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Lawmakers in both the Arkansas House and Senate will wrap up with their final vote on the state’s budget on Tuesday. Each chamber voted on identical versions of the budget today Monday.

The state’s budget for its fiscal year that begins July 1st and ends June 30th of 2014 is 4.9 billion dollars and includes increases for the state’s Medicaid program and education, as well as a 2 percent cost of living raise for state employees. It passed by a vote of 80-15 in the House.

A federal appeals court has rejected an appeal from a white supremacist who challenged his murder  conviction after his defense attorneys tried to pick a jury with as many black members as possible.  

Chevie Kehoe was sentenced to life in prison for the 1996 killings of an Arkansas family. His accomplice received a death sentence.  

Kehoe argues that he received ineffectual counsel because of his attorneys' jury-selection strategy.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Kehoe's conviction Monday.  

The editor of the Benton County Republican Committee is apologizing for approving an article by her husband that mentioned the threat of shooting legislators who voted for the "private option" insurance expansion.

Leigh Nogy said Monday that her husband, Chris Nogy, didn't literally suggest murdering elected officials.

And she says she didn't perceive that his writing would bring such strong criticism from within and outside the Arkansas Republican Party.  

Three bridges spanning the Arkansas River across downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock will be illuminated by year’s end thanks to a $2.4 million gift from Entergy Arkansas and an assorted group of businesses and governmental entities.

The announcement was made Monday morning by Entergy Arkansas President Hugh McDonald and Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola.

McDonald said the gift is part of a celebration of the electric company’s 100th anniversary in Arkansas.  ”This project is very much in line with what we do – light things up,” he said.

No major flight delays are being reported at Arkansas airports on Monday as furloughs kick in for air traffic controllers. Flights were running smoothly Monday morning at the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock and the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Highfill. 

Government budget cuts forced the Federal Aviation Administration to furlough its employees, including 15,000 air traffic controllers. Sunday was the first day the controllers were subject to the furloughs, which require workers to lose one day of work every other week.

Kmart says some customer information may have been compromised during an armed robbery of its store in Little Rock last month. Kmart said Monday that it's notifying pharmacy customers about the March 17 robbery. 

The company says the gunman took "electronic media" that backed up the pharmacy's computer system. Kmart says the device included confidential information, including a customer's name, address, date of birth, prescription number, prescriber and drug name.

Work is to begin to replace a storm drain in a Mayflower subdivision where an ExxonMobil pipeline ruptured on March 29 and spilled thousands of barrels of oil.

Faulkner County Judge Allen Dodson told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that work to excavate and replace the drain that collected oil runoff is to begin Monday.

Dodson says the project will take 10 to 14 days to complete.

Dodson says replacement of the drainage system will include removal of contaminated soil and precautionary sampling to ensure complete cleanup.

The chairman of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee joined Republican U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin of Arkansas for a tour of the oil spill cleanup site at Mayflower northwest of Little Rock and both said they believe ExxonMobil is doing everything possible to clean up the site. 

Republican U.S. Representative Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania joined Griffin for the tour Sunday. ExxonMobil Pipeline Company's Pegasus pipeline ruptured in Mayflower on March 29th and spilled thousands of barrels of oil.

Michael Juiliano – aka Hot Dog Mike – has returned to Little Rock and will be helping raise money for public radio on Tuesday, April 23, during our spring fund drive.

We hope you will make a donation online or by calling 501-569-8485 or 1-800-952-2528!

An Arkansas lawmaker is apologizing for the timing - but not the content - of a tweet he sent questioning whether "Boston liberals" wished they had an assault weapon to protect themselves while police searched for a Boston Marathon bombing suspect.

Republican Rep. Nate Bell on Friday morning posted on Twitter: "I wonder how many Boston liberals spent the night cowering in their homes wishing they had an AR-15 with a hi-capacity magazine?" Bell's comments rapidly spread online, as police hunted for a suspect in Monday's Boston Marathon bombing that killed three.