The East Coast Timing Association held its Arkansas 1-Mile Challenge in September, where racers from all over the country mixed gasoline, steel and passion in the pursuit of raw speed.
Like all states, Arkansas has two statues selected by the legislature to represent our state in the U.S. Capitol. Uriah Rose, a successful and innovative lawyer, and James P. Clarke, a former governor and U.S. senator, have represented Arkansas in National Statuary Hall for approximately 100 years.
I was 15 years old when I stepped into the halls of Little Rock Central High School in 1998. Attending that historic school as a young black man was a surreal experience that both informed my identity and illuminated regrettable aspects and actions in our nation's history and culture.
For somebody like me, the Major League Baseball playoffs serve as a splendid diversion from the squalor of partisan politics. For serious fans, the drama of an October Red Sox-Yankees series provides the kind of emotional release others derive from a night at the symphony or a hike through a national park.
National Democrats who are focused on retaking control of the U.S. House of Representatives are banking on not one, but two gender gaps to propel them to control of that body.
I truly appreciate your paper's coverage of the mental health [coverage] cuts and the recent rally to protest them ("Mental health cuts stir controversy," Oct. 4).
The Union County sheriff's office has been taking photos of inmates wearing Nike T-shirts for mug shots, a practice noted by a social media activist last night. Before long, the photos were scrubbed from the Internet. The sheriff has issued an explanation. No political statement intended.
A reader noted that Amazon has posted a job opening for a temporary package handling facility planned in North Little Rock — a "talent supply chain engagement senior coordinator." I liked the non-discrimination disclosure, which goes far beyond legal protections afforded in Arkansas.
American Prospect has a generally optimistic view on a ballot measure to increase the minimum wage in Arkansas, if the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce can't talk the Arkansas Supreme Court into throwing it off the ballot.
The World Woman Summit partners with Arkansas Cinema Society to screen "The Tale," Jennifer Fox's film about sexual abuse, and the way we construct our identities in light of our memories.
The Arkansas Supreme Court today turned down two challenges to the proposed constitutional amendment to expand casino gambling in the state. It also reversed a circuit court ruling that the current voter ID law was unconstitutional, meaning it will remain in force in November.
Radley Balko, who writes opinionated reporting for the Washington Post, is working on questionable police practices. Earlier, he's said he was investigating Little Rock. Is this the result?
Having attended the July “Territorial Fare!” celebration of foodways at the Historic Arkansas Museum — when German and Scottish foods and folk were the subjects — I can heartily recommend that you buy tickets to the November event, "The Legacy of African Americans."
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families has joined the opposition to Issue One, a proposed amendment aimed at discouraging lawsuits for the likes of medical malpractice and nursing home neglect. But the Advocates focus on another part of the sweeping amendment.
A new Peace Corps tour of 10 historically black college campuses and local barbershops that cater to the African-American community has been launched by Arkansan Dwayne Matthews, who wants the community to know how the international development agency helped “a guy like me, from Little Rock, Arkansas,” become a success.
Mailers attacking Supreme Court Justice Courtney Goodson and supporting challenger David Sterling for her court seat have begun hitting Arkansas mailboxes.
Now that the Supreme Court has reversed precedent and upheld a voter ID law virtually identical to one struck down in 2014, voters need to be prepared to show an ID so that their votes may count. There's a theoretical provision to file a provisional ballot, but without assurance it will be counted.
Out in Arkansas’s hosts Traci Berry and Angie Bowen are joined by Dr. Racher, the ninja Gyno. They talk about all the things that come with transitioning— at any phase of the spectrum and all of those special people in their lives who live through this transition with them.
More evidence of the growth of overt partisanship in the Arkansas court system. Behold the program for the Baxter County Republican Party's Lincoln Day dinner.
Clarke Tucker, the Democratic candidate for 2nd District Congress, has renewed his call for another debate with Republican Rep. French Hill, particularly because of the few questions, none about health care, in the only debate held so far.
In what's described as its largest gift, the Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust has given $100 million to create an endowment to support the University of Arkansas's Winthrop Rockefeller Institute.
Democrats in the Senate have agreed to confirmation of 15 Trump judicial nominees so that the Senate may adjourn and members may go home to fight re-election campaigns. The action raises the question: What about Arkansas?
If you've been to Bentonville, you've probably seen Jason Jones' mural of a big blue octopus with bicyclists riding one of tentacle and tentacle another waving Sam Walton's truck around. Or, in Fayetteville, Jones' "Fresh Air" on Center Street. The murals that have transformed the historic downtowns in Northwest Arkansas have made us Little Rock lovers of outsized-urban-mural lovers green with envy.
