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Andrew DeMillo

I'm a political reporter based in Little Rock, Arkansas

Arkansas Advocate •

Facing prison pushback, Arkansas governor relies on greatest hits in speech | Arkansas Advocate

If you’re a red-state governor with an eye on 2028 and a prison you want to build has stalled, what do you say after a disappointing primary election? If you’re Sarah Huckabee Sanders, you return to your greatest hits.
The Arkansas governor’s 52-minute State of the State address amounted to fan service highlighting stances that appeal to fellow Republicans. She also steered clear of the only proposal she’s made that’s faced serious legislative resistance.
From advocating further income tax cuts...
Arkansas Advocate •

Close secretary of state runoff points to fissures and future fights for Arkansas Republicans | Arkansas Advocate

He cast doubts on the security of election machines and questioned the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s 2020 victory. He showed little restraint on social media, with posts sprinkled with profanity that at times were aimed at fellow Republicans.
When Donald Trump displayed these traits, Arkansas Republicans and party leaders warmly embraced him. But for Bryan Norris, it was an entirely different story.
Sen. Kim Hammer’s whisker-close victory over Norris in the Republican runoff for secretary of state h...
Arkansas Advocate •

6 years after COVID-19, Arkansas leaders need to do more to battle vaccine skepticism | Arkansas Advocate

Like most people in Arkansas, my daily routine changed completely six years ago this month when the state announced its first case of COVID-19. My beat as an AP statehouse reporter shifted almost entirely to covering the pandemic’s impact on nearly every aspect of Arkansans’ lives.
A key part of that work included covering the daily news conferences then-Gov. Asa Hutchinson led  about the growing number of cases and the steps being taken throughout Arkansas to battle the coronavirus.
Hutchinson...
Arkansas Advocate •

Journalism needs more leaders like Daisy Bates, fewer like Jeff Bezos | Arkansas Advocate

There are many striking features of the 10 ½-foot-tall statue of civil rights leader Daisy Bates that now stands in the U.S. Capitol. The statue’s details each tell an important part of Bates’ life story, down to the NAACP button on her lapel.
But there were two things that struck me most the first time I saw the bronze statue on a tour of the Capitol. One was the rolled up newspaper she held in her left hand. The other was the reporter’s notebook she held in her right hand.
Both are reminders o...
AP News •

Pee-wee's bike is at the Alamo, but not where you think

It took 40 years, but Pee-wee’s bike is now at the Alamo. Just not the basement.The Alamo announced last week it had acquired and would display the iconic bike from the 1985 Tim Burton film, “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” The San Antonio landmark plays a key role in the film chronicling Pee-wee Herman’s search for his stolen bicycle when a devious fortuneteller tells him the bike is located in the Alamo’s basement. Pee-wee, played by the late Paul Reubens, learns the Alamo doesn’t have a basement, b...
AP News •

Clintons urge voters agitated by today's politics to remain involved in public service

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Voters dejected by the presidential election results need to find a way to give back and remain involved, Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday as they celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Clinton presidential library.The former president urged audience members in a packed theater to remain engaged and find ways to communicate with those they disagree with despite a divisive political time. The two spoke about a month after former President Donald Trump’s win o...
AP News •

Book Review: 'Dead Air' tells history of night Orson Welles unleashed fake Martian invasion

Long before Donald Trump used the term “fake news” to complain about coverage he didn’t like, Orson Welles mastered the art of actual fake news.Welles’ 1938 radio adaptation of H.G. Wells’ “The War of the Worlds” is the focus of William Elliott Hazelgrove’s “Dead Air: The Night That Orson Welles Terrified America.” The book serves as an enjoyable history of the radio drama, with a fair share of fascinating details about its production and historical context. But it falls short on exploring the l...
AP News •

Arkansas governor proposes nearly $6.5B budget, with half of spending increase going to vouchers

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday proposed a nearly $6.5 billion budget for the coming year that directs half of new spending toward a school voucher program.The Republican governor called for increasing the state’s budget by nearly 3%, or $182.5 million, in the fiscal year that begins July 1. Sanders detailed the budget plan to lawmakers ahead of next year’s legislative session, which begins Jan. 13.“Budgets show our priorities and deliver on the promises...
AP News •

