News

Environmental activists who oppose the construction of TransCanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline are looking to the recent oil spill in Mayflower to solidify their case as they plan to testify against the new pipeline Thursday in Nebraska.

Proponents of the pipeline argue it is still the safest mode of transport for a resource which people must continue to rely on.

Arkansas’s senior U.S. Senator, Mark Pryor, says he still needs to review a new immigration proposal before deciding how to vote. 

The bipartisan plan crafted by eight senators includes increased border security measures and a decade-long process to grant citizenship to 12 million undocumented immigrants. Pryor says there are key goals that must be a part of any plan he could support. 

Former U.S. Rep. Mike Ross has formally launched his bid to seek the Democratic nomination for  governor next year.  

Ross officially announced his bid Wednesday in his hometown in Prescott. A statewide tour was planned for later Wednesday, ending at the state Capitol in Little Rock.  

In prepared remarks, Ross said he hopes to build on progress Gov. Mike Beebe has made in education and economic development.  

The Arkansas Senate is set to vote on a plan to use federal Medicaid funds to purchase private insurance for low-income people.  

Backers were still rallying support for the measure late Wednesday morning and the Senate was expected to consider it when they reconvene at 1:30 p.m.  

Senate President Michael Lamoureux says he expects the measure to narrowly pass with the three-fourths majority needed.

Members of the Arkansas National Guard, along with guardsmen from Oklahoma, Indiana, Louisiana, and Texas are conducting emergency training in Oklahoma to prepare in case a major earthquake strikes the region. 

The exercise called "Vigilant Guard" will be held Wednesday at the Camp Gruber Training Site near Braggs in northeastern Oklahoma. The guardsmen are to hold the training that simulates a 7.7-magnitude earthquake occurring along the New Madrid fault in Northeast Arkansas and northward into other states.

Arkansas plans to put prisoners to death with a drug that experts say has never been used in a U.S. execution. 

The state Department of Correction told The Associated Press on Tuesday that it plans to use phenobarbital, along with lorazepam, to kill condemned prisoners.

It’s been more than two weeks since the ExxonMobil Pegasus Pipeline burst in May Flower, spilling around 5,000 barrels of heavy crude oil into a residential subdivision while endangering local wetlands and wildlife. Local officials have begun to call for a portion of the pipeline, which runs through the Lake Maumelle Watershed, to be relocated.

The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a request by convicted evangelist Tony Alamo to hear an appeal of a civil lawsuit in which Alamo was ordered to pay millions to two men.

The court denied the appeal in a brief order dated Monday.

Alamo was ordered to pay Seth Calagna and Spencer Ondrisek $33 million each after a federal jury in Texarkana, Ark., found that he abused the two when they were children growing up in Alamo's ministry. The amount was reduced to $15 million each by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Arkansas is set to provide a new steel company with $125 million in financing and tax breaks to build a mill in the northeast part of the state now that the Legislature has given final approval to the plan.

The Arkansas House has approved a package of proposals that would cut state income taxes, capital gains taxes, and reduce taxes paid by manufacturers.

The measures approved by lawmakers Tuesday are part of the estimated $100 million in total tax cuts that legislative leaders say they want to pass this session. The vote came several hours after the House approved the Medicaid 'private option' bill that Gov. Mike Beebe says would provide the savings to fund some of the proposed tax cuts.