Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Cool Tuesday Summary
A decision is expected next month on whether Arkansas will be selected for a steel-plant complex that will employ 3,000 and cost more than $3 billion, according to news reports in Louisiana. Amendment 82, passed by voters in 2004, authorizes the legislatures to provide incentives for the project.
Kelly James of Dallas, whose mother lives in Bryant, is among three climbers who remain stranded on Oregon’s Mt. Hood. Rescuers plan another attempt to find the men today after being thwarted yesterday by blizzard conditions, including 85 mile an hour winds. Lou Ann Cameron of Bryant told the Benton Courier that James called his son Sunday afternoon on a cell phone from a snow cave on the north face of the mountain.
In its first round of hearings on charter school applications, the state Board of Education on Monday approved a new charter school, rejected two others and postponed making a decision on four other petitions.
A newly designed driver’s license and identification card issued to people under the age of 21 will help store clerks, bartenders and police more quickly identify those too young to buy alcohol, Gov. Mike Huckabee said Monday. The new cards bear all the same identifying information as the old one but with the information arranged vertically on the card rather than horizontally.
State Senator Kim Hendren filed a bill that would reduce the income tax liability of each person required to file an Arkansas income tax return by 3 percent for two tax years. Hendren says his bill is aimed at paying back taxpayers who paid a 3 percent income tax surcharge imposed by the Legislature in 2003 to avoid further state budget cutbacks. The surcharge was repealed in 2005 after tax revenues rebounded.
The Democrat-Gazette reports that partygoers at Gov. Mike Huckabee’s Christmas gala on Saturday can give as much money as they want to his political action committee because it’s incorporated in Virginia, a state that allows unlimited contributions. Arkansas’ donation limit to PACs is $5,000 a year.
North Little Rock residents will pay 38 percent more to turn on their lights in the new year, plus see several other costs go up as approved with the 2007 city budget Monday.
The sale of the former main Little Rock Public Library is to be announced this morning by Gov. Mike Huckabee and officials from Entergy Arkansas Inc. and Science Applications International Corp.
Grass will be for parks and not parking if an ordinance before the Springdale City Council passes. The council will hear the first reading of a law to ban parking on lawns in residential zones. The council plans to leave the ordinance on its first reading to make sure the public has time to comment.
The state medical examiner ruled the death of a 2-year-old Little Rock girl last week was a homicide, bringing the total number of slayings in the city to 56 this year. Dionne Phillips’ stepfather, Lathon Jordana, pleaded innocent last week in Little Rock District Court on a first-degree domestic battery charge while the child was still listed in critical condition. She died later in the day.
Three armed men walked into a Simmons First National bank branch in Little Rock Monday morning, fired two shots into the ceiling and took an undisclosed amount of money. The three left in a white 2000 Mercury Sable. 17 year-old Ray Lewis was arrested moments later driving the car.
A suppression hearing is planned Thursday in the drug and theft case against Benton County Coroner Kimberly Scott, who claims a statement given to police should be suppressed because she was deceived and false promises were made to her. Police arrested Scott on Aug. 18 at her Rogers home and said she confessed to ingesting prescription drugs she took from the homes of deceased people.
Jackson, Ms. firefighters have responded to at least 38 fires in four days, including a fire Monday morning that left an elderly woman with first- and second-degree burns.
Police in Cleveland, Ms. are investigating the appearance of four counterfeit $20 bills at a local Radio Shack store.
Officials believe they have found the carcass of Manny the manatee, who made his way to Memphis and sparked a massive search and rescue effort to return the mammal to warmer waters.
Damascus man Shannon Payne has been selected from over 150 contestants to participate in the 2007 Rose Parade by riding on a float with other organ donors. He was nominated by his mother Kathy Payne, through the Ride of a Lifetime essay contest, in thanks for saving her life. Shannon donated his kidney to Kathy after hers began to fail. The contest is sponsored by Astellas Pharma U.S., Inc.
Kelly James of Dallas, whose mother lives in Bryant, is among three climbers who remain stranded on Oregon’s Mt. Hood. Rescuers plan another attempt to find the men today after being thwarted yesterday by blizzard conditions, including 85 mile an hour winds. Lou Ann Cameron of Bryant told the Benton Courier that James called his son Sunday afternoon on a cell phone from a snow cave on the north face of the mountain.
In its first round of hearings on charter school applications, the state Board of Education on Monday approved a new charter school, rejected two others and postponed making a decision on four other petitions.
A newly designed driver’s license and identification card issued to people under the age of 21 will help store clerks, bartenders and police more quickly identify those too young to buy alcohol, Gov. Mike Huckabee said Monday. The new cards bear all the same identifying information as the old one but with the information arranged vertically on the card rather than horizontally.
State Senator Kim Hendren filed a bill that would reduce the income tax liability of each person required to file an Arkansas income tax return by 3 percent for two tax years. Hendren says his bill is aimed at paying back taxpayers who paid a 3 percent income tax surcharge imposed by the Legislature in 2003 to avoid further state budget cutbacks. The surcharge was repealed in 2005 after tax revenues rebounded.
The Democrat-Gazette reports that partygoers at Gov. Mike Huckabee’s Christmas gala on Saturday can give as much money as they want to his political action committee because it’s incorporated in Virginia, a state that allows unlimited contributions. Arkansas’ donation limit to PACs is $5,000 a year.
North Little Rock residents will pay 38 percent more to turn on their lights in the new year, plus see several other costs go up as approved with the 2007 city budget Monday.
The sale of the former main Little Rock Public Library is to be announced this morning by Gov. Mike Huckabee and officials from Entergy Arkansas Inc. and Science Applications International Corp.
Grass will be for parks and not parking if an ordinance before the Springdale City Council passes. The council will hear the first reading of a law to ban parking on lawns in residential zones. The council plans to leave the ordinance on its first reading to make sure the public has time to comment.
The state medical examiner ruled the death of a 2-year-old Little Rock girl last week was a homicide, bringing the total number of slayings in the city to 56 this year. Dionne Phillips’ stepfather, Lathon Jordana, pleaded innocent last week in Little Rock District Court on a first-degree domestic battery charge while the child was still listed in critical condition. She died later in the day.
Three armed men walked into a Simmons First National bank branch in Little Rock Monday morning, fired two shots into the ceiling and took an undisclosed amount of money. The three left in a white 2000 Mercury Sable. 17 year-old Ray Lewis was arrested moments later driving the car.
A suppression hearing is planned Thursday in the drug and theft case against Benton County Coroner Kimberly Scott, who claims a statement given to police should be suppressed because she was deceived and false promises were made to her. Police arrested Scott on Aug. 18 at her Rogers home and said she confessed to ingesting prescription drugs she took from the homes of deceased people.
Jackson, Ms. firefighters have responded to at least 38 fires in four days, including a fire Monday morning that left an elderly woman with first- and second-degree burns.
Police in Cleveland, Ms. are investigating the appearance of four counterfeit $20 bills at a local Radio Shack store.
Officials believe they have found the carcass of Manny the manatee, who made his way to Memphis and sparked a massive search and rescue effort to return the mammal to warmer waters.
Damascus man Shannon Payne has been selected from over 150 contestants to participate in the 2007 Rose Parade by riding on a float with other organ donors. He was nominated by his mother Kathy Payne, through the Ride of a Lifetime essay contest, in thanks for saving her life. Shannon donated his kidney to Kathy after hers began to fail. The contest is sponsored by Astellas Pharma U.S., Inc.
