Lynch at Large

Even though the state has a current budget surplus approaching $200 million, and the ultimate cost to taxpayers in interest on the bonds will be around $125 million, the University of Arkansas board of trustees have unanimously approved a plan allowing the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to borrow up to $40 million to pay for part of a $65 million cancer center.

A legislative panel has authorized state auditors to assist in state police investigations into government operations in Jefferson County and the city of Waldron. State police and Special Prosecutor Lona McCastlain of Lonoke are looking into possible misappropriation of county materials, equipment and labor in Jefferson County. In Waldron, state police and Prosecutor Tom Tatum are looking into allegations that the mayor manipulated certain water customer accounts.

Fayetteville Shale Gas Play activities could bring as many as 484 jobs to Faulkner County by 2008, according to a study by the Sam M. Walton College of Business Center for Business and Economic Research.

Property previously purchased by John Q. Hammons for a Courtyard by Marriott hotel and Convention Center in Jonesboro was listed for sale Wednesday afternoon. Hammons reportedly has said he is willing to go back to the drawing board if the city is ready. A June election on a proposed sales tax to fund the project is on the May 16 City Council agenda.

In a speech to the Jonesboro Kiwanis Club, Rex Nelson, federal co-chairman of the Delta Regional Authority, expressed optimism about the future of the Delta. The prospect of Crittenden County becoming an automotive manufacturing hub, the possibility of natural gas production from Van Buren County to Helena, and the growth of biodiesel and ethanol production are developments which, according to Nelson, could not have been foreseen five years ago.

Gov. Mike Huckabee on Thursday set a July 5 execution date for Don William Davis, sentenced to death in the 1990 murder of a Rogers woman. Davis was convicted of capital murder in Benton County Circuit Court in the slaying of Jane Daniel.

There is an investigation into possible “professional misconduct” regarding an Arkansas Board of Parole member. Chairman Leroy Brownlee says complaints about board member Lary Zeno surfaced about a week ago. According to Brownlee, “It had to do with a professional working relationship.”

The Log Cabin Democrat reports 20 inmates at the Faulkner County Detention Center were put on administrative lock down (which means a loss of privileges) Wednesday after they wouldn't comply with new rules set by Capt. Jeff Johnston. The new rules address the cleanliness of the cells where the inmates live.

After an eight-year investigation in the rape of a Russellville woman, DNA experts at the State Crime Lab say they have their match. Grady Wayne Lewallen of Dardanelle is being held at the Pope County Detention Center for a rape that occurred Oct. 20, 1998, on Highway 7. Prosecutors filed charges against a “John Doe” in 2004. Lewallen gave a mandatory DNA sample after being convicted of residential burglary in the same year.

Fort Smith police are investigating several possible homicides from the 1970s based on information received last month about a potential suspect The Southwest Times Record reports that the Fort Smith Police Department received information in April that someone incarcerated at the Nevada State Penitentiary might have committed at least three homicides in Fort Smith between 1975 and 1977. Investigators traveled to Nevada and interviewed the prisoner, who has cooperated with them.