Lynch at Large

Federal and state income taxes are due today.

Arkansas legislative leaders said Friday that the state House of Representatives and Senate will try next Friday to override Gov. Mike Huckabee’s veto of a $570,303 appropriation for science specialists to help elementary schools improve science education.

A Little Rock man upset with the defeat of a bill aimed at keeping a tiny Saline County high school open by loosening curriculum standards announced Friday that he’s formed a group to advocate for rural education during the 2007 regular legislative session. Ron Crawford, a businessman who also is involved in Amateur Athletic Union basketball and has a grandchild who is a student at the Paron school, said some opponents of House Bill 1014, including Attorney General Mike Beebe, “are conspiring to centralize their power at the expense of our rural communities.”

A grand jury concluded gaps in communication between officers helped kill Erin Hamley, gaps a $30 million radio system was supposed to close. State troopers and County officers were not in communication during the incident.

25 FEMA mobile homes which had been stored at Hope are rolling in to Marmaduke as the cleanup from tornadoes of two weeks ago continues. Those residents planning to rebuild will not need city permits. The mayor is forming the Advisory Committee for Rebuilding Marmaduke. Approximately 25 residents will make up the committee

The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville’s policy restricting how often outside individuals or groups can speak on campus is unconstitutional, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday.

Entergy Arkansas says that state regulators failed to follow the law in expanding an investigation into Entergy’s ratemaking process and renewed its call to allow a 9.9 percent rate increase.

Arkansas is one of at least eight states that has applied to become one of the first states to join traditional leaders Iowa and New Hampshire in voting early in the 2008 Democratic presidential contest.

Northwest Arkansas took a “major” step toward seeing its first Catholic high school when the Diocese of Little Rock paid off its debt on the land earmarked for the project. Officials hope to make a final decision on the project within the next year.

A draft ordinance to strip the Pine Bluff Civil Service Commission of its authority to hire and fire the city’s police and fire chiefs and cede that power, instead, to the mayor is scheduled for a first reading Monday before a divided City Council.

On Saturday, dozens of Katrina Evacuees living in the Natural State, hit the road so they could cast their ballot in the New Orleans Mayoral race.

The multi-purpose center in Forrest City is complete, all that is lacking now is employees and equipment. Mayor Larry Bryant says that May 20 is the projected opening date, but it may have to be moved back.

For the first time since the start of a major mumps outbreak in Iowa, Missouri last week saw a rise in mumps cases and several cases were reported in Southern Illinois. Missouri has three confirmed cases and two are suspected.