Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Wednesday morning
The Hope City Council unanimously approved an amendment to its agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency that will improve the area on which the agency is storing thousands of trailers at the city's municipal airport. The measure will allow gravel beds to be placed on airport acreage to help prevent the trailers from becoming mired in mud. Jerry Hall, FEMA's site manager for the airport staging area, said there's a chance that FEMA could use the site beyond the two-year lease now in place that pays the city $25,000 a month.
Today’s Democrat-Gazette reports that Faulkner County Sheriff Marty Montgomery and several current and former employees of his office owe the county $14,706. The findings of Conway attorney James F. Lane and accountant David M. Little, a retired auditor, made to the Quorum Court last night, come on the heels of a special prosecutor’s investigation and a state audit critical of sheriff’s office spending.
A former Maysville firefighter is under arrest in connection with one in a series of arsons that have plagued western Benton County since January. Daryl Wayne Proctor was on the Maysville Volunteer Fire Department until Friday, and is the third person arrested on arson charges in the county. Benton County Sheriff Keith Fergusson says Proctor is one of several copycats and that his investigation continues.
State regulators and the state attorney general’s office want Entergy Arkansas Inc.’s 9.9 percent rate increase announced last week to be included in an ongoing investigation of Entergy’s 6 percent rate increase last October. The staff of the Arkansas Public Service Commission says it concurs with the Attorney General’s staff, which recommended Friday that both increases be weighed together to determine if they expose ratepayers to unnecessary costs.
If you thought the January unemployment rate for Arkansas, which was the lowest in 10 years, seemed awfully low, you are right. Federal and state agencies have concluded that it the 3.8% rate previously reported will need to be revised upward.
Four people who lived in a Fort Smith home with 94-year-old John Boozeman, who died in early February, are scheduled to go before a Sebastian County Circuit Court judge today to answer charges of abuse of an endangered or impaired adult, a felony that carries a maximum prison term of 20 years. Officers described the home where Bozeman lived as covered in filth. They said it smelled of human waste and decaying flesh. There was trash and waste everywhere in the house. The bed on which Bozeman slept was stained through to the box springs.
Benton County Prosecutor Robin Green is looking for a witness she believes took photographs that will assist in an investigation into the death of a handicapped Springdale man.
Beginning May 2, Boston-Maine Airways will offer scheduled service three days a week between Tunica and Atlanta, feeding the casinos with what locals hope will be planeloads of guests from Atlanta -- Tunica's No. 1 target market -- and giving Tunica direct access to Atlanta without the drive through Memphis.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has released a tentative schedule of speakers for its April hearings on Wal-Mart’s industrial bank application. The list includes an executive for the Bentonville-based retailer, members of Wal-Mart watchdog groups, unions, bankers associations and realtors.
Gambling is not needed in Arkansas and preys on those with the least money. Congressman John Boozman made those comments Monday at a constituent forum in Van Buren.
Little Rock Mayor Jim Dailey tells Pat Lynch that he is leaning against running for another term and will make his decision known in the next few weeks. Filing for Little Rock city elections is in August. Dailey also says he continues to back the strong mayor form of local government.
The Fayetteville Police Department will tighten its regulation of the city's existing smoking ban. Police Deputy Chief Greg Tabor says letters were sent last week alerting 40 bar and restaurant owners of the changes, which will begin May 1.Tabor told the Morning News of Northwest Arkansas, "If you serve any more food than something poured out of a bag, you will not be allowed to smoke there. If any food served has to be prepared, warmed or cooked, it will not be considered customary bar food."
Jayme Dixon, a Benton police officer who was suspended earlier this month afrer being accused of handcuffing a woman without her consent while he was off duty, resigned from the force on Monday, according to the Benton Courier.
Today’s Democrat-Gazette reports that Faulkner County Sheriff Marty Montgomery and several current and former employees of his office owe the county $14,706. The findings of Conway attorney James F. Lane and accountant David M. Little, a retired auditor, made to the Quorum Court last night, come on the heels of a special prosecutor’s investigation and a state audit critical of sheriff’s office spending.
A former Maysville firefighter is under arrest in connection with one in a series of arsons that have plagued western Benton County since January. Daryl Wayne Proctor was on the Maysville Volunteer Fire Department until Friday, and is the third person arrested on arson charges in the county. Benton County Sheriff Keith Fergusson says Proctor is one of several copycats and that his investigation continues.
State regulators and the state attorney general’s office want Entergy Arkansas Inc.’s 9.9 percent rate increase announced last week to be included in an ongoing investigation of Entergy’s 6 percent rate increase last October. The staff of the Arkansas Public Service Commission says it concurs with the Attorney General’s staff, which recommended Friday that both increases be weighed together to determine if they expose ratepayers to unnecessary costs.
If you thought the January unemployment rate for Arkansas, which was the lowest in 10 years, seemed awfully low, you are right. Federal and state agencies have concluded that it the 3.8% rate previously reported will need to be revised upward.
Four people who lived in a Fort Smith home with 94-year-old John Boozeman, who died in early February, are scheduled to go before a Sebastian County Circuit Court judge today to answer charges of abuse of an endangered or impaired adult, a felony that carries a maximum prison term of 20 years. Officers described the home where Bozeman lived as covered in filth. They said it smelled of human waste and decaying flesh. There was trash and waste everywhere in the house. The bed on which Bozeman slept was stained through to the box springs.
Benton County Prosecutor Robin Green is looking for a witness she believes took photographs that will assist in an investigation into the death of a handicapped Springdale man.
Beginning May 2, Boston-Maine Airways will offer scheduled service three days a week between Tunica and Atlanta, feeding the casinos with what locals hope will be planeloads of guests from Atlanta -- Tunica's No. 1 target market -- and giving Tunica direct access to Atlanta without the drive through Memphis.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has released a tentative schedule of speakers for its April hearings on Wal-Mart’s industrial bank application. The list includes an executive for the Bentonville-based retailer, members of Wal-Mart watchdog groups, unions, bankers associations and realtors.
Gambling is not needed in Arkansas and preys on those with the least money. Congressman John Boozman made those comments Monday at a constituent forum in Van Buren.
Little Rock Mayor Jim Dailey tells Pat Lynch that he is leaning against running for another term and will make his decision known in the next few weeks. Filing for Little Rock city elections is in August. Dailey also says he continues to back the strong mayor form of local government.
The Fayetteville Police Department will tighten its regulation of the city's existing smoking ban. Police Deputy Chief Greg Tabor says letters were sent last week alerting 40 bar and restaurant owners of the changes, which will begin May 1.Tabor told the Morning News of Northwest Arkansas, "If you serve any more food than something poured out of a bag, you will not be allowed to smoke there. If any food served has to be prepared, warmed or cooked, it will not be considered customary bar food."
Jayme Dixon, a Benton police officer who was suspended earlier this month afrer being accused of handcuffing a woman without her consent while he was off duty, resigned from the force on Monday, according to the Benton Courier.
