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Former Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, who stepped down in the wake of Whitewater, dies at 81

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Jim Guy Tucker, who became Arkansas’ governor when Bill Clinton was elected president but was later forced from office after being convicted during the Whitewater investigation, has died. He was 81.Anna Ashton, Tucker’s daughter, said the former governor died Thursday in Little Rock from complications from ulcerative colitis.“Because he had a public life, there will be a lot of focus on the details of that,” Ashton said. “In addition to that, he was a really wonderful fa...

An Arkansas organist is playing 18 hours of Bach this year, one lunch break at a time

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — It was hushed inside a 140-year-old cathedral on the outskirts of Little Rock’s downtown as about five dozen people sat in the pews during a recent lunch break in January.The nave filled with the sounds of the Gothic church’s pipe organ, and a screen showed a man performing the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Those gathered weren’t there for church, but for the third concert in a series Colin MacKnight is performing over the next year to commemorate the 275th anniversary...

Book Review: Chris Hayes' 'Sirens' Call' is a thorough look at the fight for attention in modern age

It’s no new big news that we’re living in an era of distraction. States are trying to clamp down on cell phones in schools, social media has been called a health risk for kids and some are trying undergo various “digital detox” practices.With “The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource” MSNBC host Chris Hayes isn’t trying to join an already crowded shelf of books warning of the ills of being online 24/7. Instead he’s exploring how we got to this point, and the re...

Arkansas governor wants to revive state's Medicaid work requirements under Trump administration

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday she wants to impose work requirements on some Medicaid recipients, hoping to revive and expand a restriction that was blocked by the courts but could get a new life under the Trump administration.Sanders’ comments come as fellow Republicans in several other states are seeking similar requirements along with other cuts or restrictions to Medicaid, which covers about 80 million people nationally. More than 18,000 people lo...

Banning cellphones in schools gains popularity in red and blue states

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas’ Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom have little in common ideologically, but the two have both been vocal supporters of an idea that’s been rapidly gaining bipartisan ground in the states: Students’ cellphones need to be banned during the school day. At least eight states have enacted such bans over the past two years, and proposals are being considered in several more states this year.

Here is a look at...

Arkansas governor says professors should be fired if they are 'indoctrinating' students

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday said college professors should be fired if they are “indoctrinating” students, echoing rhetoric her former boss President-elect Donald Trump and other Republicans have leveled against institutions of higher education.Sanders, a Republican who served as press secretary for part of Trump’s first term, made the proposal as she delivered her state of the state address for this year’s legislative session.“Arkansas students go to...

Book Review: 'Open Socrates' shows why philosophy isn't a spectator sport

During a time when many are complaining about divisiveness in politics and in society, it seems counterintuitive for a book to make the case that we need to argue more.But in “Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life,” Agnes Callard illustrates how philosophy isn’t just a spectator sport. It requires engaging with one another and arguing with each other, and admitting mistakes.Callard offers a roadmap for using the ancient Greek philosopher for approaching knotty discussion on topics suc...

Arkansas Supreme Court says new chief justice tried to fire several officials

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas Supreme Court on Friday said new Chief Justice Karen Baker tried to unilaterally fire several top officials with the court shortly after taking office this week, and the court issued new rules to block the firings.The court ordered to establish procedures for firing employees, saying the move was necessary after Baker attempted to fire several people. Baker, who was elected chief justice in November, did not return a message seeking comment Friday afternoon....

Arkansas governor appoints 2 justices to Supreme Court, and new secretary of state

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday named a top attorney for the state and a state Supreme Court justice to vacancies on the court, and her deputy chief legal counsel as secretary of state.The Republican governor’s appointments will give conservatives a 5-2 majority on the technically nonpartisan court, which has been targeted over the years by outside conservative groups.Sanders named Justice Cody Hiland and state Solicitor General Nicholas Bronni to the court, effective Jan. 1. Sand...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...
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