The line is open. Finishing up:
* NEW LOTTERY COMMISSIONER: Alex Streett, a Russellville lawyer, has been named to the Arkansas Lottery Commission by Gov. Mike Beebe. He replaces Ben Pickard of Searcy, who’s taken a position on the state Higher Education Coordinating Board. Streett will serve through 2019.
* JEWELRY STORE ROBBER SENTENCED: A Michigan man already serving an unrelated 15-year sentence got 27 more years for the robbery of a Fayetteville jewelry store last October.
* BIG RIVER STEEL: A correspondent reports that a state hearing officer today recommended that the Pollution Control and Ecology Commission uphold the Department of Environmental Quality’s decision to issue an air quality permit for Big River Steel, the new mill being underwritten by state money. Nucor Steel, an existing operation in Mississippi County, has been fighting the venture, headed by Nucor’s former leader John Correnti. Here’s the ruling.