First 2009 early morning news

My column in today’s Democrat-Gazette is about the the conversations I have with real people. Find it on the Voices page in the Arkansas section.

The radar shows some rain on the way. Nothing serious.

Check out my Lynch at Large blog.  If there should be any important breaking news, I will have it.

https://lynchatlarge.wordpress.com/

My morning updates 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. You can also hear my early morning headlines on Y-95 in Camden.

My train blog is very popular, so check out Trains for America. (It has a lot more readers from all over the world than my Lynch at Large blog,)

http://trains4america.wordpress.com/

Governor Beebe will make a major announcement concerning economic development this morning at 10. It is widely reported that a small truck plant could be coming to North Little Rock adding 500 new jobs.

Verizon Wireless will close its $28.1 billion deal with Alltel on Friday, January 9.  The deal will make Verizon the country’s largest wireless carrier with about 78 million subscribers and will cost central Arkansas thousands of good jobs.

Act 1 goes into effect with the New Year. Unmarried couples may no longer be foster or adoptive parents. The severance tax on some natural gas wells is now up to 5%.

Governor Beebe will appoint Jay Bradford of Pine Bluff as Commissioner of the Arkansas Insurance Department.  The appointment will take effect on January 15.

The senate race in Faulkner County between Joe Whit e and Gil Baker is going in the record books as the most expensive in Arkansas history. Over $901,000 was spent by both.

Allocating money generated by the Faulkner County jail to the county’s general fund is legal and proper, according to an Arkansas Attorney General’s opinion.

An Arkansas couple who claim cows killed in a road accident were buried on their property without their permission cannot sue the driver who caused the accident, his employer or his insurance company, a divided state Court of Appeals ruled.

The victims of three Batesville area arsons in recent weeks have declined to cooperate with investigators because they are illegal aliens from Guatemala and fear they will be deported.

A high-speed police chase ending in Saline County left a man died. The unidentified  man driving the motorcycle refused to pull over on Interstate 430, when a state trooper spotted him speeding. The chase ended on Highway 5 in Saline County. Police believe he was fleeing because there were several warrants out for his arrest.

North Little Rock Cable viewers never got to see it but, all three Tax Increment Finance (TIF) ordinances were passed in a special Council meeting on New Years Eve. The North Little Rock School District and local restaurant owner Frank Fletcher have threatened lawsuits.

Crystal Hills and Clinton Elementary schools are back in class in their own buildings today.
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Power was off for hours Sunday after a squirrel got in a substation behind the Municipal Courts buildings. The fire department reports one elevator rescue in the Regions building.

The city of Little Rock is being asked pay more than $60,000 for its share of the first phase of the Interstate 630/Interstate 430 interchange redesign, a $17 million project that motorists will see begin to take shape by spring. That does not include the expensive flyovers to get I-630 traffic on to Financial Center Parkway. The total cost will be $130 million,  if it ever happens.

Little Rock recorded its first homicide of 2009 late Saturday afternoon when a man was killed in a drive-by shooting, police said.

A Little Rock man has died following a run in with North Little Rock police at the Velvet Ridge Apartments in Levy. A NLR PD officer used their pepper spray to break free when the victim Ronnie Brown, 36 allegedly assaulted him. According to police, Brown was over six feet tall and weighed over 400 pounds with reported a history of violence against NLRPD officers.

A record crowd of over 15,600 witnessed the Arkansas Razorback basketball beat North Texas at Alltel Arena in North Little Rock Saturday afternoon.  This was the largest crowd to ever watch a Razorback game at Alltel.  The crowd watched the Razorbacks come a halftime deficit to beat North Texas 86-75. It’s number 8 ranked Texas tomorrow.