in Craighead County Circuit Court. Jason Baldwin will attend a hearing focused on whether he received adequate legal representation during his 1994 trial in Jonesboro.

Jeff Rosenzweig and Bill James of Little Rock have been appointed to represent Gary Dunn who is accused in the murder of Nona Dirkesmeyer.

Accused murder Heath Banks of Paragould has filed a federal lawsuit contending that authorities in the Green County jail eavesdrop on privileged conversations with his lawyer. Banks also claims to have been kept in solitary for months and to have witnessed a wheelchair bound prisoner being waterboarded.

Arkansas State Troopers arrested a Lincoln County man who reportedly left the scene of a fatal accident on U.S. 425 Saturday night. $50,000 bond is set for Ricky King who is charged with with negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an accident involving injury and death. King is accused of driving a vehicle that struck Robert Lee Moore,of Pine Bluff, who was riding or pushing a bicycle.

Frank G. Wallace, once president of the former First State Bank of Parkin, will serve three years’ probation and is ordered to repay the bank $64,443 for falsifying records to hide delinquent loans from bank examiners.

The Little Rock School District is willing to see an end to millions of dollars a year in state desegregation funding — but only after receiving maximum funding for seven years before the cutoff.

Pulaski County Quorum Court appropriating $150,000 to repair the roof covering two pods in the 30-year-old jail.

Chesapeake Energy will reduce its drilling capital expenditure budget during the second half of 2008 through year-end 2010 by approximately $3.2 billion, or 17%.About $800 million of that will be in Arkansas.

Pilgrim’s Pride says another 100 positions will be cut at its El Dorado operation, in addition to the 600 already eliminated.

The highest court in Massachusetts has reinstated a 2001 lawsuit against Wal-Mart by employees who claim the world’s largest retailer pressured them to work off the clock and denied them rest and meal breaks.

Derrick Graham of Nashville tied the state record with nine TDs on Friday night. Graham gave Nashville a 58-35 win over Liberty-Eylau of Texas and became The Associated Press Arkansas High School Player of the Week.

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