Thursday, October 19, 2006
Thursday early summary
According to today’s Democrat-Gazette, state utility commissioners want to “fill the regulatory gap” created when the Energy Policy Act of 2005 repealed federal consumer protection laws that had been in place since 1935. The gutting of the Public Utility Holding Companies Act left many responsibilities once the obligation of the federal government up to individual states to enforce. Utilities are resisting regulation.
The main tenets of the federal No Child Left Behind Act will not only be reauthorized by Congress in the next year or two but will be expanded, particularly at the high school level, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Ray Simon predicted in a speech to educators in Conway.
Former U.S. Sen. David Pryor is at home recovering from heart surgery, a spokeswoman for his son, U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., said Wednesday. Pryor had quadruple bypass surgery Oct. 11 at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Wal-Mart is taking its annual analysts’ briefing to the analysts this year, hosting the event outside Northwest Arkansas for the first time. Wal-Mart’s stock has dropped more than 10 percent over the past two-and-a-half years. According to an invitation sent to analysts, the New York area event Monday and Tuesday will include performances by The Eagles and Garth Brooks.
ServiceMaster won approval for tax freezes Wednesday, a move that could clear the way for the Fortune 500 company to relocate its headquarters from Illinois to Memphis.
Citing existing pollution and flaws in the applications, state environmental regulators rejected permits that two companies are seeking for new gravel-mining operations along Crooked Creek
A fiery crash on Interstate 40 Wednesday morning forced evacuations at nearby schools and placed the local hospital on lockdown until the fire was contained and police could determine exactly what was burning inside the trucks. One of the truck drivers was killed.
Two women remained hospitalized Wednesday after being run over Tuesday afternoon by an 86-year-old woman who crashed her car into the Food King grocery store, police said.
The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear the appeal of former Pine Bluff Alderman Jack Foster, who was convicted of a federal crime and began serving a three-year sentence in June
Green Party nominees said Wednesday that they’ve been dismayed by Arkansas candidates’ concentration on illegal immigration this election season. Jim Lendall, the Green Party nominee in the governor’s race, said politicians who concentrate on immigration are trying to tap “latent racism” in Arkansas. “I think it’s despicable,” Lendall said.
Former two-term Sebastian County assessor and current Election Commissioner Jim Perry said Tuesday he’s filed an ethics violation complaint against Becky Yandell, the incumbent assessor and the Republican candidate for the seat. The matter will not be resolved before the Nov. 7 election. Perry says he has photos of Yandell’s campaign signs in the back of a county vehicle. Perry also alleged that Yandell has forced her employees to campaign for her.
After more than 24 years on Mississippi’s death row, Bobby Glen Wilcher was executed by lethal injection Wednesday evening. Witcher was put to death for a 1982 double homicide.
For the first time in decades, students at Nettleton High School will not find copies of The Chieftain floating around campus. Instead they'll find the school newspaper online. Beginning with the September issue, the paper became Internet-only.
First Presbyterian Church is dressing up for Friday’s concert by the Kiev Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, which promises to fill the large sanctuary at 717 W. 32nd Ave. with soaring, spiritual masterworks from Russia and Ukraine. Tickets are available, at $15 each, by calling the church at (870) 534-7831.
The Arkansas State Fair had its own running of the bull Wednesday morning when a 1,400-pound Brahman bull escaped from a barn and ran frantically through the fairgrounds. The bull slightly injured “several” people, including a child and a woman who were treated by paramedics, broke a restaurant’s glass door and hit a golf cart, according to a State Fair news release and witnesses.
Conway officials are preparing to take the next bold step toward building a better city. Plans are being made for a dog park.
The main tenets of the federal No Child Left Behind Act will not only be reauthorized by Congress in the next year or two but will be expanded, particularly at the high school level, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Ray Simon predicted in a speech to educators in Conway.
Former U.S. Sen. David Pryor is at home recovering from heart surgery, a spokeswoman for his son, U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., said Wednesday. Pryor had quadruple bypass surgery Oct. 11 at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Wal-Mart is taking its annual analysts’ briefing to the analysts this year, hosting the event outside Northwest Arkansas for the first time. Wal-Mart’s stock has dropped more than 10 percent over the past two-and-a-half years. According to an invitation sent to analysts, the New York area event Monday and Tuesday will include performances by The Eagles and Garth Brooks.
ServiceMaster won approval for tax freezes Wednesday, a move that could clear the way for the Fortune 500 company to relocate its headquarters from Illinois to Memphis.
Citing existing pollution and flaws in the applications, state environmental regulators rejected permits that two companies are seeking for new gravel-mining operations along Crooked Creek
A fiery crash on Interstate 40 Wednesday morning forced evacuations at nearby schools and placed the local hospital on lockdown until the fire was contained and police could determine exactly what was burning inside the trucks. One of the truck drivers was killed.
Two women remained hospitalized Wednesday after being run over Tuesday afternoon by an 86-year-old woman who crashed her car into the Food King grocery store, police said.
The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear the appeal of former Pine Bluff Alderman Jack Foster, who was convicted of a federal crime and began serving a three-year sentence in June
Green Party nominees said Wednesday that they’ve been dismayed by Arkansas candidates’ concentration on illegal immigration this election season. Jim Lendall, the Green Party nominee in the governor’s race, said politicians who concentrate on immigration are trying to tap “latent racism” in Arkansas. “I think it’s despicable,” Lendall said.
Former two-term Sebastian County assessor and current Election Commissioner Jim Perry said Tuesday he’s filed an ethics violation complaint against Becky Yandell, the incumbent assessor and the Republican candidate for the seat. The matter will not be resolved before the Nov. 7 election. Perry says he has photos of Yandell’s campaign signs in the back of a county vehicle. Perry also alleged that Yandell has forced her employees to campaign for her.
After more than 24 years on Mississippi’s death row, Bobby Glen Wilcher was executed by lethal injection Wednesday evening. Witcher was put to death for a 1982 double homicide.
For the first time in decades, students at Nettleton High School will not find copies of The Chieftain floating around campus. Instead they'll find the school newspaper online. Beginning with the September issue, the paper became Internet-only.
First Presbyterian Church is dressing up for Friday’s concert by the Kiev Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, which promises to fill the large sanctuary at 717 W. 32nd Ave. with soaring, spiritual masterworks from Russia and Ukraine. Tickets are available, at $15 each, by calling the church at (870) 534-7831.
The Arkansas State Fair had its own running of the bull Wednesday morning when a 1,400-pound Brahman bull escaped from a barn and ran frantically through the fairgrounds. The bull slightly injured “several” people, including a child and a woman who were treated by paramedics, broke a restaurant’s glass door and hit a golf cart, according to a State Fair news release and witnesses.
Conway officials are preparing to take the next bold step toward building a better city. Plans are being made for a dog park.
