All the headlines from our Arkansas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Feb 13 2009 // The Arkansas House of Representatives has approved a bill allowing concealed handguns in churches, despite hearing arguments that lawmakers should put their faith in God, not guns.The bill, which passed on a 57-42 vote and...
Feb 8 2009 // The Job Engine“Small businesses are the job engine of this state. This increased exemption encourages the spirit of entrepreneurship and will help create new and better paying jobs for Texans.” —Texas State...
Feb 2 2009 // The lead sponsor of legislation that would allow officers in Arkansas to pull over drivers for not wearing seat belts says he’ll also call on police agencies to collect data on the race of motorists they stop for the...
Jan 30 2009 // The Arkansas Senate has approved legislation that would give the governor the power to fire the state’s insurance commissioner at will.The bill would require the state insurance commissioner to serve at the pleasure...
Jan 30 2009 // Food regulators didn’t consider salmonella a threat to most peanut products before they traced an outbreak to a peanut butter plant in Georgia two years ago. Officials in the nation’s top peanut-producing state...
Jan 28 2009 // An Arkansas House of Representatives committee has advanced a pair of bills restricting cell phone use by drivers. The House Public Transportation Committee endorsed a bill by Rep. Ray Kidd, D-Jonesboro, that would ban...
Jan 28 2009 // A series of small earthquakes occurred Jan. 26 in northeast Arkansas.The U.S. Geological Survey said three quakes of magnitudes ranging from 2 to 2.8 occurred between 1 a.m. and 5:09 a.m. a few miles east of Walnut Ridge...
Jan 25 2009 // The lawmakers are back, at least in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Louisiana has to wait until April for the pleasure. For now, though, bars and restaurants in Little Rock, Oklahoma City and Austin will rejoice in the...
Jan 25 2009 // Risk management and insurance services provider IMA of Texas Inc. announced additions to its Health Care, Employee Benefits and Surety departments.Michael J. Jacoby has been hired as vice president and national director of...
Jan 23 2009 // A previously unknown fault in eastern Arkansas could trigger a magnitude 7 earthquake in the cotton fields of the upper South with an epicenter near a natural gas pipeline, a scientist said.Haydar Al-Shukri, the director...
Jan 16 2009 // Gov. Mike Beebe has appointed A. Watson Bell of Searcy to chair the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission. Bell replaces Olan W. Reeves, who was appointed to the commission by former Gov. Mike Huckabee in...
Jan 15 2009 // Jay Bradford has been officially appointed Arkansas Insurance Commissioner effective Jan.15, 2009.Commissioner Bradford previously served for two years as the director of the Division of Behavioral Health Services within...
Jan 7 2009 // An Arkansas rice mill has agreed to pay $350,000 after the federal government found the company discriminated against hundreds of women and non-Hispanic job applicants, the U.S. Labor Department announced.Producers Rice...
Jan 5 2009 // Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe will appoint Watson Bell of Searcy to chair the state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission, replacing Olan “Butch” Reeves of Bryant.Reeves will remain chairman of the WCC...
Jan 5 2009 // An Arkansas insurance agent accused of bilking retiree investors out of tens of thousands of dollars and converting the money to his own use is being sought by the Arkansas Securities Department.Terry Mitchell of...
Jan 5 2009 // Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe will appoint Jay Bradford of Pine Bluff as Commissioner of the Arkansas Insurance Department, effective Jan. 15. Braford will replace Julie Benafield Bowman, whose resignation from the post...
Dec 31 2008 // Teenage drivers in Arkansas have a higher rate of traffic fatalities than any other category of drivers in the state, and the AAA wants the state to further restrict driving by young people.The AAA, formerly the American...
Dec 19 2008 // Helmetless motorcyclists should be able to prove that they have enough health insurance to pay for any injuries they may incur while driving, an Arkansas state lawmaker has proposed.Sen. Kim Hendren, R-Gravette, filed...
Dec 11 2008 // The Arkansas Highway Commission has come out against raising speed limits on rural highways because it could increase the number of fatal traffic accidents. Also, it would lower fuel economy for motorists, according to a...
Dec 5 2008 // Making a call or sending text messages with a hand-held cell phone while behind the wheel would be a crime in Arkansas under a legislator’s proposal. Rep. Ray Kidd, D-Jonesboro, filed a bill Dec. 3 prohibiting the...