Thursday, December 14, 2006
Thursday sunny summary
SEC All-Freshman Receiver, Damian Williams, is leaving the University of Arkansas football program. Coach Houston Nutt said Williams “could not accept things the way they are,” and would be released from his scholarship. While a quarterback for the University of Arkansas in the late 70’s, Coach Houston Nutt transferred to Oklahoma State University.
Pulaski County election officials want state legislators to close a gap in election law that they say opens up the possibility for double voting. Voting rolls are printed and distributed before early voting ends, which makes it possible to vote on a Saturday or Monday before an election and again on Tuesday.
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s efforts to provide $300 million in initial incentives to help land a German steel plant in her state died Wednesday. The Louisiana House of Representatives voted again not to raise constitutionally mandated spending limits. Potential sites, which could provide up to 3,000 jobs, in Mobile, Alabama and Osceola, Arkansas are still under consideration.
A hair and skin products manufacturer plans to build a $60 million facility in Jonesboro that will employ up to 400.
The City of North Little Rock intends to establish tax increment financing districts by year’s end for the Bass Pro Shop in the Dark Hollow wetlands and a residential development west of Pike Avenue. TIF’s finance private development at the expense of local school districts.
Little Rock city director Dean Keumpris privately called fellow directors this week to say he planned to ask them publicly to consider the controversial Granite Mountain land swap next week. Kumpuris mentioned the phone calls during Tuesday night’s City Hall agenda session, and Wednesday, he defended them as a “courtesy” to fellow city directors whom he didn’t want to “surprise.” Under the state Freedom of Information Act, “seriel” private meetings of public officials are illegal.
A sales tax to support struggling Pike County Memorial Hospital passed by a 3-1 margin.
Motivated by high prices, Arkansas wheat farmers have planted about 750,000 acres of wheat this fall, more than twice as many as last year, according to agronomist Jason Kelley.
State environmental regulators have upheld a decision to reject permit requests for two companies seeking new gravel-mining operations along Crooked Creek.
A man imprisoned shortly after the birth of his son cannot be forced solely on that basis to give up his parental rights and allow the guardian to adopt his child, the state Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.
The state Court of Appeals has ruled that workers' compensation benefits do not serve the same purpose as retirement benefits, so a state statute limiting permanent total disability to 260 weeks for people injured after they turn 60-years-old is unconstitutional.
A legislative committee has recommended the merger of the state Department of Information Systems and the state Office of Information Technology, agencies that have combined budgets involving about $75 million a year and 270 jobs.
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is testing a new system that officials hope will allow doctors to know what’s happening inside a chest-pain patient’s heart before the patient arrives at the hospital.
The Mid South Delta Initiative reported Tuesday that 64 citizens from 17 counties in the Arkansas Delta will serve on work groups to develop a plan aimed at improving the economic and social lives of the region’s residents.
A Benton County woman was convicted Wednesday of raping a 13-year-old boy and exposing him to HIV. An 11-man, one-woman jury recommended Donna Sue Mars, also known as Donna Turner, serve a 10-year sentence for the rape and six years for the HIV exposure. Each was the minimum sentence provided.
Authorities charged a 16-year-old boy with negligent homicide Wednesday in the shooting death three weeks earlier of a 13-year-old Batesville boy in Judsonia. Prosecuting Attorney Chris Raff filed the charge in the juvenile division of White County Circuit Court. Raff said he could not name the suspect, nor discuss details of the case, because state law prohibits the release of such information when it involves youthful offenders.
Preston Burt, a 19-year-old Arkansas State University freshman from Memphis, faces five misdemeanor charges for operating a tattoo business on campus that served more than 100 customers.
Herbert Caldwell Jr. of Elkins was arrested in connection with domestic battery and installing a booby trap in his home which shocked a woman. According to reports, Elkins connected a device used on electric fences to his bedroom door.
Thieves broke into 55 cars Friday night in Sherwood, stealing an assortment of items like cellular telephones, purses and a laptop computer.
A woman died in a mobile-home fire Wednesday morning, authorities said. Police withheld her name pending notification of family, but said she was in her 50s.