What to know about Transgender Day of Remembrance and violence against trans people

Wednesday is Transgender Day of Remembrance, which focuses on trans people who have lost their lives because of violence. Here is what to know.Transgender Day of Remembrance is marked every Nov. 20 and began in 1999 to honor Rita Hester, a trans woman who was killed in Massachusetts.The day marks the end of Transgender Awareness Week, which is used to raise public knowledge about transgender people and the issues they face.The Williams Institute at UCLA Law estimates that 1.6 million people in t...
AP News •

Book Review: 'How to Think Like Socrates' leaves readers with questions

The lessons of Socrates have never really gone out of style, but if there’s ever a perfect time to revisit the ancient philosopher, now is it.In “How to Think Like Socrates: Ancient Philosophy as a Way of Life in the Modern World,” Donald J. Robertson describes Socrates’ Athens in terms that seem all too familiar: a society recovering from a pandemic where people’s trust in government is shaken, and an extremely polarized split between political factions.Despite its title, Robertson’s book isn’t...
AP News •

20 years after opening, Bill Clinton's presidential library prepares for a 'refresh'

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Twenty years since Bill Clinton opened his presidential library and museum before a rain-soaked crowd, the area around the glass and steel facility has been transformed. The museum fueled development around Little Rock’s once-sleepy downtown, with a former industrial area to its east blossoming into an entertainment district. Next to the building, cyclists and runners regularly cross what was once a railroad bridge spanning the Arkansas River.But little has changed insid...
AP News •

Book Review: 'Believe' takes a curious, not judgmental, look at success of 'Ted Lasso'

It’s hard to believe that a TV show based on a series of commercials with the same punchline — an American football coach confused by the rules of soccer — could have lasted beyond an episode or two. It’s even harder to believe that it became an Emmy-winning hit with a cast invited to the White House to talk about mental health.There’s a lot to learn from the unlikely success of “Ted Lasso,” the hit Apple TV+ show featuring Jason Sudekis as its mustachioed, wholesome namesake. Jeremy Egner’s “Be...
AP News •

Justice who opposed blocking an Arkansas abortion referendum will lead the state Supreme Court

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A justice who wrote a blistering dissent when the Arkansas Supreme Court blocked an abortion-rights measure from the ballot has been elected to lead the court.Justice Karen Baker defeated Justice Rhonda Wood to replace Chief Justice Dan Kemp in Tuesday’s election. The result won’t change the court’s conservative majority.In Tuesday’s election, all four of Arkansas’ Republican congressmen fended off challenges from Democrats who were trying to break the GOP’s hold on the...
AP News •

Debate over abortion rights leads to expensive campaigns for high-stakes state Supreme Court seats

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Abortion and reproductive rights have been central to the races for president and governor in North Carolina, a battleground state that has more moderate abortion restrictions than elsewhere across the South.That’s been even truer in the fight for a seat on the state Supreme Court that abortion rights supporters say will play an important role in determining whether Republicans can enact even more restrictions. Registered Republicans currently hold five of seven seats an...
AP News •

Votes won't be counted for Arkansas medical marijuana ballot measure, court says

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas voters won’t get to weigh in on a ballot initiative to expand medical marijuana after the state Supreme Court ruled the measure didn’t fully explain what it would do, tossing out the initiative just two weeks before the election.It’s too late to remove the measure from the ballot — early voting began Monday — so the court has ordered election officials not to count any votes cast on it. The proposed constitutional amendment would have broadened the definition of...
AP News •

Hair found in truck helps police identify suspect in 1995 disappearance of Morgan Nick, 6

ALMA, Ark. (AP) — Hair found in a truck once owned by an Arkansas man who died in prison more than two decades ago was the clue investigators needed to connect the dead inmate to the disappearance of a 6-year-old girl who went missing in 1995.Alma Police Chief Jeff Pointer on Tuesday announced that police have identified Billy Jack Lincks as a suspect in the abduction of Morgan Nick, who was last seen chasing fireflies with friends at a Little League ballpark in Alma, about 120 miles (193 km) no...
AP News •

