Thursday, February 22, 2007
Sunny Thursday summary
Facing pressure in half the states including Arkansas, payday lenders promised Wednesday to give customers extra time to pay off loans as they launched a nationwide advertising campaign.
Gov. Mike Beebe, legislators and educators say that they’ve reached a consensus on a major issue before the 86th General Assembly: funding Arkansas public schools.
Gov. Beebe says he’s satisfied with an emerging new plan for using state dollars for local projects, one that allows legislators to push for their pet projects but keeps the purse strings in the executive branch.
Gov. Beebe is considering replacing a state police plane that was frequently used by his predecessor, Mike Huckabee, because the aircraft’s engines require a major overhaul.
Members of a House panel that focuses on children said Wednesday that they are outraged that the state spends, on average, about $70,000 a year per bed at the 143-bed Alexander Juvenile Correctional Facility, yet conditions and services continue to be woefully inadequate.
A compromise reached Wednesday would keep public schools measuring students' body mass index. Legislation to eliminate the annual BMI tests that passed the House previously was amended in the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee to make the tests biannual. The change also would exempt high school juniors and seniors from the tests, and parents could opt to keep their children out of the program.
A measure that would authorize broadcasting House and Senate sessions over the Internet won a House committee's endorsement Wednesday.
Two measures that would cut the sales tax on groceries in half and increase the tax on cigarettes to $1 a pack may not make it to the Mississippi Senate floor for a vote this session.
The State Plant Board will authorize for sale any rice seed found to be essentially - but not absolutely - free of traces of certain genetically engineered traits.
A state law that allows total disability benefits to be discontinued after a person turns 65 is unconstitutional, the state Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.
A tentative agreement announced Wednesday would fill a void in Northwest Arkansas’ mental-health facilities with an inpatient psychiatric unit run by University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Amazon.com and Hartford-based Marburger Publishing Co. are subjects of a lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 8 by the Humane Society of the United States. The Humane Society contends that Amazon’s sale animal fighting materials promotes illegal animal fighting and violates the Animal Welfare Act and the Federal Depiction of Animal Cruelty Act. Amazon sells cockfighting magazines The Gamecock by Marburger Publishing and The Feathered Warrior by De Queen-based Dowd Publishing.
Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola is hosting a training session today to help the city’s boards and commissions bone up on procurement, bidding and financial policies.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is planning a free weekly publication in central Arkansas that could be launched as early as this summer, Paul Smith, the company’s president, said Wednesday.
Comair, a Delta Air Lines carrier, has applied to offer Arkansas’ only nonstop flight to Washington, D.C., which would cut an average of three hours off round-trip travel time. Comair filed the application to get the gate slots at Reagan National Airport.
The owner of Eureka Pizza is offering a $1,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the suspect responsible for running over a 4-year-old Springdale girl on Sunday. Debbie Sarimle was hit by an unidentified driver in front of her house Sunday afternoon. The girl was hit by a black, mid- to late-1990s Honda Accord. The car was "low-rider" style with chrome wheels. The driver is described as a 24- to 25-year-old Hispanic man with spiked hair and mustache.
The Paron man who fled to Canada to avoid his trial for a double homicide in Benton has appeared before Circuit Judge Gary Arnold in Saline County Circuit Court, where a new trial date was set. Timothy Wallace will be tried June 12-14 for the shooting deaths of his former wife, Brandy Wallace, and her friend, Billy Hassell.
75 year-old Wanda Morgan of Jonesboro is dead as the result of burns she suffered after the cigarette she apparently was smoking in bed ignited an oxygen pump she was using and set off a flash fire.
A Marvell man, Thomas Sealsis under arrest and charged with first degree battery and committing a terroristic act after he apparently got his revenge on a former Marvell man, Brian Boose and who now lives in Georgia. Boose was shot in the back, hip and side with a small caliber handgun. In 2005 Boose was charged with shooting Seals in the same area of the body that Boose was shot Saturday.
Civil-rights leader Julian Bond said racial discrimination persists in the United States, and he called for continued measures to counter the bias during a speech Wednesday at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
No matter what the calendar says, apparently spring is here since a Pine Bluff man has spotted the first Purple Martin of the year.