The state released today an independent review of residential centers for youths referred by courts. A news release characterized the report as having said the state had made significant strides but still had more work to do.
Max and Lindsey talk about the week of political debates, the state Supreme Court’s ruling on key ballot initiatives, Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola’s impending big payday and judicial matters.
Incisive and sometimes confrontational questions about race relations were asked of four of Little Rock’s five mayoral candidates — Baker Kurrus, Vincent Tolliver, Warwick Sabin and Frank Scott Jr. — at last night's debate Thursday evening sponsored by Little Rock's Racial and Cultural Diversity Commission (RCDC).
Hunter Field reports in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette today on a surreptitiously made videotape of a March meeting between Dr. Carlos Roman, a member of the Medical Marijuana Commission, and Ken Shollmier, who'd finished out of the running in seeking to win a marijuana cultivation permit from the commission.
Jon Comstock, a Democrat and former circuit judge who's challenging the re-election bid by 16-year incumbent Republican Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, has added to a list of ethical questions about Bledsoe with information that challenges her residency in Benton County. But one point turns out to have an official explanation.
Here's the open line as a sodden group of hardcore tailgaters await the Arkansas-Ole Miss football game at what is a virtually sold-out War Memorial Stadium. But in good news, they are having a fine Turkey Trot at Yellville, despite rain, without the spectacle of live turkeys plunging from airplanes.
These days, comedy sketches write themselves. See Kanye West's visit to the Oval Office, retold by Saturday Night Live. Which somehow brings Arkansas to mind.
A group called Wall Street Flunkies Project has included Republican U.S. Rep. French Hill on its banker's dozen list of the top Wall Street Flunkies for the campaign money they receive from the banking/finance industry and the legislative services they provide in return.
Here's the open line, plus something worth reading: It's an account by Radley Balko of the Washington Post of a bust of a Little Rock man suspected of dealing drugs. The raid came up with virtually nothing — a tiny bit of marijuana. But 31-year-old Roderick Talley was arrested anyway. Good for him and bad for the cops, he had security video that recorded the happenings including a door-blowing no-knock raid.
The War Memorial Golf Course is a mess thanks to damage from its use for parking and tailgating during the rain-soaked Arkansas football game Saturday at War Memorial Stadium.
A news conference is scheduled today by civil rights lawyers related to reporting yesterday in the Washington Post that raises multiple questions about drug raid tactics by the Little Rock Police Department.
The New York Times reports today on how legislatures around the country (Arkansas was mentioned) have pushed back against ballot initiatives aimed at stronger ethics laws.
A Megamillions lottery ticket sold at the Corner Store in Sheridan is worth $3 million in the national drawing, the Arkansas Lottery said. As yet, the winner hasn't been identified.
The Human Rights Campaign has issued its annual municipal equality index ranking cities on treatment of LGBTQ people under the law. Arkansas cities, as a whole, rank below average, with a score of 31 on a 100-point scale compared with a national average of 58.
KNWA has video here of a 35-ton bus crossing the Beaver Bridge Saturday in Carroll County. The bridge has a 10-ton limit and, as you can see, it gave during the crossing.
Civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Mike Laux held a press conference this morning for their client, Roderick Talley, who Crump said was a “hero” for minority communities in America.
State Rep. Warwick Sabin, one of five candidates for Little Rock mayor, has spoken up on the Washington Post report on questionable drug raids by Little Rock police.
The Arkansas Times spoke with the Rev. Dr. William Barber II, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign and newly awarded MacArthur Genius grant fellow, ahead of the Poor People’s Campaign hearing in Little Rock that will take place at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 15, at the Rufus K. Young Christian Church at 100 Main St.
The late, inimitable Tom Petty memorably penned, then belted out, this refrain in his classic “The Waiting”: “You take it on faith, you take it to the heart/The waiting is the hardest part.”
If Frank Scott's candidacy speaks to the hope of bridging racial divides, Baker Kurrus' message of centrist unity seems intended to appeal to those weary of partisan conflict. Sabin, meanwhile, hopes to capitalize on the big turnout among progressives expected this cycle.
The New York Times reports on how a U.S. House vote to make the tax cut for millionaires permanent — a vote in which Arkansas Republicans concurred — is causing some Republicans problems, particularly from suburbs in states such as New Jersey and New York. One reason, in addition to the continuing favoritism to the wealthy:
Some more comments have been made in response to my requests for reaction to the bombshell reporting by the Washington Post's Radley Balko on questionable tactics by Little Rock police drug raid teams. In short: City Hall leadership is in short supply.
