Good guess here yesterday. Little Rock National Airport Executive Director Ron Mathieu announced today that he’d hired Shane Carter as the airport’s new director of public affairs and government relations. He’ll start work Jan. 3 and be paid $110,000 a year. Carter has been heading public relations for the Arkansas Methodist Medical Center in Paragould.

This ends a somewhat contentious search that included an earlier job offer that was accepted and then turned down by Mark Raines, a gas company PR executive. Airport Commissioner Tom Schueck had sought to have more commission control over the choice, but ultimately the majority of the commission made it clear the decision was Mathieu’s to make.

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Carter, who is an Arkansas State grad and former TV reporter and meteorologist, was one of four finalists interviewed by Mathieu this week.

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