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Black power in Arkansas

Black power in Arkansas

February 4, 2016

Vol 42 • No 22

Read the print version

Arkansas and the 'black power' movement

It gained hold in late '60s; event in Little Rock in 1974 might have signaled its end.

Out of Iowa

Also, the child welfare director departs; whoa, Pigs; and more.

Politics stymies prison reform

"Prison scandal" and "Arkansas" enjoy so much historical equivalence that you would expect the state to be on the cutting edge of the prison- and sentencing-reform movement that is sweeping the country from Washington to state capitals and cheered along by Republicans and Democrats alike. But Arkansas is back a far piece, if it is there at all.

Truckin' for good eats

Pull in early for a food tune-up at Station 801.

Urban jungle

Outside of Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack.

Trump and women

Whatever else you can say about Trump, he's got a subversive sense of humor.

Douglas A. Blackmon speaks at Pulaski Technical College

Also,Dikki Du & The Zydeco Krewe perform at Stickyz.

How Little Rock's Rachel Burks started a successful hip-hop label in Cameroon

Catching up with the founder of New Bell Music.

Against Jacksonville millage

It's very sad and unfortunate, but on Feb. 10 many Jacksonville residents on fixed incomes will wake up to find a small group approved what's being called a 14 percent to 19 percent hike in their property taxes in a special election that they were not expecting nor had they been aware of, since the March 1 SEC primary is just down the road.

We must count the evidence

Bad choice of words.

Happy New Year!

The Observer is a dud when it comes to being creative, but we sure appreciate it in others. So we try never to miss the Japanese New Year's party thrown at a certain house on Dennison Street.

UAMS touts belt-tightening

But it's not enough, chancellor tells UA board.

'Jobbers,' 'Dreams'

Representational fantasy at UALR.

Discomfort at the movies

'Youth' keeps it interesting.

Razorbacks up, down and up again

Even at a modest 11-10, Arkansas has so much still at stake.

Inconsequential News Quiz: I found love at the Waffle House edition

Play at home!

Mavis Staples comes to Pulaski Tech

Also, the Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase returns at Stickyz, the SOMA Mardi Gras and Masquerade Ball happens on South Main Street, the Hat Trick Music Festival is at Kings Live Music in Conway, "To Catch a Thief" plays at Cinemark Colonel Glenn and Scott Stapp comes to the Metroplex.

Rep. Sue Scott facing another primary challenge from private option foe

Sue Scott goes another round with the private option aginners.

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders at New Hampshire town hall; will face off in one on one debate tonight

The Dems debate.

The Arkansas Legislative Hoops game set for March 15

The fourth annual Arkansas Legislative Hoops Game will be March 15, with members of the Arkansas House of Representatives and the Arkansas Senate facing off at 7 p.m., at the Jack Stephens Center on the UALR campus.

It's kind of weird that Donald Trump came to Little Rock last night

Donald Trump needs to win New Hampshire. With the primary a week away, why did he come to Arkansas?

Here's one Ark. Republican Trump fan: GOP executive director Sarah Jo Reynolds

Plenty of Arkansas voters like Donald Trump. But Trump's campaign has increasingly pitted him in a blood feud against the Republican Party itself, and that's meant Republican elected officials either openly reject him or simply give him a wide berth.

Trump sets record attendance at Barton? Let's go to the tape.

Prior to the appearance of Donald Trump last night in Little Rock after a nearly two-hour delay, Barton Coliseum general manager Ralph Shoptaw came before the crowd to say that attendance for the Trump event, at 11,500, had broken a record at Barton set all the way back in 1974 during a show by the blues-rock band ZZ Top. Trump would later brag on the turnout from the stage, bumping the number up to 12,000 while saying he'd been setting similar records all over the country.  Photos and video from the event, however, would seem to tell a different story.

Angela Davis Johnson: TheArtDepartment's latest, opening Friday

Angela Davis Johnson will show new work Friday at the Thea Foundation, 401 Main St. in North Little Rock, as part of the foundation's TheArtDepartment series of emerging artists. A reception from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday will include music by the Funkanites, heavy hors d'oeuvres and refreshments; tickets are $10.

Review: "Jobbers," "Dreams" at UALR

My review of two exhibits at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, "Jobbers, Heels and Faces — Robert McCann," paintings whose jumping off place is wrestling, and "Awakened by These Dreams," fantastically detailed paintings by Douglas Bourgeois, from this week's print issue is now online.

The path to the nomination for the GOP frontrunners

The elephant stampede to come.

Birmingham businessmen urge Alabama highway department to find alternative to widening interstate

A Southern town A Southern town that has just renovated its theater, arts center and science center downtown; created an Uptown Entertainment District, and more development is proposed. But its state highway department plans to widen the interstate that cuts through downtown from six to 10 lanes and rearrange access and exit points. Sound familiar?

