Arkansas
updated
11:23 a.m.
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An item last week mentioned, belatedly, the small ceremony at the Governor's Mansion in which some ashes of First Cat Socks were scattered on the grounds as his final keeper, Clinton presidential secretary Betty Currie, had requested. The news article mentioned a brief poem written for the occasion by First Lady Ginger Beebe. Readers asked for a copy. Read on. ...
Arkansas Daily Blog - 7:59 a.m.
Arkansas Lottery Executive Director Ernie Passailaigue will be the speaker at the next meeting of the Political Animals Club. The meeting will take place on Tuesday, July 21 at the Governor's Mansion. If interested in joining PAC, send an e-mail to Steve Ronnel at SteveR [at] metalrecyclingcorp [dot] com. I've received more than one e-mail from constituents asking about this remark in the p...
Under The Dome - 7:18 a.m.
The Arkansas Blog broke an internal Republican political story last week about racial remarks on the Facebook page of an Arkansas native, Audra Shay, who's running for leadership of the National Young Republicans. As happens, the spat has gone viral, with a major takeout now on the popular national website Daily Beast (helped by some continuing racist remarks from...
Arkansas Daily Blog - 5:40 a.m.
Since November, the FBI has run more than 9.1 million background checks – including more than 100,000 in Arkansas- on potential firearm customers. That’s 28 percent above the same period a year before. A psychologist whose state contract was terminated last year after he reported what he saw as wasteful and possibly illegal spending is seeking [...] ...
Lynch at Large - Sun 8:45 p.m.
Well, probably not. But, for the record, an e-mail alerts to a union card-carrying Republican who plans to challenge U.S. Rep. Mike Ross . Get to the right of Ross on gun control? Hard to imagine, but Marc Rosson of Grannis apparently intends to try....
Arkansas Daily Blog - Sun 7:00 a.m. - 4 clicks 
John Brummett, assessing current political fortunes , gives a strong up to Mike Huckabee, the likely Republican nominee in 2012. (Thus the headline and there's no doubt he's advancing to the front on account of the backward march of the pitiful other contenders.) He also awards a rare down arrow to Gov. Mike Beebe for overexposure....
Arkansas Daily Blog - Sun 7:00 a.m. - 6 clicks
Leroy Donald, 73, the veteran Arkansas journalist who wrote a weekly business column in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, died Thursday. I first met Leroy when he was the state editor of the Arkansas Gazette. In addition to the statewide contacts he made in that job, he built a vast network of friends through his long leadership of the Farkleberry Follies, the biannual musical that raised money ...
Arkansas Daily Blog - Sat 6:07 p.m. - 8 clicks
Andrew DeMilllo's weekly political analysis is about Ernie Passailaigue and his complaints about media emphasis on "negative" things in his startup of the Arkansas lottery . You'd think he'd be enough of a veteran politico as a former senator and gubernatorial candidate to give that tired line a rest. But he goes from cliched to insulting when he turns to another refuge of politi...
Arkansas Daily Blog - Sat 6:07 p.m. - 5 clicks
Talk among yourselves. Kat Robinson at Eat Arkansas visited the Arkansas Foodie Festival in Argenta, open until 2 p.m. The Clinton Library is having its family festival starting at 4 p.m., but there's free admission all day to the cool library confines. Big crowd at River Market Farmers Market today. But, frankly, the tomato selection was uninspiring. ...
Arkansas Daily Blog - Sat 12:27 p.m. - 5 clicks
Slow political day here in Texarkana, so in between appointments here at the office, I ran over at lunch to visit with Pastor Anthony Ware and the kids in his Summer Enhancement Program at Miles Chapel CME. The courthouses are closed tomorrow, so this office is likely to be a ghosttown, but I'll be around the office and the blog. ...
Under The Dome - Thu 1:02 p.m. - 3 clicks
Gov. Mike Beebe gave a vote of confidence to the state prison director and Board of Correction, a day after members of a legislative panel questioned the leadership of the prison system. The state lottery commission has approves Powerball a U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that more than $297 million is now available for [...] ...
Lynch at Large - Wed 10:44 p.m. - 2 clicks
Justice Andree Roaf, the first black woman to sit on the Arkansas Supreme Court, died today at 68. We "followed" each other on Twitter. Her last tweet was Saturday . ...
