Advertisement
← Back to issues

March 3, 2005

Vol 3 • No 7

Schools still failing

Unfortunately, there are many Americans who don’t believe that there’s anything wrong with our schools regardless of what they read or what judges say. Other than Governor Huckabee and a handful of legislators, most of the people involved with educati

Dear 'Diary'

In 25 years of watching movies — and a decade of watching them with an eye toward what makes them tick — it has only happened to me once or twice: A film that I absolutely loathed in the first 10 minutes won me over by the time the credits rolled. The oth

Picking the carcass clean

Up at the National Governors Conference where Mike Huckabee is, they’re talking about how all American education — P-16, as they put it — must become more seamless, lest we fall even more embarrassingly and hopelessly behind other developed countries.

Smart talk March 3

While Arkansans nominated for an Academy Award were a little hard to come by this year, you might have seen an Arkie among the throng of reporters giving the red carpet play-by-play.

Words March 3

“Soprano Mary Ann Doe (nee Smith, nee Jones, nee Brown) and mezzo-soprano Suzanne Roe were superb soloists.” The reviewer seems to think that nee means “formerly.” It means “born.” Mrs. Doe was born either Smith, Jones or Brown, not all three. W

Held back by health care

I was in a meeting about higher education when I finally realized just how destructive our health care system is. Some representatives from the University of Arkansas had dropped by to discuss a new report that contains recommendations for how to imp

Editorial cartoon March 3

TV highlights March 3-9

FOUNDING MOTHERS 6 p.m. Sunday, March 6 The History Channel (Comcast Ch. 70) ?Though there surely were women around in 1776, the lack of female faces on our coins and bills might make you think that there was a shortage of w

Erba: Just another great restaurant

Are we spoiled? It doesn’t seem right that a city the size of Little Rock has so many places to have an excellent meal. In fact, great food is becoming so commonplace that we’re starting to take it for granted.

Staring into the Sun

Big changes at the 107-year-old Jonesboro Sun. Beginning on Valentine’s Day, the paper saw a complete facelift, with larger headlines, clearer typefaces and greater use of photos and graphics. According to a letter to readers by editor Roy Ockert Jr., the

What's cooking-restaurant capsules March 3

Cooking: La Hacienda, Coldstone Creamery. Capsule reviews: Walker's, Lucchesi's.

Showcase showdown

Blues, modern rock and jam, heavy rock and even heavier “new” metal converge on one stage when the Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase final is decided on Friday, March 4, at Juanita’s Cantina Ballroom.

Runnning on memories

It was a measure of Winthrop Rockefeller’s naiveté as well as his zeal that he ran for a third term as governor in 1970 because he earnestly thought that Arkansas voters were furious at the legislature for stomping all his bills to raise their taxes. He

Man behind the scenes

Henry Bernard Glover is one of the great unknown behind-the-scenes men in the music business whose legacy continues today.

The week that was Feb. 23-March 1, 2005

IT WAS A GOOD WEEK FOR … POLITICS. Lt. Gov. Win Rockefeller said he definitely would run for governor in 2006, thus adding a little urgency to fellow Republican Asa Hutchinson’s decision-making. Thought won’t be required

A false compromise

There are developments in the controversy involving Central Arkansas Water and Deltic Timber, but first the background.

The Insider March 3

When the state Office of Procurement put out a request for bids on providing the state’s long distance service, it estimated the call volume, not only in the U.S., but to 88 foreign countries. Leading the list on the estimate was an anticipated 94,620

Orval March 3

Art Night gears up

A week from Friday, downtown art galleries will hold the first 2nd Friday Art Night for trolley-riding gallery-goers. The River Rail will offer rides to seven galleries in the River Market and its rubber-wheeled cousin will ferry folks to Oval Art Gallery

Editorials March 3

HB 1012 is an innocent-sounding measure — “An act to authorize the enforcement of federal immigration laws by certain police officers” — that would have a devastating impact if approved.

Held back by health care

I was in a meeting about higher education when I finally realized just how destructive our health care system is. Some representatives from the University of Arkansas had dropped by to discuss a new report that contains recommendations for how to imp

Letters March 3

I enjoyed Gigi Cottrell’s memories (Feb. 17) of growing up at 478 Ridgeway. I have memories of the house she writes about at 476 Ridgeway, now a vacant lot in Hillcrest. My grandfather’s sister and her husband, Kathleen and Edward Toby, built the house ar

This Modern World March 3

Not enough time

Young’uns getting ready to go off to college are woeing and alasing because the SAT entrance exam has been amended to require the composition of an essay. You have to write the bastard from scratch at the start of the nearly 4-hour test, and they give y

Pine Bluff and Prudhomme

While the televised Academy Awards were causing a Sunday night snooze in homes everywhere, honors were being handed out in Pine Bluff at an event that could not have been more exciting, or more filling.

Spare a Buck 65?

Buck 65, a Nova Scotian-bred, internationally known rapper and turntablist, has drawn comparisons to Tom Waits for his growling voice and to the poet-drunk Charles Bukowski for his style of imagery that denotes a sort of “from the trenches” urban picture.

More picks March 3-9

With early registration up 25 percent from last year’s race, Little Rock Marathon officials are expecting nearly 5,000 participants in the event on Sunday, March 6, beginning at 7:50 a.m.

The Observer March 3

Our man on the ground in West Little Rock reports: “I went to the 2 p.m. showing on Sunday of ‘Hotel Rwanda’ at Market Street Cinema to see it before the Academy Awards presentation. At the climactic point in the film, where the U.N. soldiers are tryin

UA moves up

The University of Arkansas has moved substantially nearer its goals in the areas of academics and quality of incoming students, and has significantly improved its reputation among American colleges and universities. Enrollment has grown, though not as muc

What we're reading

Top selling books at local stores.

If you build it…

Months and months of study and early-morning meetings and old-fashioned tug-of-war finally birthed last week the beginnings of a plan to fix Arkansas’s ailing school buildings.

What's happening in March

Author appearances and other events of interest this month on the literary scene.

Unkind cuts

President Bush’s proposed budget cuts would hurt the most vulnerable children and families in Arkansas and nationwide, while extending and expanding tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpro

Bentonville invests in football

Bentonville may be the home base of low prices the Wal-Mart way, but thrift isn’t a priority for the folks who run the schools when it comes to football.

A quick, mild toddy

A whole lot of Arkansas history involves this ongoing war between people who want to take a drink now and then and those who are bound and determined to keep them from it. So Professor Johnson’s account of drys vs. wets in the Natural State could have bee

What about the kids?

Remember Lake View? I mean, more than just the name and the vague notion it had something to do with money for schools? Or that there is anything left to do on Lake View other than fix up school buildings? If not, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise.
Advertisement