Friday, October 20, 2006
Friday morning summary
Arkansas home sales in major markets dropped more than 22 percent in September compared with September 2005, the Arkansas Realtors Association said Thursday. It was the seventh straight month that home sales have declined in Arkansas compared with last year, according to the association, although the 22 percent drop-off is the biggest one month fall this year.
A sports arena planned for Bentonville got a new name and a new city on Thursday morning. The Northwest Arkansas Sports and Entertainment Arena, a $55 million, 9,000-seat arena, was slated to be in southwest Bentonville near the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport and carry that city's name. Street infrastructure concerns forced the move to Rogers' Pleasant Crossing development, said Chris Talley, developer of the arena project, in a news conference at Rogers City Hall.
The Washington, D.C.-based Cato Institute said Thursday that it has given Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee an “F” in its eighth biennial fiscal policy report card. The institute cited “his insistence on raising taxes at almost every turn.”
Students in the Watson Chapel School District can wear black wristbands to class, and those who were punished for doing so Oct. 6 should have their disciplinary records cleared of the infraction, Chief U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes ruled Thursday.
The family of a mentally retarded man who died in state care filed a claim against the Department of Health and Human Services alleging that employees failed to protect and save Leroy Johnson.
Wal-Mart is expanding its $4 generic prescription drug program to 14 more states, including Arkansas, saying it would save customers and taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.
The attorney for former Greenwood junior high teacher Deanna Bobo filed a request with the court that her client be allowed to remain free while she appeals her conviction on two counts of first degree sexual assault. Bobo is to begin serving a 12-year sentence October 31.
Three persons are under arrest in Jonesboro facing counterfeiting charges after police broke up a ring allegedly passing bogus $100 bills. Police think the suspects were using an ink-removing substance to remove the dollar amount on a $5 bill, then somehow replaced the figure with the image of a $100 bill.
A former employee of the Seven Hills Homeless Shelter in Fayetteville was arrested in connection with stealing Social Security checks from shelter residents, according to a police report. Cim Lisa Smith was arrested in connection with six felony counts of first-degree forgery and one count of theft of property.
Sebastian County Judge David Hudson says that painting should begin in the new $4 million, 96 bed, jail expansion within two to three weeks.
Classes at Westside School District near Jonesboro were canceled today because 10 students and an elementary school teacher have been stricken by an apparent staph infection over the past two weeks,
Asian soybean rust has been detected on soybeans in 13 of the state’s counties, the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service said Thursday.
The European Commission says that all U.S. long-grain rice imports should be tested to check that they are not unauthorized genetically modified varieties.
Dancing is now allowed on the campus of John Brown University. Ballroom, swing, and salsa dances will be permitted at the school’s first social dance this semister.
A sports arena planned for Bentonville got a new name and a new city on Thursday morning. The Northwest Arkansas Sports and Entertainment Arena, a $55 million, 9,000-seat arena, was slated to be in southwest Bentonville near the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport and carry that city's name. Street infrastructure concerns forced the move to Rogers' Pleasant Crossing development, said Chris Talley, developer of the arena project, in a news conference at Rogers City Hall.
The Washington, D.C.-based Cato Institute said Thursday that it has given Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee an “F” in its eighth biennial fiscal policy report card. The institute cited “his insistence on raising taxes at almost every turn.”
Students in the Watson Chapel School District can wear black wristbands to class, and those who were punished for doing so Oct. 6 should have their disciplinary records cleared of the infraction, Chief U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes ruled Thursday.
The family of a mentally retarded man who died in state care filed a claim against the Department of Health and Human Services alleging that employees failed to protect and save Leroy Johnson.
Wal-Mart is expanding its $4 generic prescription drug program to 14 more states, including Arkansas, saying it would save customers and taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.
The attorney for former Greenwood junior high teacher Deanna Bobo filed a request with the court that her client be allowed to remain free while she appeals her conviction on two counts of first degree sexual assault. Bobo is to begin serving a 12-year sentence October 31.
Three persons are under arrest in Jonesboro facing counterfeiting charges after police broke up a ring allegedly passing bogus $100 bills. Police think the suspects were using an ink-removing substance to remove the dollar amount on a $5 bill, then somehow replaced the figure with the image of a $100 bill.
A former employee of the Seven Hills Homeless Shelter in Fayetteville was arrested in connection with stealing Social Security checks from shelter residents, according to a police report. Cim Lisa Smith was arrested in connection with six felony counts of first-degree forgery and one count of theft of property.
Sebastian County Judge David Hudson says that painting should begin in the new $4 million, 96 bed, jail expansion within two to three weeks.
Classes at Westside School District near Jonesboro were canceled today because 10 students and an elementary school teacher have been stricken by an apparent staph infection over the past two weeks,
Asian soybean rust has been detected on soybeans in 13 of the state’s counties, the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service said Thursday.
The European Commission says that all U.S. long-grain rice imports should be tested to check that they are not unauthorized genetically modified varieties.
Dancing is now allowed on the campus of John Brown University. Ballroom, swing, and salsa dances will be permitted at the school’s first social dance this semister.
