Republican legislators and labor unions both heaped criticism on the U.S. Senate health care bill. Republican lawmakers said the bill would bust Arkansas’ budget, while labor leaders said the measure offers no meaningful reform.

Gov. Mike Beebe told a newly formed panel he wants objective data on whether racial profiling is a problem in Arkansas, months after signing a new seat belt law that civil rights advocates warned could lead to police harassment.

The first recommendation on how to raise more money for highways – shifting $425 million annually from general revenue – ran into immediate opposition from Gov. Mike Beebe.

In a shift from previous years, the Game and Fish Commission will hold five public hearings and air a statewide call-in show on public television next month to gather public input for setting hunting regulations

The Supreme Court today overturned Pulaski County’s hurried-up collection of a new property tax for the Central Arkansas Library System. That will mean budget cuts in 2010.

Little Rock lawyer John Wesley Hall has filed a proposed ballot measure with the attorney general to legalize medical marijuana.

Little Rock firefighters will defer a 4 percent pay raise until July, when the capital city will know whether it can afford to follow through on its contract with unions.

Southwestern Energy Company  reports a planned capital investment program for 2010 of approximately $2.1 billion, including approximately $1.5 billion of planned investments in its Fayetteville Shale play in Arkansas.

The use of bird manure as fertilizer does not affect the Illinois River nor Lake Tenkiller in Oklahoma to “any significant extent,” an environmental engineer testified in U.S. District Court in the lawsuit against Arkansas poultry interests.

Windmill blade maker LM Glasfiber has a contract to produce a minimum of 1,800 windmill blades in the U.S. for Samsung, which is launching a new line of 2.5-megawatt wind turbines. Glassfiber has plants in Little Rock and Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Construction on a $1.3 billion natural-gas pipeline that will connect central Arkansas to a network around the nation will begin in January now that the plan is approved by FERC. The 185-mile, pipeline would link Conway County and Panola County in Mississippi.

The overall economic picture for the Little Rock zone of the Eighth Federal Reserve District is mixed, according to the St. Louis branch’s latest Burgundy Book.

Consultants partially paid by the city of Fort Smith aggressively pushed the idea of a $20 million baseball park as the key part of an 85-acre riverfront development plan during a special study session of the Fort Smith Board of Directors.

George Thompson of Cabot — accused of bookmaking, drug dealing, immigration violations and illegal gun dealing in federal indictments that also implicated two North Little Rock aldermen, figured prominently in a Boston news conference in which federal prosecutors announced charges against Ralph Deleo, reputed boss of the Columbo crime family.

An extension has been granted for the appeal of the man convicted of killing Little Rock television anchor Anne Pressly. Lawyers need a full trial transcript to complete their appeal and the extension gives the court stenographer time to complete the transcript.

Authorities are searching for a man they say swiped a Salvation Army donation bucket outside of a Sherwood Walmart.

A woman and her adult son were killed in a fire at their mobile home in Benton.

Maybe he can go fishing with Matt Jones.

McFadden fails to deliver big plays for Raiders – nfl – SI.com.

outhwestern Energy Company today announced a planned capital investment program for 2010 of approximately $2.1 billion, including approximately $1.5 billion of planned investments in its Fayetteville Shale play in Arkansas.

American Chronicle | Southwestern Energy Announces Capital Program and Guidance for 2010.

Just when you thought it was safe to start following the news on a regular basis, this shows up out of the clear blue. It’s blockbuster stuff. It is the kind of thing of which Pulitzer Prizes are made. Prepare to shocked, stunned and amazed!

“The Death of American Virtue” by law professor Ken Gormley also asserts that Mr Clinton had long-running affair with Susan McDougal, a key player in the Whitewater scandal.

Though Mr Gormley offers no concrete evidence of the affair, he told Politico.com: “I feel very, very comfortable with that conclusion after having conducted extensive interviews and seen documents that were not generally accessible to the public.”

Ah, yes. The death of virtue is reported by an author without any concrete evidence. Let the right wing nuts get on with it.

Monica Lewinsky says Bill Clinton lied, new book claims – Telegraph.

This is a horrifying story. You will be appalled.

Prosecutor in immigrant’s beating death suspected cover-up – CNN.com.

Who would have thunk it?

Census finds health care consumes growing slice of economy | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News.

Dean is starting to win me over.

Howard Dean Debates Health Care With Mary Landrieu, Chris Matthews (VIDEO).

The University of Arkansas has, according to Arkansas Sports360.com, sent a letter to Celebrate magazine to “cease and desist” distribution of the feature about Razorback basketball players modeling clothes from local merchants and to recall all possible copies.

Former U.S. Attorney P.K. Holmes has been recommended for an open federal judgeship in the Western District of Arkansas, where he served eight years as federal prosecutor.

A top official of the’ lottery,  Vice President of Administration Ernestine Middleton, who got free Razorback football tickets, said Tuesday that she’s reimbursed the giver of the tickets to avoid possibly violating the state ethics law.

Electronic Games of Skill revenue is up slightly month-to-month at Southland in West Memphis and down slightly at Okalawn in Hot Springs. Oaklawn year-to-year is still up strong in November. The new lottery seems to be having no effect of EGS wagering.

Since Arkansas added a lottery, sales of Oklahoma lottery tickets have dropped 40 percent to 50 percent in the five counties that adjoin Arkansas

Republican Jim Holt has updated his old campaign website to say “Holt 2010,” but it does not say what office he might be seeking. Holt is often mentioned as a potential candidate for U. S. Senate.

A prison guard accused of moving a prisoner to a mosquito-infested cell in retaliation for a grievance filed by the inmate must pay him $2,500, a federal appeals court ruled .

A Lonoke County farmer has settled a lawsuit in which four migrant workers claimed mistreatment while participating in a guest worker program.

Testimony convicted murderer Jason McGhee’s rough childhood — which included watching his father slit the throats of two beloved pets — likely would not have stopped a jury from sentencing him to die, a federal appeals court said Wednesday as it reinstated the death penalty.

The district court office and water department are closed after test results confirm mold on the east side of Carlisle City Hall.

Polymarin, a wind turbine manufacturer, is delaying plans to open a Little Rock plant that was to employ 600.

The trial of a Little Rock man accused of trying to kill a witness in the murder case against his sister starts over from scratch as Circuit Judge Willard Proctor Jr. was forced to cancel Tuesday’s proceedings after a juror reported that she felt threatened by spectators.

Police in Fayetteville are looking for a driver believed to have hit and killed a woman in the northwestern part of the city.

MARBLE FALLS, Ark. — The Buffalo National River is a beautiful and popular destination, especially for floaters and campers. Leaking sewage — almost 7,000 gallons a day — from this small community south of Harrison, however, is contaminating the river and threatening to make tourists’ experiences less enjoyable.When the weather warms up, it may not be safe to go into the Buffalo National River due to high E. coli levels. Raw sewage is seeping into the river from Mill Creek, which is badly contaminated by a faulty sewage lift station at Marble Falls. Raymond Hefley thinks it was damaged in last winter’s ice storm, and the problem started by early March.