Latest Arkansas Headlines

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

Arkansas Agents Honor Chief Deputy Commissioner Blasingame

Jun 24 2015 // The Independent Insurance Agents of Arkansas awarded Lenita Blasingame, chief deputy commissioner at the Arkansas Insurance Department, with the Allan Kennedy Memorial Award.The award, presented at the agent group’s...

Operator of Ruptured Arkansas Gas Pipeline Was Cited in 2011

Jun 24 2015 // Federal inspectors found several violations during their most recent review of Spectra Energy’s Texas Eastern Transmission system, which includes the pipeline that burst in the Arkansas River in May.Spectra Energy...

Arkansas State Troopers Now Redacting Crash-Report Data

Jun 23 2015 // Arkansas State Police is citing a 21-year-old federal privacy law as their reason for withholding information from vehicle crash reports.The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that the agency’s new policy, which began...

Nominations Sought for New Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame

Jun 23 2015 // Arkansas insurance industry leaders have established the Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame (AIHF) and are now taking nominations for its first honorees.The AIHF will be housed within the College of Business at the University...

Farmers Introduces Rideshare Insurance Coverage in Arkansas

Jun 15 2015 // Los Angeles-based Farmers Insurance has launched Rideshare Insurance Coverage for ride-hailing drivers in Arkansas.Farmers worked with representatives of the Arkansas Insurance Department, legislators and leaders of...

Small Arkansas Town Sued over ‘Money Making’ Traffic Stops

Jun 15 2015 // The tiny town of Concord, Ark., is facing a federal civil-rights lawsuit from drivers who say they were pulled over as part of a money making ploy by police.suit claims that “over a period of several years, literally...

Arkansas Ex-Judge Sentenced in Insurance Fraud Case

Jun 12 2015 // A former Arkansas district judge convicted of drug charges has been sentenced in an unrelated mail fraud case involving American Indian artifacts.Bob Castleman, who was a judge in Pocahontas over a decade ago, has been...

Natural Gas Released as Pipeline Ruptures in Arkansas River

Jun 4 2015 // A two-mile section of the Arkansas River near Little Rock remained closed on June 3 following the rupture of a pipeline that released enough natural gas to fuel about 65 homes for a year.U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Jonathan...

President Signs Disaster Declaration for Texas Counties as Claims Mount

Jun 1 2015 // A disaster declaration signed by Pres. Barak Obama will help citizens in Harris, Hays and Van Zandt counties in Texas as they begin to recover from violent storm systems that brought tornadoes, high winds and massive...

Farmers in Arkansas Expect Losses from Flooding

May 28 2015 // Farmers across Arkansas are still weathering a series of spring showers that have flooded fields, smothered crops and swept away cattle.Since March 1, between 12 to 18 inches of rain has fallen across the Arkansas River...

Arkansas Treasurer Settles Civil Rights/Disability Lawsuit

May 26 2015 // Arkansas Treasurer Settles Ex-Employee’s Civil Rights/Disability LawsuitArkansas’ treasurer has settled a federal lawsuit filed against him by a former employee when he served as the Saline County clerk. An...

Johnson & Johnson Will Pay $7.8M to Settle Arkansas Lawsuit

May 20 2015 // Court filings show pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $7.8 million to settle a lawsuit over how the company marketed an antipsychotic drug to Arkansas doctors. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette...

Whirlpool to Pay Arkansas Property Owners for Lost Value

May 18 2015 // Whirlpool has agreed to pay the owners of 49 properties in Arkansas that lost value after it was discovered that a former plant of the appliance-maker had leaked a hazardous chemical into the groundwater for decades.Fort...

Citizens of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, OK Anti-Discrimination Law

May 14 2015 // Voters in a northwest Arkansas town have upheld an expanded anti-discrimination ordinance passed by the City Council in February.Preliminary results show the Eureka Springs ordinance was ratified by a 579-231 vote in a...

Disasters Declared in Arkansas, Texas Following Severe Weather

May 13 2015 // Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has declared a state of disaster in counties hit in recent days by severe weather that’s included tornadoes, thunderstorms and heavy rains that brought flooding.Likewise, Arkansas Gov. Asa...

5 Dead After Twisters Hit Texas, Arkansas

May 12 2015 // Emergency responders on May 11 searched through wreckage in parts of the states of Texas and Arkansas after a line of tornadoes battered several small communities, killing at least five people, including a young couple...

Maumelle, Arkansas Settles Employee Sexual Harassment Case

May 7 2015 // A $15,000 settlement has been reached in a case between a central Arkansas city and two of its employees over accusations that City Clerk and Treasurer Joshua Clausen sexually harassed them.The payment approved by the...

Constellation Acquiring Medical Professional Liability Insurer Arkansas Mutual

May 6 2015 // Constellation, a mutual holding company, announced that Little Rock-based medical professional liability insurance provider, Arkansas Mutual Insurance Co., is joining its family of companies.Arkansas Mutual will be the...

Arkansas Workers’ Comp Rates to Drop

May 4 2015 // The Arkansas Insurance Department in mid-April announced a decrease in workers’ compensation rates that will become effective July 1.The overall loss cost decrease in the voluntary market is 2.1 percent, while the...

Insurer Files Suit against Follower of Imprisoned Arkansas Evangelist

Apr 27 2015 // An insurance company is asking a Pulaski County, Ark., judge to declare it has no responsibility to pay court judgments against the homeowners policy of a follower of imprisoned evangelist Tony Alamo. The judgments are...