Thursday, June 29, 2006
Thursday Sunshine
State utility regulators have reversed themselves and approved a 9.9 percent rate increase that will hit Entergy Arkansas Inc. customers just as summer brings the highest electric bills of the year. The increase is effective today, the start of Entergy’s July billing cycle.
The Arkansas regulator of payday lenders fined Dennis Bailey of Fordyce more than $1.3 million Wednesday and ordered him to close 14 stores across the state for operating the businesses without a license.
Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott has affirmed the retailer’s support for an increase in the minimum wage after the retailer’s chief lobbyist had said the Bentonville retailer was “neutral” on the issue.
Arkansas junior Ronnie Brewer was picked No. 14 by the Utah Jazz in the first round of the NBA Draft at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Parents and students in the Elaine School District cite racial concerns and lengthy school bus rides in a lawsuit that seeks to halt the district’s merger with Marvell. The complaint, filed in Phillips County Circuit Court by Little Rock attorney John Walker, says Elaine schools should continue operating in the 2006-2007 school year, rather than become part of the Marvell School District.
A federal grand jury in Kansas City issued an indictment Wednesday on charges that an Arkansas firm, led by Robbyn Turney of Rogers, the chairwoman of the Benton County Democratic Party and candidate for the state House of Representatives, hired undocumented workers.
John Brackin, the director of the state Department of Emergency Management, has resigned because he felt the governor lost faith in him after employees gave federal authorities a report detailing Arkansas’ inability to manage a catastrophe, something they did not give the governor.
While Governor Huckabee continues on his Asian travels, and Senate President pro-tem Jim Argue is also out of state, House Speaker Bill Stovall is acting governor.
Amy Schlesing reports in the Democrat-Gazette Arkansas National Guard troops are headed for New Mexico’s southern desert in the coming weeks as part of Operation Jump Start, a two-year mission on the Mexican border.
Pulaski County jail task force members have voted to refer a one-fourth percent sales tax geared toward operating and building more jail beds to the Quorum Court for consideration.
Teenagers Christopher Welch and Kimberly Beck of Siloam Springs are dead after being struck by a pickup truck while trying to assist a Tulsa woman with a flat tire on U. S, 412 west of Tointitown. Welch and Benck, both 17, and Clinton Barker, 15, tried to divert eastbound traffic away from the disabled car. David Orman of West Fork reportedly struck the three after drifting onto the shoulder. Traffic charges are pending and state police will forward a report to the Benton County Prosecutor.
The Nashville News reports Arkansas Governor Mike and Janet Huckabee's lake house on Lake Greeson is for sale. One area realtor said a close is expected within two to three weeks. Realtors would not disclose the identity of the potential buyer or buyers. The rumor in the Mount Joy community is that the asking price is $380,000, a figure that a realtor with knowledge of the deal said is too high.
Former President Clinton said he and his wife oppose a change to the Democratic presidential primary calendar that would allow another state, perhaps his home state of Arkansas, to hold a caucus after Iowa and before the New Hampshire primary.
Questions about the validity of signatures on petitions seeking a vote to allow package liquor sales in Benton County have forced proponents to cancel their efforts, spokesman David Routon said Wednesday.
The Arkansas regulator of payday lenders fined Dennis Bailey of Fordyce more than $1.3 million Wednesday and ordered him to close 14 stores across the state for operating the businesses without a license.
Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott has affirmed the retailer’s support for an increase in the minimum wage after the retailer’s chief lobbyist had said the Bentonville retailer was “neutral” on the issue.
Arkansas junior Ronnie Brewer was picked No. 14 by the Utah Jazz in the first round of the NBA Draft at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Parents and students in the Elaine School District cite racial concerns and lengthy school bus rides in a lawsuit that seeks to halt the district’s merger with Marvell. The complaint, filed in Phillips County Circuit Court by Little Rock attorney John Walker, says Elaine schools should continue operating in the 2006-2007 school year, rather than become part of the Marvell School District.
A federal grand jury in Kansas City issued an indictment Wednesday on charges that an Arkansas firm, led by Robbyn Turney of Rogers, the chairwoman of the Benton County Democratic Party and candidate for the state House of Representatives, hired undocumented workers.
John Brackin, the director of the state Department of Emergency Management, has resigned because he felt the governor lost faith in him after employees gave federal authorities a report detailing Arkansas’ inability to manage a catastrophe, something they did not give the governor.
While Governor Huckabee continues on his Asian travels, and Senate President pro-tem Jim Argue is also out of state, House Speaker Bill Stovall is acting governor.
Amy Schlesing reports in the Democrat-Gazette Arkansas National Guard troops are headed for New Mexico’s southern desert in the coming weeks as part of Operation Jump Start, a two-year mission on the Mexican border.
Pulaski County jail task force members have voted to refer a one-fourth percent sales tax geared toward operating and building more jail beds to the Quorum Court for consideration.
Teenagers Christopher Welch and Kimberly Beck of Siloam Springs are dead after being struck by a pickup truck while trying to assist a Tulsa woman with a flat tire on U. S, 412 west of Tointitown. Welch and Benck, both 17, and Clinton Barker, 15, tried to divert eastbound traffic away from the disabled car. David Orman of West Fork reportedly struck the three after drifting onto the shoulder. Traffic charges are pending and state police will forward a report to the Benton County Prosecutor.
The Nashville News reports Arkansas Governor Mike and Janet Huckabee's lake house on Lake Greeson is for sale. One area realtor said a close is expected within two to three weeks. Realtors would not disclose the identity of the potential buyer or buyers. The rumor in the Mount Joy community is that the asking price is $380,000, a figure that a realtor with knowledge of the deal said is too high.
Former President Clinton said he and his wife oppose a change to the Democratic presidential primary calendar that would allow another state, perhaps his home state of Arkansas, to hold a caucus after Iowa and before the New Hampshire primary.
Questions about the validity of signatures on petitions seeking a vote to allow package liquor sales in Benton County have forced proponents to cancel their efforts, spokesman David Routon said Wednesday.
