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Arkansas Times
Joint Education Committee meets to discuss merit-based teacher pay
The Joint Education Committee is meeting Tuesday to discuss the LEARNS Act Merit Teacher Incentive Program and a 2024 study focused on teacher recruitment and retention. Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Oliva provided an update on the teacher merit program while the Bureau for Legislative Research provided findings for the 2024 teacher recruitment study.
Earth, Wind & Fire and Chicago at Simmons Bank Arena on Monday
MONDAY 8/26. Simmons Bank Arena. 7:30 p.m. $29.50-$179.50. Often shirtless and always transcendent, bandleader, singer and percussionist Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire died in 2016 of complications from Parkinson’s disease, assuring once and for all that he’d not live long enough to witness the monumental ways in which his work would reverberate elsewhere in the music world. Then again, had he broken the laws of biology and lived to be 200, the same would be true. Earth, Wind & Fire was seminal not only because they so elegantly merged disparate elements of multiple kinds of music (jazz, R&B, gospel, classical, pop), but because they showed the world (the mainstream, at that!) that none of those genres would exist at all without Black innovators. Fortunately for listeners at this August arena concert, cornerstone EWF members Philip Bailey, Ralph Johnson and Verdine White (Maurice’s brother) seem to be carrying the torch with aplomb and energy, if reviews of recent concerts are any indication. Co-headlining the evening are rock vets and fellow genre-blenders Chicago, whose intricate vocal arrangements and imaginative horn riffs form the backbone of not only ’70s-centric rock radio, but American high school marching band repertoire. Get tickets here.
Race, anger and the Little Rock School Board
Little Rock, let’s talk about language and intent. We are in the midst of a citywide conversation about our school board and our superintendent who just suddenly resigned. The superintendent has been clear that his breaking point was constantly being attacked by a board member in meeting after meeting.
LRSD board hears from the public on Wright’s resignation letter, takes no action
The Little Rock School Board took no official action Monday at a special meeting called after the superintendent surprised everyone with a resignation letter that cited an adversarial relationship with some members of the board. Before going into executive session, they heard from five people who signed up to speak...
Oliva’s ‘Education Freedom Account’ sounds like a great idea for duck hunting
Duck hunting is big in Arkansas. The State of Arkansas owns, manages and funds a number of wildlife management areas where public lands are managed and flooded for use by the public during duck season. Arkansas is famous for these public areas, like Bayou Meto, Hurricane Lake, Dagmar, Black Swamp and Black River.
Mark Abernathy hangs up chef coat, sells Loca Luna and Red Door to Fidel Samour’s Remolinos Group
After 55 years in the restaurant business, Mark Abernathy, one of Little Rock’s legendary restaurateurs, is hanging up his chef coat after selling Riverdale restaurants Loca Luna and Red Door to Fidel Samour’s Remolinos Group, the entity behind Sterling Market and Fidel & Co. The sale of the...
As climate threats to agriculture mount, could the Mississippi River delta be the next California?
A smorgasbord of bright red tomatoes and vibrant vegetables line the walls of Michael Katrutsa’s produce shop in rural Camden, Tennessee. What began a decade ago as a roadside farm stand is now an air-conditioned outbuilding packed with crates of watermelon, cantaloupe and his locally renowned sweet corn — all picked fresh by a handful of local employees each morning.
AG Tim Griffin tries and fails to defend his malfeasance on abortion petition with disastrous video
On Friday, the state’s ambitious and Machiavellian attorney general released the unseemly video above. He clumsily presents a PowerPoint and tries desperately to bamboozle the public about the legal issues in the abortion ballot initiative case — possibly because he realizes his efforts to fool the state Supreme Court could wind up coming short (a decision is expected soon, perhaps Monday). Unfortunately, no one on his team informed him that this might be a bad idea.
Wronging Wright a huge mistake for LRSD
LRSD community, we need to talk. Here we go again, screwing things up for ourselves with toxic internal politics that have nothing to do with the well-being of students and everything to do with the poor behavior of adults. Superintendent Jermall Wright turned in his notice Thursday after only two...
The Neverending Abortion Amendment Story: The Week In Review, Aug. 17, 2024
On this week’s podcast: Dave Ramsey and Lara Farrar discuss the state of play with the Arkansas Abortion Amendment court case, which grew even more complicated this last week. Stories discussed this week:. AG confirms no Chinese or communist ties in land purchased by Walmart supplier. Marijuana and casino...
Cannabis crowd lines up for docs and more at MMJ expo
Tyler and Corey Nobles were near the front of a long and meandering line of prospective patients Saturday morning as they waited for a chance to get certified for the state’s medical marijuana program at Simmons Bank Arena. The brothers from southeast Arkansas drove to North Little Rock to...
Mayor Frank Scott Jr. calls on state lawmakers further decriminalize marijuana
Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. called on state lawmakers to further decriminalize marijuana during a panel discussion at the Arkansas Times Cannabis & Wellness Expo at Simmons Bank Arena. Jocelin Fuller-Brooks, a local budtender and Arkansas state director of the advocacy group Minorities for Medical Marijuana, moderated the “Rooted...
Mobile grocery stores to roll through Little Rock
Mobile grocery stores will soon roll out in areas of Little Rock identified as food deserts by a local task force addressing food insecurity in the state’s capital city. The trial runs are part of a $10,000 grant program from the governor’s office and the Arkansas Department of Health to fill gaps where residents do not have easy access to grocery stores or healthy food options.
Heads of Arkansas private schools participating in state voucher program cite aid to families
As Arkansas students head back to the classroom this month, around 12,000 will be attending one of more than 120 private schools that have been approved for the second year of the state’s school voucher program. Created by the LEARNS Act, a 2023 law that overhauled Arkansas’ education system,...
Arkansas Times culture editor scores free pizza for a year
Arkansas Times culture editor Daniel Grear is off to one of the most incredible starts of the weekend imaginable. He played a show with his Adventureland bandmates at White Water Tavern last night, a stripped-down, intimate set so charming that people sat on the floor just to be closer to the stage.
Commission won’t consider Jacksonville dispensary proposal this month
State regulators won’t consider whether to allow a Little Rock medical marijuana dispensary to move to Jacksonville at its meeting next week, although the request could make a return next month. Greenlight Little Rock, located at 7303 Kanis Road, had requested to move to 7418 T.P. White Drive in...
Abortion group raised $306,314 in July amid legal battle
The group fighting to put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would restore abortion access in Arkansas raised more than $306,000 last month, including a $250,000 donation from a foundation based in California. Arkansans for Limited Government, a ballot question committee supporting the Arkansas Abortion Amendment, raised $306,314...
Warming temps can mean more disease spread in horses (and humans)
A case of a horse infected with eastern equine encephalitis reported in Ouachita County is a cause of concern among veterinarians, because it indicates the rare but serious disease is present in local mosquito populations. Humans can be infected with the sometimes-fatal virus. In early August, the Arkansas Department of...
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