Latest Arkansas Headlines

All the headlines from our Arkansas Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Arkansas Doctor Gets 2-Year Sentence in Insurance Fraud Case

Jul 27 2016 // A Little Rock, Ark., doctor whose clinic improperly billed massage therapy services as physical therapy has received two years in prison and has been ordered to pay insurers and patients more than $700,000 in...

$1.5M Recovered for Arkansas Insurance Consumers in First Half of 2016

Jul 25 2016 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Allen Kerr says the Consumer Services Division (CSD) of the Arkansas Insurance Department recovered $1,580,421 for Arkansas insurance customers in the first six months of 2016. By...

2 New Insurers Approved for Doing Business in Arkansas

Jul 20 2016 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Allen Kerr has approved two new out-of-state insurers to do business in the state.Medical Liability Alliance (MLA) of Jefferson City, Mo., has been granted authority to offer casualty...

Arkansas Recovers More than $1.5M for Insurance Consumers in First Half of 2016

Jul 18 2016 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Allen Kerr says the Consumer Services Division (CSD) of the Arkansas Insurance Department recovered $1,580,421 for Arkansas insurance customers in the first six months of 2016.The amounts...

Arkansas Company Recalls 5,850 Pounds of Chicken Products

Jul 14 2016 // Arkansas-based Simmons Prepared Foods says it’s recalling 5,850 pounds of frozen chicken products that may have been breaded with flour contaminated with E. coli bacteria.Simmons says the frozen, uncooked chicken...

Owners of Arkansas McDonald’s Franchise Sued for Disability Discrimination

Jul 6 2016 // A McDonald’s restaurant owned and operated by Mathews Management Company and Peach Orchard Inc. in Bentonville, Ark., violated federal law when it fired an employee because of his HIV-positive status, the U.S. Equal...

Arkansas Woman Charged with Filing Nearly $250K in False Insurance Claims

Jun 23 2016 // A Pulaski County, Ark., employee who processed insurance claims has been fired after being arrested and charged with filing false insurance claims for nearly $250,000.Authorities say 60-year-old Wanda Wyatt was a fleet...

McGhee Elected President of Arkansas Independent Agents Insurance Group

Jun 22 2016 // Bill McGhee, of McGhee Insurance Inc., in Little Rock, Ark., has been elected president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Arkansas.McGhee previously served on the IIAA executive committee and board of directors. Other...

Arkansas Emergency Official Likes FEMA’s Disaster Deductible Proposal

Jun 8 2016 // Arkansas’ emergency management director said he favors a proposal from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that gives states disaster “deductibles” as an incentive for the state to be better prepared...

Governor Wants State to Run Arkansas Health Insurance Exchange

Jun 6 2016 // Arkansas officials say they want the state to take responsibility for its health insurance exchange for individuals but continue enrolling them in coverage through the federal system’s mechanisms.Gov. Asa...

Two Plead Guilty in Insurance Fraud Cases in Arkansas

Jun 1 2016 // The Arkansas Insurance Department announced that two guilty pleas have been secured in relation to property theft and insurance fraud charges. The cases were handled by AID’s Criminal Investigation DivisionOn May 17,...

Arkansas Court Backs $3M Judgment Against Gerber over Workers’ Time

May 27 2016 // Arkansas’ highest court says a baby food manufacturer must pay more than $3 million to workers for the time they spent dressing and undressing into uniforms and protective gear.The state Supreme Court upheld a lower...

Arkansas Officials Question Health Insurance Rate Hikes for 2017

May 25 2016 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Allen Kerr says he expects to deny several recent requests by insurers to raise rates on individual on-exchange health insurance policies by more than 10 percent for 2017.Under the...

Business Travel Fuels Growth of Uber Use in Arkansas

May 20 2016 // Business travelers needing a ride in Arkansas are increasingly using their thumbs — not to hitchhike, but to tap the Uber app on their smartphones.And despite class-action lawsuits by drivers and some job actions,...

Disaster Declaration for 12 Arkansas Counties

May 9 2016 // President Barack Obama has declared a disaster for a dozen Arkansas counties affected by severe weather in early March. The White House announced the disaster declaration Friday for Arkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun,...

$250K Settlement in Veteran’s Death Endorsed by Arkansas Panel

May 6 2016 // A legislative committee has endorsed a $250,000 settlement with the state’s veterans department over a World War II veteran who died while his nurse went to eat her lunch.The Joint Budget Committee’s Claims...

Arkansas Regulators: In Separate Cases 2 Plead Guilty to Auto Insurance Fraud

May 6 2016 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Allen Kerr announced two recent guilty pleas resulting from separate criminal investigations of insurance fraud.On May 2, Becky Brand, 34, of Lonoke entered a guilty plea to one count of...

Officials: 9 Tornadoes in Oklahoma, Arkansas Last Week

May 5 2016 // Meteorologists have identified tornado damage in Muskogee County nearly a week after a string of at least nine weak tornadoes across northeastern Oklahoma and Arkansas. The Tulsa World reports that the National Weather...

Gulf States Fighting Metal Thefts from Ag Operations

May 4 2016 // A new group trying to reduce metal theft from agriculture operations in Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas.Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said his office is creating a Mississippi Delta Agricultural Theft...

Arthur J. Gallagher Acquires Arkansas Agency, Hagan Newkirk

May 3 2016 // Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired Hagan Newkirk Financial Services in Little Rock, Ark. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. With operations dating back to the 1960s, Hagan Newkirk Financial Services...