My Friday news bailout

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/

Former Arkansas First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton is the new Secretary of State.

A bill that toughens the state’s animal cruelty laws was approved in the Arkansas Senate 34-0.

The Joint Budget Committee debates a bill that would redirect $23 million in payments to the Pulaski County desegregation settlement to public school employees insurance.

Those who violate an order of protection once will get a “bye,” but if they ignore it twice they’ll be charged with a felony, according to the sponsor of legislation approved by the House Judiciary Committee.

Gov. Mike Beebe wants the state Parks and Tourism Dept. to share a little money with the pinched Highway and Transportation Department to rehab highway rest areas.

Fortune magazine puts Arkansas Children’s Hospital at No. 85 on its list of the 100 best U.S. companies at which to work.

El Dorado-based Murphy Oil Corp. is expanding the El Dorado Promise scholarship program to allow more flexibility for students and families in El Dorado looking for ways to afford a higher education.

The decade-long effort to improve trout fishing in the White River tailwaters of northern Arkansas is moving from the study phase to design and implementation.

Sales of hunting licenses in Arkansas rose during the first half of the fiscal year, bucking a downward trend in sales in most other states, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission was told Thursday.

Mitchell Scott Johnson, one of the Jonesboro school shooters, is sentenced to 18 years for using a stolen debit card to buy a $7.95 cent breakfast.

Judges in the 11th Judicial District-West ,  Lincoln and Jefferson Counties,will continue to routinely seal public documents outlining crime details because they believe that might hinder jury selection.

A Drew County jury has convicted Alicia Ammons of manslaughter and sentenced her to 10 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction in the death of 15-year-old Courtland Jones. Ammons had been charged with first-degree murder after she plunged a bread knife into Jones’ neck during an altercation July 4. Ammons was upset that the teenager had allegedly shot fireworks into her family’s yard.

The Little Rock School Board approves budget cuts of up to $5.3 million for next year that will include converting Woodruff Elementary School into an early childhood education center for 3- and 4-year-olds.

In a year when libraries nationwide are feeling the pinch of housing market collapses and Wall Street turmoil, the Central Arkansas Library System expects to move forward with hiring architects and building new branches.

Little Rock residents who’ve been asked to dream big for city redevelopment projects in the past have been tapped again to recommend a future for the vacant Ray Winder Field.

City Manager Bruce Moore has named five residents to delve into the plans Little Rock received last month to lease or buy Ray Winder Field. Former Mayor and real estate developer Jim Dailey heads the panel.