Looked kind of quiet downtown today. Public offices were open, but a lot of people used some time to extend the weekend. Why not?
* POLICE BEAT: The Little Rock police have been busy. They report: A city pickup was stolen from 3800 Chester and wrecked in Saline County after a chase. A man sitting across from the Salvation Army shelter at Markham and Cross was robbed of more than $140 about 4 a.m. this morning. A Spanish speaking man said through a translator that he was robbed by four men at Stanton Road and Larry Circle in Southwest Little Rock about 4 a.m. this morning.
And did somebody mention fireworks?The LRPD received almost 600 calls about fireworks being discharged in the city (theoretically prohibited) July 3-today.
Also a traffic death: Fox 16 says Lane Huie, 27, died about 10 p.m. Thursday after his Yukon ran into a tree on Marguerite Lane near I-630 and Hughes Street.
* OBAMACARE BEAT:Senate President Pro Tem Michael Lamoureux has been busy today. In addition to his earlier appointment to the Lottery Commission, he's appointed his representatives to the Health Insurance Oversight Committee that will implement the Obamacare health coverage expansion in Arkansas. Sen. David Sanders, co-chair. Also Paul Bookout, Linda Chesterfield, Jason Rapert, Jonathan Dismang and Ronald Caldwell. That's 4-2 Republican if you're counting and Bookout, a hired hand of a Jonesboro hospital, doesn't count as a Democrat or much of anything.