Latest Arkansas state government News
Arkansas Board of Education returns Pine Bluff School District to local control
PINE BLUFF, Ark. (AP) — The Pine Bluff School District has been returned to local control five years after the state took the district over and declared it in fiscal distress. The Arkansas Board of Education on Friday unanimously voted to return the district to local control after...
Today in History: September 12, Voyager 1 becomes first man-made object to leave the solar system
Today in History Today is Tuesday, Sept. 12, the 255th day of 2023. There are 110 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Sept. 12, 2013, Voyager 1, launched 36 years earlier, became the first man-made spacecraft ever to leave the...
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders proposes carve-out of Arkansas public records law during tax cut session
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday proposed shielding a broad range of records about her administration, travel and security from public release as she called for a special legislative session next week focusing on additional tax cuts. The...
A federal judge strikes down a Texas law requiring age verification to view pornographic websites
A federal judge has struck down a Texas law requiring age verification and health warnings to view pornographic websites and blocked the state attorney general's office from enforcing it. In a ruling Thursday, U.S. District Judge David Ezra agreed with claims that House Bill 1181,...
Arkansas governor appoints Finance and Administration Secretary Larry Walther to state treasurer
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday named Arkansas' top finance official, Larry Walther, to serve as state treasurer. Sanders appointed Walther, the secretary of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, to fill the vacancy...
Mounting job vacancies push state and local governments into a wage war for workers
FULTON, Mo. (AP) — At the entrance to Missouri prisons, large signs plead for help: “NOW HIRING” ... “GREAT PAY & BENEFITS." No experience is necessary. Anyone 18 and older can apply. Long hours are guaranteed. Though the assertion of “great pay” for...
Mark Lowery, Arkansas treasurer and former legislator who sponsored voter ID law, has died at age 66
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Mark Lowery, Arkansas' treasurer and a former legislator who sponsored the state's voter ID law, has died from complications from a stroke, his office said. He was 66. Lowery's office said the former state lawmaker died Wednesday morning at a Little Rock...
What to know about the case of the missing Missouri ER doctor found dead in Arkansas
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A doctor in the Missouri Ozarks went missing for over a week until his body was found in an Arkansas lake. But the case remains shrouded in mystery as investigators have released few details to his family or the public. WHAT’S KNOWN SO FAR ...
Arkansas governor names former lawmaker to state Board of Education
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has appointed a former state legislator to the Arkansas Board of Education as it prepares to implement her education overhaul. Sanders on Thursday named former Rep. Ken Bragg as her first appointee to the nine-member board that...
Arkansas governor names state GOP chairman, former federal prosecutor to Supreme Court seat
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday named state Republican Party chairman and former federal prosecutor Cody Hiland to the Arkansas Supreme Court, giving it a conservative majority as justices prepare to take up a challenge to her education overhaul. ...
