Governor Mike Beebe expresses “full faith” in Prison Director Larry Norris despite the recent escape of two convicted murders, and the near-death of an ill inmate.

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has filed federal lawsuits against two more companies he says are placing illegal telemarketing calls about car warranties.

Arkansas’ incoming lottery chief said Monday that he’ll hold off on pursuing bids for operations of a lottery game called keno because of legal questions.  Actions by the Arkansas Lottery Commission and statements by the lottery’s director suggest the state is “well on the way to state-run casinos,” the head of a group opposed to the lottery has said.

Health insurance premiums for working Arkansas families increased 5.7 times faster than wages between 2000 and 2007, according to a new study.

Kim Hendren of Gravette, a Republican lawmaker running for the U.S. Senate, says the constitutional amendment allowing U.S. senators to be elected by popular vote should be revisited.

Eligibility questions raised about one-time Arkansas quarterback Mitch Mustain. He’s third on the Trojan depth chart as a fourth-year junior.

The U.S. attorney’s office searched Dr. Kelly Shrum’s office in Pine Bluff, the Arkansas Center for Women, and found a version of the intrauterine device, Mirena, that has not been approved for use in the U.S. by the FDA. Patients are being contacted.

The Little Rock metropolitan statistical area is expected to have one of the best home-price performances among large markets in the coming year, while Fort Smith and Texarkana are expected to be among the best performing small markets.

An energy products company is in the process of acquiring a facility in Heber Springs for a plant that is projected to employ up to 250 people in four years to manufacture particles used in natural gas and oil drilling.

Gannett, The company that owns Little Rock’s CBS affiliate,  is imposing permanent wage cuts of up to 6 percent on employees, according to a memo leaked Tuesday to a blogger. The cuts will take affect July 1.

Tom McKinney, the mayor of Berryville, will spend 39 days in the county jail on a previous suspended sentence from an earlier DWI/marijuana infraction.

Sexual harassment charges against a former Miller County sheriff’s deputy have been dismissed because of a violation of his right to a speedy trial.

A 24-year-old Little Rock woman has been sentenced to spend 15 years in prison for stabbing three of her boyfriends — one fatally — in separate attacks.

Don’t even think about robbing 17 year-old Jeremy Jones of Forrest City. One of three would be burglars went to the hospital after being beaten to a pulp trying to escape.

Golfer John Daly was at the wheel of his bus and apparently missed the clearance sign on the Bankhead Tunnel at Mobile, Alabama. Sheered the roof right off of it. All in a day’s work, John.

Filed under: Arkansas