Under The Dome - Wed 7:41 p.m. - 8 clicks
Another Arkansas blog is in the works. I'm having lunch with Rex Nelson in a couple of weeks, and later that afternoon, a reception will be held in his honor at Whitewater Tavern to welcome the launch of his new blog. "Southern Fried" will include ruminations on barbecue, politicking, football and other major issues of the day. Nelson, a veteran journalist and former right hand man to Mike Huc...
Under The Dome - Wed 2:38 p.m. - 3 clicks
Here's a table (.pdf) , created by the Arkansas Sentencing Commission, that contains offenses which were created or redefined during the 87th General Assembly. These are the offenses the Arkansas Sentencing Commission has ranked In the last column of the table labeled “Preliminary Ranking,” you will find the Commission’s rankings. ...
Under The Dome - Wed 2:38 p.m. - 3 clicks
The FBI is taking over the investigation into a prank call that caused $50,000 in damage to a Conway hotel and is believed to be part of a national scheme Upset over guards’ lapses that allowed two convicted murderers to escape and caused an inmate’s near death, Arkansas lawmakers are calling for a subpoena-powered inquiry in [...] ...
Lynch at Large - Wed 12:05 a.m. - 2 clicks
Legislators got a first hand report today of incidents that have been widely discussed regarding the Arkansas Department of Correction. Director Larry Norris gave a forthright account of three of the biggest incidents , and legisators will likely continue to take up this matter. I anticipate a movement to refer this to either the Interim Committee on State Agencies or the Joint Performance Rev...
Under The Dome - Tue 3:44 p.m. - 3 clicks
I stopped by the Saline County Courthouse on the way to the Capitol today to watch Rep. Dawn Creekmore (D) announce her candidacy for state Senate, District 22. With Rep. Dan Greenberg (R) having already announced for this seat, which is being vacated by term-limited Sen. Shane Broadway, this is now the fourth officially contested state Senate race for 2010. The three others include SD13 (forme...
Under The Dome - Tue 11:21 a.m. - 5 clicks
Since the biggest race in Arkansas next year appears to be a Democratic primary for Secretary of State, some are looking ahead to 2014, where many are talking about the Democratic primary for the gubernatorial race in that election year. The Swing State Project takes a look, authored by an anonymous Arkansas Democrat. ...
Under The Dome - Tue 7:24 a.m. - 3 clicks
Swepco is holding a conference today to announce that it will appeal last week's Arkansas Court of Appeals ruling that rejected the state permit for its proposed 600MW power plant in Hempstead County. The decision has garnered local, state and national attention, including this Sunday column by Texarkana Gazette Editor Les Minor. ...
Under The Dome - Mon 12:02 p.m. - 3 clicks
The Charitable, Penal and Correctional Institutions Subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council meets tomorrow afternoon at the Capitol, and the first item of business is a report from Larry Norris, Director of the Arkansas Department of Correction on the widely publicized pending investigations within the department. I sit on the committee, and I know I'm not alone in concerns regarding th...
Under The Dome - Jun 29 - 3 clicks
The Arkansas Supreme Court voted 5-2 to reverse the capital murder conviction and life sentence of Kenneth Ray Osburn, who was convicted of the August 2006 kidnaping and slaying of 17-year-old Casey Crowder of Pine Bluff. They said the defendant’s statements were coerced and should not have been sued as evidence. The supreme court has dismissed [...] ...
Lynch at Large - Jun 26 - 4 clicks
The Arkansas Court of Appeals today overturned Public Service Commission approval of a construction permit for SWEPCO’s proposed power plant in southwest Arkansas. Inadequate assessment. It ordered a new PSC hearing on environmental and other issues. The death of a 44-year-old man as Pulaski County’s first stemming from the severe heat. Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Curtis Coleman [...] ...
Lynch at Large - Jun 25 - 2 clicks
It is reported that the new lottery may become a part of the mult-state Powerball game. A prison guard has been fired after a mishandled medical emergency that nearly resulted in the death of an inmate. Authorities say visits with inmates have temporarily been suspended at the federal prison in Forrest City because of an outbreak of [...] ...
Lynch at Large - Jun 22 - 2 clicks
The Arkansas Lottery Commission confirms that the sale of Arkansas lottery tickets may begin on or before Oct. 29. The unemployment rate jumped half a percentage point to 7.0 percent in May. There has been a loss of 33,800 nonfarm jobs in Arkansas since May 2008, and the state’s labor force has shrunk by 10,500 in [...] ...
Lynch at Large - Jun 22 - 2 clicks
