Wednesday early headlines

The Wednesday Wake Up is on KARK TV Channel 4 this morning at 6:45 with Bill V ickery and me. We will have the winners and losers, so tune in!

My morning updates are on K-106.3 The Greatest Hits of All Time with John Lee and Spirit FM at 93.3 and 100.7. You can also hear my early morning headlines on Y-95 in Camden.

I occasionally add items of state and local interest on my Lynch at Large blog

https://lynchatlarge.wordpress.com/

My train blog is very popular, so check out Trains for America.

http://trains4america.wordpress.com/

Smokers will pay 56cents more per pack to fund a package of health programs proposed by Governor Beebe.

U. S. Senator Mark Pryor moves over to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Sen. Gilbert Baker of Conway has a bill that would require state-supported higher education institutions submit a report listing each administrator there who earns a salary of $100,000 and all their fringe benefits.

Rep. Bill Sample of Hot Springs filed a bill that would ban illegal immigrants from receiving in-state tuition, state scholarships or financial aid. Sen. Joyce Elliott is still considering whether to file a bill making the children of illegal immigrants eligible for in-state tuition.

Sen. Paul Miller and seven other senators filed a bill that would move the presidential primary back to the third week in May, when other primaries for state races are held.

Sen. Hank Wilkins IV, D-Pine Bluff, said Tuesday he will propose a new 5 percent tax on liquor, beer and wine to fund a variety of substance abuse treatment programs.

The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville has hired two contract lobbyists for $8,000 a month by using private funds to join its vice chancellor for government relations in pressing for the school’s interests in the Legislature.

An Oklahoma woman who’s fighting to adopt her baby granddaughter from Arkansas, despite a new law prohibiting unmarried couples from adopting here, was granted temporary custody Tuesday of the child, who has been in foster care in Bentonville.

A Texarkana judge has held a father of a child removed from the Tony Alamo facility in contempt for refusing to tell the location of that boy.

Opponents of the proposed coal-burning power plant planned for Hempstead County contend that Pollution Control Commissioner Thomas Schueck had undisclosed interests in two companies that will get financial benefits from work on the power plant project.

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) is proposing the removal of “non-attainment” designation for ozone compliance in Crittenden County, a status that has hampered the community’s economic development prospects since 2004.

Goody’s Family Clothing Inc. is liquidating all 287 of its retail stores, which will result in the closure of its 11 other stores in Arkansas.

Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO) has signed a long-term power purchase agreement for renewable wind energy with Majestic Wind Power LLC, a subsidiary of Babcock & Brown Renewable Holdings Inc. for all the power generated by its facility near Amarillo, Texas.

A man arrested Monday evening was able to slip out of his handcuffs and escape from jail. Springdale police are searching for Jesus Manjarrez,

The St. Francis County Sheriff’s Department Interstate Interdictory Team is up and running and made its first narcotics bust early Saturday morning on Interstate 40.

The Lonoke County sheriff’s office seized nearly 200 pairs of women’s undergarments after catching a man they said has been pilfering panties, mostly from neighbors’ homes. Authorities arrested Michael Connelly  on misdemeanor charges after they said he broke into a home on Sunnyvale Road in Lonoke County to steal underwear.

The Democrat-Gazette reports on a newspaper war in tiny Nashville, Arkansas. It is between members of the family which owns one of the local papers, which is 130 years old.

Exercising a new policy adopted just minutes earlier, the School Board for the Pulaski County Special School District voted to unseat Mildred Tatum, the president, and then selected board member Tim Clark to succeed her.

Little Rock police believe they are looking for a serial robber who is now a suspect in Tuesday morning’s killing of a Hispanic man in West Little Rock.

NLRDailyNews.com reports portions of North Little Rock have seen a rash of home invasion robberies with 19 reported in the last two weeks in an area generally north of I-40, south of McCain and between Pike Avenue and North Hills

Marion Moore is out of jail after being charged with endangering the welfare of her 17 month-old foster child. Moore left the child in her SUV with the engine running while she went inside to get her own child. The vehicle was stolen and a massive police search ensued. DHS is now investigating whether Moore will be allowed to keep her own child.

Pulaski prosecutors have obtained another conviction in the death of 6 year-old Kamya Weathersby, killed as she slept when shooters pumped dozens of shots into her Little Rock house. Ricky Dale Smith will serve life without parole.

Second Street between Louisiana and Center streets in downtown Little Rock will be closed today while  crews repair an electric transformer.

Cats that bite could be declared dangerous and banned from the city under an ordinance drafted by Little Rock Animal Services.

A decision by the majority of a five-member commission governing the Sherwood Fire Department  to search for a full-time fire chief has divided the department internally and caused the mayor of Sherwood to withhold nearly $800,000 in subsidies.