Malcolm Glover

Efforts to overhaul the federal farm bill are finally gaining traction on Capitol Hill.

U.S. Senator John Boozman of Arkansas voted to help get the bill out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on Tuesday.

Advocates for families affected by incarceration took part in an event at the Capitol Friday. Dee Ann Newell runs Arkansas Voices for the Children Left Behind, a nonprofit that raises awareness about the growing numbers of incarcerated mothers and the issues that affect their children.

Organizers say a film screening Wednesday on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock could be the start of an initiative to empower women in the state through educational opportunities. 

The Women’s Foundation of Arkansas partnered with officials from the University of Central Arkansas and UALR to show a documentary titled “Girl Rising.”

The National Weather Service in Little Rock says a strong cold front is heading for the state and is expected to bring precipitation and cold temperatures. 

The front is expected to move across the region on Thursday, but meteorologists say no severe storms are in the immediate forecast. Temperatures are forecast to drop by as much as 35 degrees behind the front on Friday.

In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, U.S. Senator John Boozman of Arkansas says lawmakers must take a closer look at the nation’s visa system. He says his colleagues also have to make sure intelligence and security agencies are sharing important information that could stop future attacks.

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.