The need for family paid leave in Arkansas

Arkansas Advocates is out with a new report on the need for paid family leave.

Craig Moon and Sheldon Adelson continue transformation of Las Vegas Review-Journal from newspaper to agitprop mouthpiece

Craig Moon is a disgrace.

Ted Cruz super PAC fails to invest in copy editors

It's our country, spelled right or wrong.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson continues negotiations with feds on future of private option, says focus is not "punitive side"

The governor's downplaying of "the punitive side" suggests that the feds are holding their ground and we won't see a radical change in terms of how much the Obama administration is willing to bend for red states.

An early open line and news headlines

Here's your headlines for the day (or yesterday as it worked out) and an open line.

Bernie Sanders still has giant lead on Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire

Hillary Clinton could be a Bern victim in New Hampshire.

VIDEO: Protester forcibly removed from last night's Trump rally in LR

Several videos and accounts have emerged today from protesters at last night's Trump rally at Barton Coliseum, including the video which shows a gaggle of Pulaski County Sheriff's deputies, black-clad officers, and a man in a dark suit forcibly removing a protester identified online as Nathan Fields from the building. The video ends soon after the man in the suit shoves Fields into a mulch-filled planter, with the man who pushed Fields then himself pushed away by another officer in a vest marked "POLICE."

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders to debate at 8 p.m.

Here's a thread for any debate watchers. Livestream is here. 

U.S. unemployment rate falls below 5 percent

The national unemployment rate has now dropped to 4.9 percent, the lowest since before the recession hit in 2008, according to January workforce figures released this morning by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The Democratic debate and progressives' glaring foreign policy problem

Vox writes of Clinton's weakness on the domestic issue of the day and Sanders' disengagement with foreign policy. But is that the Vermont senator's problem alone, or does it belong to progressives in general?

First count the evidence

Sean Fresh wins Round 2 of the Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase

Congrats to Sean Fresh & The Nasty Fresh Crew, winners of last night's semi-final round of the Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase. Round 3 will be next Thursday, Feb. 11, with The Uh Huhs, Love and a Revolver, Oddy Knocky and Trey Johnson & Jason Willmon.

Charges filed in deer beating caught on video

Prosecutors in Arkansas County have filed charges against three Georgia men in a case in which, authorities say, one of them was caught on video beating a live whitetail deer with an accounting textbook as the animal lay injured in the backseat of a car.

Social entrepreneur writes about racism and lack of high-speed Internet in Dumas

Leila Janah, the CEO of a buzzy nonprofit that helps poor people find tech jobs, has a post on Medium about her experience with systemic racism and the lack of access to high-speed broadband in Dumas. The nonprofit she founded and heads as CEO, Samasource, hires low-income people around the world to perform digital tasks for companies like Google, Walmart and Getty Images.

Last two days: Andrew Blanchard at Drawl

Eight mixed-media works by Andrew Blanchard, a South Carolina artist whose work has appeared in the Oxford American magazine and the International Painting Annual No. 4! and is in the collection of the Ogden Museum Museum of Southern Art, are on exhibit through Saturday, Feb. 6, at Drawl Southern Contemporary Art gallery at 5208 Kavanaugh Blvd.

Legislators voice doubts on ADE's rule change for National Board Certified Teachers

Yesterday, ten members of the House Education Committee signed a letter addressed to state Education Commissioner Johnny Key expressing concerns about a proposed rule change that would scale back stipends for Arkansas teachers with National Board Certification.

Black legislative leaders in Arkansas endorse Hillary Clinton

Sen. Linda Chesterfield (D-Little Rock) and state Rep. Charles Armstrong (D-Little Rock), the chair and vice-chair of the Arkansas Legislative Black Caucus, are endorsing Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president.

The Donald Does Not Call the Hogs Edition

Donald Trump’s visit to Arkansas, a new director for DHS, the economics of live college football at the University of Arkansas — all covered on this week's podcast.

Little Rock School District hires principal for new West LR middle school

The Little Rock School District announced this afternoon that it's hired Jason Pickering as the principal of the new middle school opening this fall in west Little Rock. Since 2010, he's been principal at Bryant High School. Pickering previously served as an assistant principal at Central High from 2005 to 2010.

Friday open line

How's your weekend looking?

Keith Moyer, former Arkansas Gazette editor, joins publisher Moon in Las Vegas

Max here briefly. I checked e-mail and found multiple notes on news that Keith Moyer, the last editor of the Arkansas Gazette before Gannett sold the newspaper to Walter Hussman, will join his friend and  former Gazette publisher Craig Moon, at the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Outside money coming to Supreme Court race

A national group notes the first outside money ads have been booked in the race for Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court.

