Lynch at Large

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette sued Gov. Mike Huckabee on Monday to force him to comply with the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act by releasing the resignation letter of former Board of Parole Vice Chairman Lary Zeno and the results of an investigation into his conduct.

Voters statewide will select party nominees in the Republican and Democrat primaries. There are also many local elections and issues to be decided.

Fort Smith voters will decide if the 1 percent Lake Fort Smith expansion sales tax — which is expected to be retired in late 2007 or early 2008 — should be extended until 2016 to finance a new city hall, sports complex, sanitary sewer wet-weather improvements and a new public radio safety system.

The Stephens family has reorganized its business empire, with Warren A. Stephens acquiring complete ownership of investment bank Stephens Inc. Two separate entities will be formed: one owned by Warren Stephens and one owned by his cousins, Witt Stephens Jr. and Elizabeth Stephens Campbell, who are siblings. Each new company will pursue investment opportunities for the respective families.

The Stephens Media Group Washington Bureau reports today on an 11th-hour push to win approval for a controversial bank insurance application. Officials at Wal-Mart are refuting critics and trying to comfort regulators charged with making the decision. Wal-Mart claims it will not open its own branch banks in its stores, undermine community banks or sidestep the nation's banking laws, according to a May 5 letter to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation made public Monday.

Wal-Mart expects to soon get approval from federal regulators to enter banking, but its victory will come at a high cost, a top executive told a bankers conference Monday." It has been a lot more effort than we ever thought," said Jane Thompson, head of financial services for the world's largest retailer. Thompson threatened, "we can't back out now."

A man arrested in the disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba was released on Tuesday, a Dutch court official said. Holloway’s mother has been speaking in Arkansas on travel safety this week.

At least two of eight people indicted by a Phillips County grand jury Friday had been arrested by Monday afternoon, with more arrests expected today, Phillips County Sheriff Ronnie White said. White wouldn’t identify any of them until all eight had been arrested. The charges are contained in 35 sealed indictments arising from a grand jury investigation of actions last year by members of the West Helena City Council and the Helena-West Helena School Board.

State health officials have targeted Jan. 1 for the start of a program aimed at providing health benefits to some uninsured Arkansans. Up to 15,000 of Arkansas' 420,000 uninsured adults will be enrolled in the first phase of the new Arkansas Safety Net Benefits Program, legislators learned at a committee meeting Monday.

A federal magistrate from El Dorado has been nominated for a seat on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis. President Bush nominated U.S. Magistrate Judge Bobby E. Shepherd, who has worked for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas for nearly 13 years, to replace another Arkansan, Circuit Judge Morris Sheppard Arnold.

A new law in Russellville would ban entirely any additional pit bulls in the city limits. It will allow current pit bull to register their animals with Animal Control within 30 days of its passage. An amendment to the ordinance states future pit bull breeds are banned entirely and may not be owned or kept within the city.