Book Review: 'Revenge of the Tipping Point' is fan service for readers of Gladwell's 2000 book

It’s been nearly 25 years since Malcolm Gladwell published “The Tipping Point,” and it’s still easy to catch it being read on airplanes, displayed prominently on executives’ bookshelves or hear its jargon slipped into conversations. It’s no surprise that a sequel was the next logical step.In “Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering,” Gladwell is rehashing and rebuilding on the concepts that he first wrote about in 2000. That’s not necessarily...
AP News •

Book Review: 'John Lewis: A Life' further humanizes a civil rights giant

In “John Lewis: A Life,” David Greenberg recounts how the late Democratic congressman reacted after Republicans scored a landslide victory in the 1994 election. A staffer hoped Lewis would buoy her spirits and tell her there was a silver lining.Lewis instead told her, “There is no silver lining.”Exchanges like this that reveal moments of despair and vulnerability by the seemingly eternally optimistic Lewis are partly what makes Greenberg’s biography of the Civil Rights icon so remarkable. It wou...
AP News •

Hello, I'm Johnny Cash's statue: A monument to the singer is unveiled at the US Capitol

WASHINGTON (AP) — Johnny Cash now stands among the most famous politicians, trailblazers and activists of American history as he became the first professional musician to be honored with a statue in the U.S. Capitol.Congressional leaders from both parties and members of the Cash family were among the several hundred guests who gathered Tuesday for the unveiling of the statue. They shared their memories of a man who grew up on an Arkansas cotton farm and turned a love of music into a decades-long...
AP News •

Georgia school shooting highlights fears about classroom cellphone bans

Huddling for safety in classrooms as gunfire rang out, students at Apalachee High School texted or called their parents to let them know what was happening and send what they thought could be their final messages. One student texted her mother to say she loved her, adding, “I’m sorry I’m not the best daughter.”The Georgia school shooting that left four dead and nine injured last week was every parent’s worst nightmare, and one that highlights potential downsides to efforts among states, school d...
AP News •

Arkansas Supreme Court upholds rejection of petitions to let voters decide on abortion access

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas Supreme Court upheld the state’s rejection of signed petitions for an abortion rights ballot initiative on Thursday, keeping the proposal from going before voters in November.The ruling dashed the organizers’ hopes of getting the constitutional amendment measure onto the ballot in the predominantly Republican state, where many top leaders promote their opposition to abortion.Election officials said Arkansans for Limited Government failed to comply with state...
AP News •

Bill Clinton's post-presidential journey: A story told in convention speeches

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — In Bill Clinton’s prime-time speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1988, the young governor of Arkansas bored delegates so thoroughly that they cheered when he said, “in closing...” Many years later, as a former president whose legacy had made a comeback, Clinton aided Barack Obama’s reelection with a 2012 convention address that earned him a nickname as the “secretary of explaining stuff.”The 78-year-old Clinton, a veteran of convention speeches over the past...
AP News •

Former U.S. Rep. Tommy Robinson, who gained notoriety as an Arkansas sheriff, dies at 82

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Tommy Robinson, who gained notoriety as an Arkansas sheriff for tactics that included chaining inmates outside a state prison to protest overcrowding, has died. He was 82.Robinson died at a Forrest City hospital Wednesday night of natural causes after a brief illness, St. Francis County Coroner Miles Kimble said. “Tommy’s career was colorful, but it was colorful in service of the people of Arkansas,” Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday. “He brought...
AP News •

Arkansas grocery store reopens in wake of mass shooting that left 4 dead

FORDYCE, Ark. (AP) — The sounds that filled the Mad Butcher grocery store on Tuesday — the beeping barcode scanners, the rattle of shopping carts and cash register drawers opening — were familiar ones for customers and employees of the only grocery store in the small Arkansas town of Fordyce.But this was not a normal day for the store, which reopened 11 days after a shooter killed four people and injured 10 others in Mad Butcher and its parking lot. Community leaders called Tuesday’s reopening a...
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