Poll: Arkansas Supreme Court races close

The race for chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme is tied three weeks from the election, a new poll from Talk Business & Politics and Hendrix College finds.

Here's your Saturday night line

Here's your open line.

Clinton, Cruz lead in new Talk Business/Hendrix College poll

Sen. Ted Cruz holds a narrow lead over Sen. Marco Rubio and Donald Trump among Republican voters and Hillary Clinton holds a broad lead over Bernie Sanders in a new Talk Business/Hendrix College poll.

Super Bowl line

Over to you.

Prisoner escapes south Arkansas jail, search underway

Paul Grice, 38, has been serving a sentence for second-degree murder and residential burglary since 1998. He evidently escaped by covering a razor wire fence with a blanket and climbing over.

A taste of NOLA: the Sazerac

Celebrate Mardi Gras with the official drink of New Orleans: the Sazerac.

Clinton surrogates, including Bill, pile on Sanders

The rising rhetorical temperature of the Democratic primary calls to mind 2008, when Hillary's campaign began lashing out at Barack Obama after unexpected setbacks.

Cotton's condemnation of federal sentencing reform earns two Pinocchios

Tom Cotton, never missing a chance to take a hard line policy stance, is leading the opposition to the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, a Senate bill that seeks to address mass incarceration at the federal level by reducing the length of mandatory minimum sentences. The bill has broad bipartisan support, including from the Koch brothers, the ACLU and the White House. Cotton's statements against the bill are highly misleading, the Washington Post finds.

AP examines the other race for Arkansas Supreme Court

The AP's Andrew DeMillo had a good summation yesterday of the Arkansas Supreme Court race between Shawn Womack, the Mountain Home circuit judge and former state legislator, and Little Rock attorney Clark Mason.

Hillary for Arkansas headquarters to open in Little Rock today

The Hillary for Arkansas campaign will open its headquarters in Little Rock this evening. The location is Suite 101 of the Tower Building, on Center and 4th Streets.

Hutchinson names Sheffield Nelson, Kelly Eichler to University of Arkansas Board

Gov. Hutchinson named Kelly Eichler and Sheffield Nelson to the University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees today.

Former AG Dustin McDaniel registers as Arkansas lobbyist, becomes DC attorney

Dustin McDaniel, the former Arkansas attorney general and erstwhile Democratic gubernatorial candidate, announced today that his private practice of McDaniel, Richardson and Calhoun, PLLC is registering as a lobbying firm with the Arkansas Ethics Commission.

VA letter in error, it tells primary care patients; correction in the mail

The Central Arkansas Veterans Health Administration is apologizing to some 3,900 veterans who receive primary care from the VA for a letter it mailed in January about enrollment in the Integrative Wellness and Medical Center at Fort Roots as being "ripe for misinterpretation and full of incorrect information," Chief of Staff Dr. Tina McClain said today. The VA is sending out letters and calling recipients of the letter.

Monday open line

What's going on?

Study slams Arkansas poultry processing plants for low wages, lack of sick leave

62 percent of poultry workers surveyed said that they'd experienced some sort of labor/wage violation, including having the cost of safety gear deducted from their paycheck.

On National Board Certified Teacher stipends, governor tells Ed. Dept. to back off change

Education Commissioner Johnny Key told a legislative committee that his department is backing off the proposed rule change to National Board Certified Teachers' stipends.

In Supreme Court race, $336,000 in dark money advertising fuels attack on Goodson's 'insider' connections

"The Democrat-Gazette calls Courtney Goodson 'the ultimate insider,'" a male voice ominously intones. "Italian getaways, enriching trial lawyers — call Courtney Goodson and tell her to fight for Arkansans, not trial lawyers."

Lucie's Place crowdfunding for a home for LGBT homeless youth

Lucie's Place, the non-profit outreach program that seeks to assist LGBT youth who find themselves homeless, announced a crowdfunding effort today that they hope will help raise the final $60,000 needed to allow them to purchase and open a transitional living home for those they help.

Message from the mayor: Vote yes on MacArthur Park Improvement bonds

Mayor Stodola sent out the above email missive today urging voters to vote to approve a bond issue that will provide funds to dramatically improve the Arkansas Arts Center, make fixes to the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History and enhance MacArthur Park and, indirectly, the surrounding neighborhood.

New UA Board appointments will leave Northwest Arkansas without representation

Because of Hutchinson's latest two appointments, the Board will not be represented by anyone who actually lives in the 3rd District.

