Friday, July 14, 2006
Sure 'nuff, Friday
Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale says it will cut 420 jobs and leave 430 more positions unfilled to save $200 million in expenses The meat processor said the positions it will cut by year's end are mostly management and management support jobs. They include 140 jobs in northwest Arkansas.
State regulators grilled Entergy Arkansas Inc.’s top official Thursday, questioning his reliance on attorneys that serve potentially conflicting interests in the “system agreement” dispute. The hearing before the Arkansas Public Service Commission also revealed that a new agreement would best serve Arkansas ratepayers by requiring each of the system’s five utilities to stand on its own. Entergy Arkansas could avoid situations like the one that has shifted more than $3 billion in costs from Mississippi’s Grand Gulf nuclear power plant to Arkansas ratepayers.
The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas reports farmers and poultry companies have some support from an unlikely source in a federal pollution lawsuit against area poultry companies. The chairman and past chairman of the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission have denounced Oklahoma's suit against the poultry companies in the Illinois River watershed.
Linda Caillouet reports in today’s Paper Trails that Governor Huckabee has a new administrative assistant. Gaye White, widow of the late former governor Frank White has joined the Huckabee team.
Independent candidate for Governor, Rod Bryan, has closed his record store. He will be working full-time at Boulevard Bread Company in the Heights neighborhood of Little Rock, making sandwiches, running the register, and pouring coffee. He also delivers food orders on his bicycle.
The Democrat-Gazette’s Washington correspondent Paul Barton reports the Senate’s “Gang of 14” met Thursday to talk about William J. Haynes II, President Bush’s nominee to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Haynes authored a memo that suggested it would be legal to subject some al-Qaida prisoners to “cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment.” Pryor says he thinks Haynes’ nomination will be thwarted without the filibuster that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has suggested.
The Bryant School Board has authorized its attorney to petition the state Board of Education to de-annex the former Paron School District and take over its operation. Superintendent Richard Abernathy, who recommended the de-annexation, said he was concerned that Paron High School’s continued failure to meet standards would prompt the Board of Education to censure his 6,850-student district. Paron High will have fewer than 60 students this school year.
The Jonesboro Sun reports that three rounds of heavy rain made rivers of some of local streets and threatened some homes Wednesday. Many of the problems are believed to be caused by concrete ditches built four years ago by the street department without consulting with city engineers.
David Orman is charged in connection with an accident that killed two teenagers who had stopped to help a stranded motorist on U.S. 412 in Benton County. Troopers do not believe Orman was speeding. He is charged with two misdemeanors, each punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. Orman has had no tickets or accidents and has voluntarily surrendered his driver’s license.
Little Rock homicide detectives are resting up after a busy Thursday, which was two murders. That raised the total for this year to 37.
An off-duty Craighead County deputy sheriff surprised a sword-wielding burglar at a home she owns that was being renovated. Deputy Sheriff Donna Cromwell was not injured in the incident.
More than 25 percent of positions in the Crawford County Detention Center will be vacant today. The vacancies are forcing some employees to work six-day weeks and leaving few supervising a shift, according to Sheriff’s Office administration.
As the search continues for two work-release inmates who escaped in state vans, prison officials say they have no plans to stop allowing inmates behind the wheel - a practice banned in many neighboring states. That would be too expensive, said Dina Tyler, prison spokesman.
State regulators grilled Entergy Arkansas Inc.’s top official Thursday, questioning his reliance on attorneys that serve potentially conflicting interests in the “system agreement” dispute. The hearing before the Arkansas Public Service Commission also revealed that a new agreement would best serve Arkansas ratepayers by requiring each of the system’s five utilities to stand on its own. Entergy Arkansas could avoid situations like the one that has shifted more than $3 billion in costs from Mississippi’s Grand Gulf nuclear power plant to Arkansas ratepayers.
The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas reports farmers and poultry companies have some support from an unlikely source in a federal pollution lawsuit against area poultry companies. The chairman and past chairman of the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission have denounced Oklahoma's suit against the poultry companies in the Illinois River watershed.
Linda Caillouet reports in today’s Paper Trails that Governor Huckabee has a new administrative assistant. Gaye White, widow of the late former governor Frank White has joined the Huckabee team.
Independent candidate for Governor, Rod Bryan, has closed his record store. He will be working full-time at Boulevard Bread Company in the Heights neighborhood of Little Rock, making sandwiches, running the register, and pouring coffee. He also delivers food orders on his bicycle.
The Democrat-Gazette’s Washington correspondent Paul Barton reports the Senate’s “Gang of 14” met Thursday to talk about William J. Haynes II, President Bush’s nominee to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Haynes authored a memo that suggested it would be legal to subject some al-Qaida prisoners to “cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment.” Pryor says he thinks Haynes’ nomination will be thwarted without the filibuster that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has suggested.
The Bryant School Board has authorized its attorney to petition the state Board of Education to de-annex the former Paron School District and take over its operation. Superintendent Richard Abernathy, who recommended the de-annexation, said he was concerned that Paron High School’s continued failure to meet standards would prompt the Board of Education to censure his 6,850-student district. Paron High will have fewer than 60 students this school year.
The Jonesboro Sun reports that three rounds of heavy rain made rivers of some of local streets and threatened some homes Wednesday. Many of the problems are believed to be caused by concrete ditches built four years ago by the street department without consulting with city engineers.
David Orman is charged in connection with an accident that killed two teenagers who had stopped to help a stranded motorist on U.S. 412 in Benton County. Troopers do not believe Orman was speeding. He is charged with two misdemeanors, each punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. Orman has had no tickets or accidents and has voluntarily surrendered his driver’s license.
Little Rock homicide detectives are resting up after a busy Thursday, which was two murders. That raised the total for this year to 37.
An off-duty Craighead County deputy sheriff surprised a sword-wielding burglar at a home she owns that was being renovated. Deputy Sheriff Donna Cromwell was not injured in the incident.
More than 25 percent of positions in the Crawford County Detention Center will be vacant today. The vacancies are forcing some employees to work six-day weeks and leaving few supervising a shift, according to Sheriff’s Office administration.
As the search continues for two work-release inmates who escaped in state vans, prison officials say they have no plans to stop allowing inmates behind the wheel - a practice banned in many neighboring states. That would be too expensive, said Dina Tyler, prison spokesman.
