Arkansas Friday headlines

During a briefing with journalists, Senator Lincoln stresses the importance of being more efficient with health care spending. She says that we need to make sure insurers cannot withhold insurance because of a pre-existing condition or drop people just because they become ill.

The annual University of Arkansas poll reports that 43 percent of Arkansans approve of the job Lincoln is doing. She enjoyed a 54 percent approval rating last fall.

An Oklahoma environmental group says it has asked the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission to suspend a permit granted more than two years ago for a sewage-treatment plant that would discharge into a tributary of the Illinois River, which flows into northeast Oklahoma.

IC Corp.’s parent company, Navistar, is ceasing bus production operations at its Conway plant. 477 jobs will be lost.

Dillard’s sales for October were off 11 percent compared to a year ago.

Dollar amounts have yet to be placed on crop damages in Lafayette and Miller counties, but estimates by the University of Arkansas Extension Service indicate the losses will be tremendous, especially for soybeans

The state Supreme Court has suspended L.T. Simes, the East Arkansas judge who made money from a law practice on the side, until the end of his term next year. The court said he can run again, rejecting the recommendation of the judicial discipline panel.

Testimony will continue today in the capitol murder trial of Curtis Vance for the killing of Ann Pressly. Testimony reveals that police have no fingerprints from the defendant but there is DNA evidence connecting Vance with the crime scene.

The state Supreme Court has tossed out the conviction of former police chief of Lonoke on corruption charges, saying the admission into evidence of his wife’s sexual activity was improper and testimony backing up the charge was hearsay.

A former employee of a Jacksonville day-care center was arrested on arson and child-endangerment charges in connection with a fire that was set in a classroom while children were napping, according to court documents.

A Pine Bluff man who allegedly threatened a district judge during court will have to post a $50,000 cash-only bond to be released from the county detention center while prosecutors prepare felony charges against him.

Fayetteville police say a man they arrested for reportedly pointing a bow and arrow at his mother later tried to set himself on fire while in a police car.

The first Boomtown Classic, featuring the Southern Arkansas University Muleriders and the University of Arkansas at Monticello Boll Weevils, will be held Saturday at Memorial Stadium in El Dorado. Hogs have a big one against South Carolina.

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