David Sterling is hoping to unseat Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Courtney Goodson by openly running for the seat as a Republican, turning up as a featured speaker at every Republican ribbon-cutting and county dinner in Arkansas. If there was ever any doubt of his intention to be a partisan justice in a theoretically non-partisan job, see the campaign being waged for him by the dark money Republican State Leadership Committee's "Judicial Fairness Committee."
The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission meets at 4:30 p.m. today and items on the agenda including a beginning of the scoring of dispensary permits by an outside consultant. Also on the agenda: A change in ownership by one of the successful applicants for a cultivation permit, Delta Medical Cannabis.
The Arkansas distillery scene is expanding like yeast. Last week, Rock Candy wrote a bit about Delta Dirt Distillery coming to Helena. Another distillery, like Delta Dirt named to reflect its home, is Crystal Ridge, which Danny and Mary Bradley hope to open in Hot Springs in February 2019.
Joe Thompson, chief deputy Pulaski assessor, said today that James and Sen. Cecile Bledsoe did not claim a homestead tax exemption on a Little Rock house they purchased this summer, though county records indicate they enjoy such an exemption.
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Art Gallery will host is Faculty Biennial Show from Oct. 15 to Nov. 16 in the Brad Cushman Gallery in the Windgate Center of Art and Design.
A diverse chorus of voices joined together to sing “Freedom Ain’t Free” at the Arkansas Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival event on Monday evening in Little Rock. Hosted by the Arkansas PPC, the walls of Rufus K. Young Christian Church at 2100 Main St. were covered in signs spreading the message of the movement, such as “Denying Health Care is Violence,” “Ecological Devastation is Immoral” and “Systemic Racism is Immoral.”
There's a new time and a new location for the annual Tales of the Crypt. The event has been relocated to the Parkview Arts & Science Magnet High School Auditorium at 2501 John Barrow Rd. with a 6:30 p.m. start time.
After a video went viral of the historic Beaver suspension bridge in Carroll County sagging beneath the weight of a tour bus, the Arkansas Department of Transportation has decided to close the bridge for a closer inspection, 40/29 reports.
Public Consulting Group, the company hired by the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission to evaluate dispensary applications, said it will try to provide results to the commission within the 30 days agreed after receipt of the applications — by mid-November or late November at the latest.
The Capitol Zoning District Commission, which oversees neighborhoods around the Capitol and Governor's Mansion, will hold a public hearing this week on proposed rules to regulate rental of residences for guests, such as the Airbnb and VRBO businesses.
Nearly 150 major companies, including Walmart and Tyson Foods, have joined in a national Make Time to Vote campaign aimed at lifting voting. It's described as a non-partisan effort.
Backers of the proposal to increase the state minimum wage from $8.50 an hour are touting a new study on the idea from the National Employment Law Project. It says it would improve the quality of life for 300,000 people from all 75 Arkansas counties.
The three-day festival culminates in a concert noon-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, that celebrates the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Johnny Cash Show tours. John Carter Cash will host and and Krauss, Johnson, Ana Cristina Cash, Suzanne Cox, Heather Berry Mabe, Ira Dean and others will perform.
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families is highlighting a new report relevant to ongoing legislative discussions of "tax reform." It does not suggest the problem is taxation on the rich.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson called on the Arkansas Democratic Party today to pull down $15,000 in radio ads it bought in support of his Democratic opponent, Jared Henderson, because he said they violated campaign finance law.
The bust, created by Little Rock sculptor and Arkansas native Kevin Kresse, will have a permanent home in Phillips County near Helm’s boyhood house in downtown Marvell, a structure that was relocated from nearby Turkey Scratch and added to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places in earlier this year.
The Arkansas Supreme Court issued a news release today indicating five of the seven members are challenging a finding by the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission of an ethics violation by the court in removing Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen from cases related to the death penalty without affording him proper notice and due process. In short, the court says the commission has no jurisdiction over the court.
Hearne Fine Art will open the exhibition "The Messengers: A Survey of Work in Metalpoint by Marjorie Williams-Smith," the artist's first solo show at the gallery at 1001 Wright Ave., with a reception from 5-8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 19. Williams-Smith, one of the finest metalpoint artists in the country and one of our own, will give a talk about her work at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, at Hearne.