June 4-10, 2008
It was a good week for …
BARACK OBAMA. The primary season completed, he claimed the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, the first black person to achieve a major party nomination.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON. She gave a warm concession speech full of assurances that she’d work to elect Obama and end the disastrous Republican rule.
MIKE HUCKABEE. The former governor successfully gave the Heimlich hug to a choking North Carolina politician at a political dinner. Add lifesaver to the resume he offers John McCain as a potential running mate for the Republican presidential nominee.
DARREN MCFADDEN. The former Hog star signed a $60 million six-year contract to play football for the Oakland Raiders.
SEX SCANDALS. FOI requests unearthed steamy text messages and suggestions that Booneville school superintendent Bobby Ashley was fired after an investigation of a long-running affair with an employee. The affair reportedly included intimate acts on the school board meeting table and in the school bus barn.
It was a bad week for …
LITTLE ROCK. News that Verizon is going to buy out Little Rock-based Alltel left thousands of employees in Little Rock nervous that their jobs might not survive the combination of the companies by the end of the year.
MOTORISTS. Another week, another record high for gas prices. The $4-per-gallon mark was topped in Arkansas.
SHANNON HILLS. Cops in the Saline County town are devoting hours of Internet work aimed at sniffing out potential child predators around the country. They landed one, a Washington sailor, after 13 months of work, time that could have been spent more profitably serving the local people who pay their salaries. Instead they used their time to catch a guy who hadn’t harmed anyone beyond sending nekkid pictures to Shannon Hill cops posing as young girls.