Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Damp Tuesday Summary
The heartbroken father of slain flower girl Katie Flynn exploded in rage yesterday after a deadlocked Long Island jury failed for a fourth day to reach a verdict against the wrong-way drunken driver accused of killing her. Flynn lambasted the jury for so far failing to convict former Little Rock resident Martin Heidgen of murder for plowing head-on into a limo in which 7-year-old Katie was riding. The limo driver also was killed.
A roster of 130 “electronic games of skill” - with names such as Sizzling 7’s, Double Black Tie and White Hot Aces - met with Arkansas Racing Commission approval Monday for installation at the state’s two pari-mutuel racetracks.
Heavy rains that fell across Arkansas on Monday prompted flash flood warnings in some areas, temporarily suspended cotton and soybean harvesting and also drove down attendance figures at the state fair.
The Little Rock School District has asked a federal judge to find the district in substantial compliance with its desegregation obligations and release it from nearly 50 years of court supervision and monitoring. Chris Heller, an attorney for the school district, proposed that the state’s largest district be declared unitary - which means desegregated to the extent practical.
The latest sign of the rift in the Arkansas Senate is reported in the Democrat-Gazette. The chamber’s leaders are at odds about when senators will meet to select committee chairmen and committee assignments and possibly to change Senate rules. President Pro Tempore Jim Argue says the meetings will be Dec. 4-5 in Little Rock. But Sen. Jack Critcher of Batesville, who is to succeed Argue as president pro tempore in 2007-2008, said the organizational meeting will be Nov. 8 in Little Rock, the day after the general election.
Former U.S. Sen. David Pryor could be released from the hospital later this week after undergoing heart surgery, a spokeswoman for his son, Sen. Mark Pryor, said Monday. The elder Pryor had quadruple bypass surgery Wednesday at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and remained in the intensive care unit Monday.
Preliminary testing of a 67,000-gallon gasoline spill at a Rogers pipeline facility indicates the fuel has spread outside a containment area and beneath surface soil, state environmental officials said Monday
The FBI has forwarded information from its investigation into Russellville police officers’ fatal encounter with Bobby Joe Rylee last summer to the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. That office will determine whether a federal civil-rights violation occurred in the forcible arrest of Rylee on July 15 in a parking lot along Arkansas 7 in Russellville.
Road rage took a decidedly medieval turn Sunday when a Little Rock man was arrested after police said he attempted to settle a traffic dispute with a crossbow. Police said Wayne Allen Dierks Jr of Little Rock fired a crossbow at a motorist who had made an obscene gesture at him. Dierks was charged with committing a terroristic act, possession of an instrument of crime, driving while intoxicated and driving on a suspended driver’s license.
Brandon Sanders was convicted of first-degree murder by a Fayetteville jury and sentenced to 25 years in prison Monday for killing April Love last year.
Uniforms for students in kindergarten through 12th grade will be considered at tonight’s Stuttgart Public School Board of Directors meeting.
Vampire bats have arrived at the zoo. They’ll make their debut at 6 p.m. Friday, when the annual Boo at the Zoo begins.
Nearly two years after its stock collapsed amid an accounting fiasco, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. faces a host of lawsuits, a criminal investigation and declining sales. Meanwhile, efforts are under way in New York and Chicago to ban a key ingredient of its famous doughnuts. In turn, Krispy Kreme has turned to former tobacco executives for help.
A roster of 130 “electronic games of skill” - with names such as Sizzling 7’s, Double Black Tie and White Hot Aces - met with Arkansas Racing Commission approval Monday for installation at the state’s two pari-mutuel racetracks.
Heavy rains that fell across Arkansas on Monday prompted flash flood warnings in some areas, temporarily suspended cotton and soybean harvesting and also drove down attendance figures at the state fair.
The Little Rock School District has asked a federal judge to find the district in substantial compliance with its desegregation obligations and release it from nearly 50 years of court supervision and monitoring. Chris Heller, an attorney for the school district, proposed that the state’s largest district be declared unitary - which means desegregated to the extent practical.
The latest sign of the rift in the Arkansas Senate is reported in the Democrat-Gazette. The chamber’s leaders are at odds about when senators will meet to select committee chairmen and committee assignments and possibly to change Senate rules. President Pro Tempore Jim Argue says the meetings will be Dec. 4-5 in Little Rock. But Sen. Jack Critcher of Batesville, who is to succeed Argue as president pro tempore in 2007-2008, said the organizational meeting will be Nov. 8 in Little Rock, the day after the general election.
Former U.S. Sen. David Pryor could be released from the hospital later this week after undergoing heart surgery, a spokeswoman for his son, Sen. Mark Pryor, said Monday. The elder Pryor had quadruple bypass surgery Wednesday at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and remained in the intensive care unit Monday.
Preliminary testing of a 67,000-gallon gasoline spill at a Rogers pipeline facility indicates the fuel has spread outside a containment area and beneath surface soil, state environmental officials said Monday
The FBI has forwarded information from its investigation into Russellville police officers’ fatal encounter with Bobby Joe Rylee last summer to the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. That office will determine whether a federal civil-rights violation occurred in the forcible arrest of Rylee on July 15 in a parking lot along Arkansas 7 in Russellville.
Road rage took a decidedly medieval turn Sunday when a Little Rock man was arrested after police said he attempted to settle a traffic dispute with a crossbow. Police said Wayne Allen Dierks Jr of Little Rock fired a crossbow at a motorist who had made an obscene gesture at him. Dierks was charged with committing a terroristic act, possession of an instrument of crime, driving while intoxicated and driving on a suspended driver’s license.
Brandon Sanders was convicted of first-degree murder by a Fayetteville jury and sentenced to 25 years in prison Monday for killing April Love last year.
Uniforms for students in kindergarten through 12th grade will be considered at tonight’s Stuttgart Public School Board of Directors meeting.
Vampire bats have arrived at the zoo. They’ll make their debut at 6 p.m. Friday, when the annual Boo at the Zoo begins.
Nearly two years after its stock collapsed amid an accounting fiasco, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. faces a host of lawsuits, a criminal investigation and declining sales. Meanwhile, efforts are under way in New York and Chicago to ban a key ingredient of its famous doughnuts. In turn, Krispy Kreme has turned to former tobacco executives for help.
