It was a good week for ...
SAFE SCHOOL DISTRICTS.Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said state law would not allow the cowboys in the Clarksville School District to license staff, including teachers, as security guards so they can pack heat on the playground. Clarksville's superintendent of schools thinks the AG is wrong.
SUPPORTERS OF A HIGHER MINIMUM WAGE. A public employees union poll showed that 54 percent of Arkansans are "definitely for" raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.50 and another 19 percent are "probably for" it.
TAX SUBSIDIES TO RIGHT-WINGERS. Common Cause reported that the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council, which provides stencils for bills to weaken public schools, labor laws, clean air and other things that might cost the Kochs a penny or two, provides "scholarships" for legislators to attend conventions, and then takes a tax deduction.
SHRINKING COTTON. Sen. Mark Pryor began running an ad attacking Republican Rep. Tom Cotton's voting record as unfriendly to Arkansans and the Democratic Party created a website, meettomcotton.com, that calls him "Too Reckless for Arkansas." Cotton was expected to announce Tuesday he'll run against Pryor for Senate.
CONFUSING PRYOR WITH OBAMA. Republicans created an anti-Pryor website, but it's all about that liberal African Barack Obama.
It was a bad week for ...
ROOM AT THE JAIL. Not surprisingly, getting tough on absconders and other changes in the parole system the legislature called for have left the state's prisons and jails full up. Question: Will the General Assembly allocate new dollars to expand detention centers?
FEEDING HOGS IN THE BUFFALO RIVER WATERSHED. A coalition filed suit in federal court Tuesday to prevent the federal Farm Service Agency and the Small Business Administration from providing $3.4 million in loan guarantees to C&H Hog Farms. The suit claims the agencies did not provide public notice or undertake environmental studies that the law requires.