Gov. Mike Beebe, legislators and educators say that they’ve reached a consensus on a major issue before the 86th General Assembly: funding Arkansas public schools.
Gov. Beebe says he’s satisfied with an emerging new plan for using state dollars for local projects, one that allows legislators to push for their pet projects but keeps the purse strings in the executive branch.
Gov. Beebe is considering replacing a state police plane that was frequently used by his predecessor, Mike Huckabee, because the aircraft’s engines require a major overhaul.
Members of a House panel that focuses on children said Wednesday that they are outraged that the state spends, on average, about $70,000 a year per bed at the 143-bed Alexander Juvenile Correctional Facility, yet conditions and services continue to be woefully inadequate.
A compromise reached Wednesday would keep public schools measuring students' body mass index. Legislation to eliminate the annual BMI tests that passed the House previously was amended in the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee to make the tests biannual. The change also would exempt high school juniors and seniors from the tests, and parents could opt to keep their children out of the program.
A measure that would authorize broadcasting House and Senate sessions over the Internet won a House committee's endorsement Wednesday.
Two measures that would cut the sales tax on groceries in half and increase the tax on cigarettes to $1 a pack may not make it to the Mississippi Senate floor for a vote this session.
The State Plant Board will authorize for sale any rice seed found to be essentially - but not absolutely - free of traces of certain genetically engineered traits.
A state law that allows total disability benefits to be discontinued after a person turns 65 is unconstitutional, the state Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.
A tentative agreement announced Wednesday would fill a void in Northwest Arkansas’ mental-health facilities with an inpatient psychiatric unit run by University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Amazon.com and Hartford-based Marburger Publishing Co. are subjects of a lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 8 by the Humane Society of the United States. The Humane Society contends that Amazon’s sale animal fighting materials promotes illegal animal fighting and violates the Animal Welfare Act and the Federal Depiction of Animal Cruelty Act. Amazon sells cockfighting magazines The Gamecock by Marburger Publishing and The Feathered Warrior by De Queen-based Dowd Publishing.
Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola is hosting a training session today to help the city’s boards and commissions bone up on procurement, bidding and financial policies.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is planning a free weekly publication in central Arkansas that could be launched as early as this summer, Paul Smith, the company’s president, said Wednesday.
Comair, a Delta Air Lines carrier, has applied to offer Arkansas’ only nonstop flight to Washington, D.C., which would cut an average of three hours off round-trip travel time. Comair filed the application to get the gate slots at Reagan National Airport.
The owner of Eureka Pizza is offering a $1,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the suspect responsible for running over a 4-year-old Springdale girl on Sunday. Debbie Sarimle was hit by an unidentified driver in front of her house Sunday afternoon. The girl was hit by a black, mid- to late-1990s Honda Accord. The car was "low-rider" style with chrome wheels. The driver is described as a 24- to 25-year-old Hispanic man with spiked hair and mustache.
The Paron man who fled to Canada to avoid his trial for a double homicide in Benton has appeared before Circuit Judge Gary Arnold in Saline County Circuit Court, where a new trial date was set. Timothy Wallace will be tried June 12-14 for the shooting deaths of his former wife, Brandy Wallace, and her friend, Billy Hassell.
75 year-old Wanda Morgan of Jonesboro is dead as the result of burns she suffered after the cigarette she apparently was smoking in bed ignited an oxygen pump she was using and set off a flash fire.
A Marvell man, Thomas Sealsis under arrest and charged with first degree battery and committing a terroristic act after he apparently got his revenge on a former Marvell man, Brian Boose and who now lives in Georgia. Boose was shot in the back, hip and side with a small caliber handgun. In 2005 Boose was charged with shooting Seals in the same area of the body that Boose was shot Saturday.
Civil-rights leader Julian Bond said racial discrimination persists in the United States, and he called for continued measures to counter the bias during a speech Wednesday at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
No matter what the calendar says, apparently spring is here since a Pine Bluff man has spotted the first Purple Martin of the year.
