IT WAS A GOOD WEEK FOR …

CLEAN AIR. The Arkansas law banning smoking in most workplaces took effect. A handful of bars seemed intent on protecting smokers rather than public health. They will pay, or their employees will, in the long run.

HISPANIC STUDENTS. Tests show they are closing the “achievement gap” with white students in Arkansas.

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EPISCOPAL BISHOP LARRY MAZE. He told churches in Arkansas that they were free to decide as congregations on holding ceremonies to bless gay partnerships. These would not be formal rites, but in the same category as other informal blessings.

IT WAS A BAD WEEK FOR …

DEER. The state has been counting deer in the Little Rock city limits, a possible precursor to a hunt to thin the herd.

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The GRAND PRAIRIE IRRIGATION PROJECT:
• A federal judged halted work for more on the project’s potential impact on the ivory-billed woodpecker.
• More important, The Legislative Council ordered a review of the open-ended and exploding cost of the boondoggle. It would be cheaper, one observer noted, to buy the farmland targeted by the project and take it out of production.

TOMMY ROBINSON. Expecting a wrist slap for a nolo plea to assaulting a creditor in a Brinkley restaurant, he got a five-day sentence. He at first resisted, then said he’d serve the sentence, once a basketball injury healed.

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A$A HUTCHINSON. Sure it was an easy way to raise money. But in a race where crossover votes are critical, do you really want to be seen in public wrapping your arms around the most reviled man in American politics — Vice President Dick Cheney?

The Huckster Watch
23 weeks and counting. Get your requests in for traffic ticket pardons now. Tell them Keith Richards sent you.

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