Monday, October 23, 2006
Monday summary at sunrise
October 23, 2006
Early voting is set to begin statewide today for the November 7 General Election.
The Pine Bluff Commercial reports that an affidavit for a search warrant to collect DNA from Kenneth Osburn’s pets says the 46-year-old trucker admitted he caused Casey Crowder’s death and took her to the location where her body was found six days later. Osburn’s court-appointed attorney, Bing Colvin, of Monticello, maintains the alleged confession came after 23 hours of “Taliban-type interrogation” despite repeated requests for an attorney.
Arkansas’ manufacturing industry took a major hit in September, losing 1,000 jobs and reaching its lowest level in employment in more than 16 years. Arkansas’ unemployment rate dropped one-tenth of a percentage point to 5.2 percent last month. The number of manufacturing jobs in Arkansas fell to 196,000 in September, well below the 216,000 jobs in January 1990.
The Arkansas Ethics Commission is considering asking the General Assembly to double the minimum and maximum fines that the commission may impose for violations of state ethics laws and rules.
A Little Rock legal assistant has filed one of the first in an anticipated wave of class action lawsuits involving Bluetooth technology and cell phones in federal district court for Eastern Arkansasas. The litigation targets providers, such as Motorola, who are accused of marketing and distributing headsets with Bluetooth technology without warning customers of the devices’ potential for causing gradual noise-induced hearing loss.
A judge has delayed a Lonoke County corruption trial after a defense attorney asked for more time to go through the hefty case file prepared by the prosecution. The trial for Lonoke Police Chief Jay Campbell; his wife, and two bail bondsmen had been set for November 8. The trial is now set for February 19. Last month, Cole rejected a defense request to delay the trial because of deer season.
Residents in Gurdon are back home after a train carrying harmful chemicals derailed Sunday, forcing them to evacuate. The accident happened near Main Street. The 84 car Union Pacific train was on its way from Houston to Little Rock- when 6 cars derailed, causing the evacuation and several churches to close.
Districts in Beebe, Osceola, Texarkana and Vilonia hope to open conversion charter schools in the 2007-08 school year. The districts have filed letters-of-intent with the Arkansas Department of Education. The letters are the first step the districts must take to form a charter school, which needs to be approved by the state.
With an eye toward its own version of Beale Street, the city of Little Rock again plans to lead a push in the state Legislature to let beer and liquor drinkers roam selected city streets.
The Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct reprimanded a deputy prosecuting attorney, Baxter Sharp III from Monroe County, and fined him $50 for altering a decree signed by a circuit judge setting the amount of attorney’s fees owed him for providing representation in a child-support matter. Sharp is alleged to have changed the amount of fees due him from $70 to $700.
The Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct has reprimanded a Little Rock attorney for being intoxicated during hearings in a death penalty case. The committee said Craig Lambert was “impaired” because of alcohol and substance abuse.
A Rogers police detective was shot and wounded Friday afternoon as he and other officers were serving a search warrant at an east Rogers home. Detective Brian Culpepper, an eight-year veteran of the Police Department, was shot in the leg as drug task force members were serving a search warrant.
Early voting is set to begin statewide today for the November 7 General Election.
The Pine Bluff Commercial reports that an affidavit for a search warrant to collect DNA from Kenneth Osburn’s pets says the 46-year-old trucker admitted he caused Casey Crowder’s death and took her to the location where her body was found six days later. Osburn’s court-appointed attorney, Bing Colvin, of Monticello, maintains the alleged confession came after 23 hours of “Taliban-type interrogation” despite repeated requests for an attorney.
Arkansas’ manufacturing industry took a major hit in September, losing 1,000 jobs and reaching its lowest level in employment in more than 16 years. Arkansas’ unemployment rate dropped one-tenth of a percentage point to 5.2 percent last month. The number of manufacturing jobs in Arkansas fell to 196,000 in September, well below the 216,000 jobs in January 1990.
The Arkansas Ethics Commission is considering asking the General Assembly to double the minimum and maximum fines that the commission may impose for violations of state ethics laws and rules.
A Little Rock legal assistant has filed one of the first in an anticipated wave of class action lawsuits involving Bluetooth technology and cell phones in federal district court for Eastern Arkansasas. The litigation targets providers, such as Motorola, who are accused of marketing and distributing headsets with Bluetooth technology without warning customers of the devices’ potential for causing gradual noise-induced hearing loss.
A judge has delayed a Lonoke County corruption trial after a defense attorney asked for more time to go through the hefty case file prepared by the prosecution. The trial for Lonoke Police Chief Jay Campbell; his wife, and two bail bondsmen had been set for November 8. The trial is now set for February 19. Last month, Cole rejected a defense request to delay the trial because of deer season.
Residents in Gurdon are back home after a train carrying harmful chemicals derailed Sunday, forcing them to evacuate. The accident happened near Main Street. The 84 car Union Pacific train was on its way from Houston to Little Rock- when 6 cars derailed, causing the evacuation and several churches to close.
Districts in Beebe, Osceola, Texarkana and Vilonia hope to open conversion charter schools in the 2007-08 school year. The districts have filed letters-of-intent with the Arkansas Department of Education. The letters are the first step the districts must take to form a charter school, which needs to be approved by the state.
With an eye toward its own version of Beale Street, the city of Little Rock again plans to lead a push in the state Legislature to let beer and liquor drinkers roam selected city streets.
The Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct reprimanded a deputy prosecuting attorney, Baxter Sharp III from Monroe County, and fined him $50 for altering a decree signed by a circuit judge setting the amount of attorney’s fees owed him for providing representation in a child-support matter. Sharp is alleged to have changed the amount of fees due him from $70 to $700.
The Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct has reprimanded a Little Rock attorney for being intoxicated during hearings in a death penalty case. The committee said Craig Lambert was “impaired” because of alcohol and substance abuse.
A Rogers police detective was shot and wounded Friday afternoon as he and other officers were serving a search warrant at an east Rogers home. Detective Brian Culpepper, an eight-year veteran of the Police Department, was shot in the leg as drug task force members were serving a search warrant.