Jacksonville High School in the Pulaski County Special School District is one of 20 schools across the country to win $60,000 in Samsung technology and Microsoft software as part of a nationwide essay contest on the value of technology.
Pulaski County election officials want state legislators to close a gap in election law that they say opens up the possibility for double voting. Voting rolls are printed and distributed before early voting ends, which makes it possible to vote on a Saturday or Monday before an election and again on Tuesday.
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s efforts to provide $300 million in initial incentives to help land a German steel plant in her state died Wednesday. The Louisiana House of Representatives voted again not to raise constitutionally mandated spending limits. Potential sites, which could provide up to 3,000 jobs, in Mobile, Alabama and Osceola, Arkansas are still under consideration.
A hair and skin products manufacturer plans to build a $60 million facility in Jonesboro that will employ up to 400.
The City of North Little Rock intends to establish tax increment financing districts by year’s end for the Bass Pro Shop in the Dark Hollow wetlands and a residential development west of Pike Avenue. TIF’s finance private development at the expense of local school districts.
Little Rock city director Dean Keumpris privately called fellow directors this week to say he planned to ask them publicly to consider the controversial Granite Mountain land swap next week. Kumpuris mentioned the phone calls during Tuesday night’s City Hall agenda session, and Wednesday, he defended them as a “courtesy” to fellow city directors whom he didn’t want to “surprise.” Under the state Freedom of Information Act, “seriel” private meetings of public officials are illegal.
A sales tax to support struggling Pike County Memorial Hospital passed by a 3-1 margin.
Motivated by high prices, Arkansas wheat farmers have planted about 750,000 acres of wheat this fall, more than twice as many as last year, according to agronomist Jason Kelley.
State environmental regulators have upheld a decision to reject permit requests for two companies seeking new gravel-mining operations along Crooked Creek.
A man imprisoned shortly after the birth of his son cannot be forced solely on that basis to give up his parental rights and allow the guardian to adopt his child, the state Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.
The state Court of Appeals has ruled that workers' compensation benefits do not serve the same purpose as retirement benefits, so a state statute limiting permanent total disability to 260 weeks for people injured after they turn 60-years-old is unconstitutional.
A legislative committee has recommended the merger of the state Department of Information Systems and the state Office of Information Technology, agencies that have combined budgets involving about $75 million a year and 270 jobs.
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is testing a new system that officials hope will allow doctors to know what’s happening inside a chest-pain patient’s heart before the patient arrives at the hospital.
The Mid South Delta Initiative reported Tuesday that 64 citizens from 17 counties in the Arkansas Delta will serve on work groups to develop a plan aimed at improving the economic and social lives of the region’s residents.
A Benton County woman was convicted Wednesday of raping a 13-year-old boy and exposing him to HIV. An 11-man, one-woman jury recommended Donna Sue Mars, also known as Donna Turner, serve a 10-year sentence for the rape and six years for the HIV exposure. Each was the minimum sentence provided.
Authorities charged a 16-year-old boy with negligent homicide Wednesday in the shooting death three weeks earlier of a 13-year-old Batesville boy in Judsonia. Prosecuting Attorney Chris Raff filed the charge in the juvenile division of White County Circuit Court. Raff said he could not name the suspect, nor discuss details of the case, because state law prohibits the release of such information when it involves youthful offenders.
Preston Burt, a 19-year-old Arkansas State University freshman from Memphis, faces five misdemeanor charges for operating a tattoo business on campus that served more than 100 customers.
Herbert Caldwell Jr. of Elkins was arrested in connection with domestic battery and installing a booby trap in his home which shocked a woman. According to reports, Elkins connected a device used on electric fences to his bedroom door.
Thieves broke into 55 cars Friday night in Sherwood, stealing an assortment of items like cellular telephones, purses and a laptop computer.
A woman died in a mobile-home fire Wednesday morning, authorities said. Police withheld her name pending notification of family, but said she was in her 50s.
Jacksonville High School in the Pulaski County Special School District is one of 20 schools across the country to win $60,000 in Samsung technology and Microsoft software as part of a nationwide essay contest on the value of technology.
