News

The Central Arkansas Library System's Children’s Library is hosting the Home Grown workshop Saturday to promote healthy living for children and families.

The Clinton School sponsored event aims to engage kids with cooks, farmers, and other experts, and expose them to new skills and information.  

One of the event planners, Britney Sink, says the workshop is important as some kids haven’t been exposed to cooking or gardening. 

Several earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from 1.7 to 2.9 have hit Arkansas earlier in recent days.

Scott Ausbrooks with the state Geological Survey says even though no damage has been reported, they have prompted a lot of 911 calls.

“Basically it has been a very busy week. This week alone we’ve had earthquakes happening in three different areas of the state,” said Ausbrooks.

Dozens occurred near Strawberry, the Clinton and Morrilton areas.

Three lawsuits filed in Sebastian County this week target the Whirlpool Corp., which operated a plant at Fort Smith until a year ago.

Homeowners and landlords are worried about a chemical used at the plant between the 1960s and the 1980s.

The state and Whirlpool reached an agreement on remediation efforts in 2001, but Whirlpool this year asked for a ban on new wells near the site.

The plaintiffs are seeking funds to restore their property and also punitive damages.

A group called “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” is out with a new TV ad today which steps up their criticism of Sen. Mark Pryor (D) for his vote against the failed Manchin-Toomey gun background check bill.

The latest ad features Angela Bradford-Barnes, who was the chief financial officer of the Democratic Party of Arkansas from 2007 to 2012 – a period when then-DPA chairman Bill Gwatney was killed in a random act of gun violence.

A federal magistrate has denied a bid by a follower of convicted evangelist Tony Alamo to delay the sale of six Fort Smith properties to settle a court ruling.

The Texarkana Gazette reports that U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Bryant refused to delay a May 30 hearing to determine which properties might be sold.

Bryant ruled last month the properties could be sold to partially satisfy a $30 million judgment Alamo owes two men raised in Alamo's group. In 2009, Alamo was convicted of taking sexually abusing five underage girls and is serving 175 years in prison.

As members of Congress continue their investigation into Internal Revenue Service practices that delayed the tax-exempt status for many conservative groups from 2010 to 2012, Arkansas Congressman Tim Griffin says now is not the time to score political points.

“Get the facts and then draw your conclusions. That’s the way an investigation works,” said Griffin. “As a result of partisan fervor, some people have a tendency to get ahead of the facts. My view is get the facts and let the facts tell the story.”

The Arkansas lands commissioner is reminding residents that they have until May 31 to assess their personal property. 

Lands Commissioner John Thurston says people who don't have their property assessed by the deadline are subject to penalties.

The taxes are important to counties, public schools and numerous agencies, including public safety forces.

Thurston says communities can miss out on funding if property isn't assessed on time.

Arkansas Medicaid officials say the state will submit its request to use federal money to purchase private insurance for thousands of low-income residents by August.

Department of Human Services Director John Selig told lawmakers Thursday that the state would draft its waiver next month for the "private option" that lawmakers approved as an alternative to Medicaid expansion. 

Many Arkansas college students will see a hike in tuition next year. Officials said Thursday that the University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees approved a 3.5 percent increase in tuition and fees at the Fayetteville campus beginning with the fall 2013 semester.

University officials say the hike will raise average undergraduate in-state tuition and fees to $7,818 for two full semesters. That's an increase of $246 per student.

A report from the CDC and the National Center for Health Statistics says teen birthrates are dropping in the US in all but two states.

Arkansas is among the states where the rate is dropping, but it has one of the highest rates.

Arkansas had a 16 percent decline in overall teen births between 2007 and 2011.

Brady Hamilton, a statistician with the National Center for Health Statistics, says the study can help shape public policy regarding teen pregnancy.