The latest, greatest beards of Arkansas

Last Saturday, the fourth annual Arkansas Times/Root Cafe Beard Growing Contest took place at Bernice Garden. As he's done the last few years, bad ass local photographer Rett Peek took portraits of most of the contestants.

ASU wins national innovation grant

Arkansas State University has won the state's first U.S. Economic Development Administration i6 Challenge grant, a $500,000 award that will help create the East Arkansas Regional Innovation System. EARIS will promote job development in the Delta by serving entrepreneurs and inventors.

Treasury says no to Arkansas's attempt to recover bonds

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has informed state Auditor Andrea Lea that Arkansas cannot claim title to mature U.S. savings bonds the state claims are "abandoned."

State keeps up legal fight to strip Medicaid funds from Planned Parenthood

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's office has filed for permission to appeal a January order from U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker that granted class certification in the case concerning Gov. Hutchinson's efforts to cut off Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood.

New Hampshire open line, sans video

Your Tuesday open line.

Milligan says lawyer shoved him during deposition; police called

Police were called today to the Mitchell Williams law firm just after 9 a.m. after State Treasurer Dennis Milligan and lawyer Luther Sutter got into an argument. Milligan accused Sutter of of pushing him in the chest.

Trump and Sanders handily sweep New Hampshire primary election

Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have won the New Hampshire presidential primary elections by wide margins.

Courtney gets her gun: Goodson claims NRA endorsement for chief justice

Courtney Goodson has announced the endorsement of the NRA in her race for Siupreme Court chief justice. The endorsement by a special interest group with intense interest in ongoing court cases raises many questions, even as it adds a proven vote-getter to Goodson's side of the ledger.

Little Rock voters approve bond issue for Arkansas Arts Center and MacArthur Park

In a special election today, Little Rock voters said yes to a bond issue that will fund an overhaul of the Arkansas Arts Center, as well as improvements to MacArthur Park and the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History.

Supreme Court deals setback to climate change pact with stay of Clean Power Plan

A group of 29 states — including Arkansas — and business groups won a stay from the SCOTUS on the federal Environmental Protection Agency's effort to cap greenhouse gases emitted by power generation.

Jacksonville voters approve millage for new school district

Voters said yes to a 7.6 mill increase to property taxes that will pay for new facilities in the new Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District.The vote was 55 - 45.

Milligan files complaint with prosecutor

State Treasurer Dennis Milligan, now with his right arm in a sling, filed a complaint this morning with the Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney's Office asking that lawyer Luther Sutter be charged with 3rd degree battery.

UPDATE: Thousands of kids' insurance could lapse if families don't renew ARKids coverage

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families has been sounding the alarm on the potential lapse of ARKids benefits for some 100,000 children in the state if families fail to renew their coverage under new federal eligibility requirements.

Justices Baker and Hart make a campaign stop

A tipster sends along a note today after attending last night's Inns of the Court meeting in Fayetteville, where Courtney Goodson made a campaign pitch and gave a shout out to Justices Karen Baker and Jo Hart, who were in attendance.

Sloane Crosley, Adam Hochschild, Peter Guralnick, Kiese Laymon and more announced for 2016 Arkansas Literary Festival

The Arkansas Literary Festival has announced its 2016 lineup, a list that includes Sloane Crosley ("I Was Told There'd Be Cake"), Adam Hochschild ("King Leopold's Ghost"), Peter Guralnick ("Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock'n'roll"), Kiese Laymon ("How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America") and more. The festival will be held April 14-17 in downtown Little Rock.

LRPD: Third suspect arrested in slaying of SWLR woman.

The Little Rock Police Department says detectives have arrested another suspect in the murder of a Southwest Little Rock woman who was shot in her driveway on Jan. 31 as she held her two year old child. Darrell Keith Dixon, 15, was arrested today in connection with the murder, with a release from the LRPD saying detectives developed him as a suspect during the investigation.

Christie leaves presidential race; Fiorina also drops away

While everyone waits for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to formally announce he's quitting, Carly Fiorina quits, too.

Wednesday open line

Your open line.

New music from Fresco Grey, Doctor Nod, Daniel Moody, Beedy and more

Fresco Grey is so good he makes me proud to live in Little Rock. How often can you say that? "I'm just sitting back doing algebra," he says at one point, because why not? My only problem with this song is that it should be about twelve times longer.

As Dem. primary evolves, some leading black voices embrace Sanders, but not those in Congress

While most African American Democrats may be all in for Clinton, a number of prominent black leaders are headed in the opposite direction.

The new supermajority norm in the Arkansas legislature is a disaster for Republicans

The private option aginners are establishing a new norm around the supermajority requirement for certain appropriations. The results could be be a fiasco for the Republican majority. Not to mention more gridlock and potential shutdowns, and worse policy outcomes in state government.
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