News

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.

As the citizens of Moore, Oklahoma work to clean up the damage and rebuild following the tornado that destroyed part of the town this week, help is pouring in from surrounding areas.

One person on the University of Arkansas at Little Rock campus is helping.

Leanna Payton, who works in student housing is gathering odds and ends like toiletries, diapers and cell phone chargers to take to Moore. She plans to fill a van with the items.

The historic Albert Pike Hotel in downtown Little Rock is about to get a bath.

Owners of the building said Wednesday that a $6 million renovation is planned for the structure that was built in 1929.

Included is a cleaning of the exterior of the building, which will give it a brighter appearance.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that BSR Trust LLC, which owns the hotel, will sustain the building's appearance because of its historic status.

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.

Selig said the state planned to submit the waiver to the federal government in August and hoped to get approval by October.

  A Little Rock man was arrested early Thursday morning after illegally entering the Governor's Mansion grounds, officials say.

Authorities say 32-year-old Ramon Taylor scaled a fence at 5:30 a.m. and attempted to break into a nearby car before he was taken into custody.  

Gov. Mike Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said Taylor was unarmed and arrested by security guards without incident.

"[Protection] is for these types of occurrences," DeCample said. "They are tasked with taking care of these things as they arise and they'll do just that."

Arkansas' two largest university systems are opting out of a new state law allowing faculty and staff to carry concealed handguns on campus.  

The University of Arkansas and Arkansas State University boards on Thursday voted unanimously to continue banning concealed firearms on campus.

The bans will apply to UA's 11 campuses and ASU's four campuses. Arkansas Tech University's board was also voting on its policy regarding the gun law.  

The former Majestic Hotel in Hot Springs is up for sale. The hotel closed in 2006 after serving customers for more than a century and through the bathhouse heyday.

The Sentinel-Record reports that the hotel includes more than five acres at the intersection of Park and Central Avenues. The hotel underwent a number of expansions and renovations.

The original hotel was built in 1882 on the north end of the complex, where spa and bathhouse are now. Other sections were added from the 1920s into the 1960s.

Longtime music industry figure and Arkansas native Bill Carter is set for a speaking engagement in Little Rock.

Carter is to speak June 5 as part of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies' Legacies and Lunch series. Carter grew up in Rector and built his career as an attorney and agent for popular music stars.

The Rolling Stones summoned Carter for help after an arrest in Arkansas, and he represented Reba McEntire at the start of her career.

Two men who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in an election fraud case involving a former east Arkansas lawmaker have been sentenced to home confinement and probation.

Federal court records show that Phillip Wayne Carter was sentenced Wednesday to five months of home confinement. Sam Malone was sentenced Tuesday to 7.2 months of home confinement. Both men were also sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to complete 100 hours of community service.

Thursday the University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees is scheduled to meet and vote on whether to allow permitted faculty and staff to carry concealed handguns on its campuses throughout the state.

The Arkansas State University Board is also expected to vote on the matter Thursday.

The state legislature recently passed a law that gives colleges the choice, though all schools that have voted so far have opted out of allowing concealed weapons on campus.