AltWeeklies Wire
Centennial Church Is Falling Downnew
Stories out of Helena-West Helena in Arkansas always seem to be about conflict, often conflict with a racial angle. Even stories about historic preservation tend in that direction.
Arkansas Times |
Doug Smith |
04-16-2009 |
Housing & Development
Be a Hero on Your Own Timenew
“Victim's heroics rouse judge,” read a headline in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, but Nigel Haskett's heroics apparently didn't rouse his employer, McDonald's. The hamburger kingpin has denied Haskett's claim for workers compensation benefits.
Arkansas Times |
Doug Smith |
02-19-2009 |
Crime & Justice
Justice Proceeds Delicately When the Accused Is a Judgenew
The most serious charges that Pulaski County Circuit Judge Willard Proctor now faces concern exactly what his staff members reportedly warned him about.
Arkansas Times |
Mara Leveritt |
02-12-2009 |
Crime & Justice
Arkansas Still Awaits the Biodiesel Boomnew
While production of biodiesel has exploded nationally -- largely because of federal subsidies -- the industry is off to a slow start in Arkansas: the Natural State remains a top 10 producer of soybeans, but it ranks only 20th in biodiesel production capacity.
Arkansas Times |
Paul Barton |
01-29-2009 |
Environment
Pain -- and Possibility -- Arise as the Language of Race Decaysnew
The way out of this -- past notions of racial purity and beyond words like "multi-racial" and "other" -- need not be difficult. It will require us to recognize the faulted language we've inherited and consciously opt to ditch it.
Arkansas Times |
Mara Leveritt |
12-11-2008 |
Race & Class
Boy Killer Mitchell Johnson Speaksnew
On March 24, 1998, the 13-year-old Johnson helped murder four of his classmates and a teacher. Now, his account is public.
Arkansas Times |
David Koon |
12-05-2008 |
Crime & Justice
Why Reward GM? Here's Why ...new
Lee Iacocca isn't running GM, Ford or Chrysler, and the most inept administration in history has made conditions far more daunting, but the stakes are far greater. We should take a deep breath and help the bums.
Arkansas Times |
Ernest Dumas |
11-20-2008 |
Economy
Carpooling's Popularity is on the Rise in Arkansasnew
If you want a real-world example of how $4 a gallon gas began reweaving the fabric of what it is to be American -- or at least what we're willing to put up with -- surf over to one of the numerous online carpool-partner-matching websites.
Arkansas Times |
David Koon |
10-31-2008 |
Transportation
Arkansas Schools Continue Drug Testingnew
Clarksville High School will spend $7,000 this year on random drug tests of students. The school is one of more than 100 in Arkansas that administers such tests. But do they work?
Arkansas Times |
Gerard Matthews |
10-17-2008 |
Education
Natural Gas Exploration is Changing the Landscape of Arkansas -- Literallynew
Drilling operations in the Fayetteville Shale (including future operations planned on state Game and Fish lands leased to Chesapeake Energy) are raising environmental concerns. Drilling requires massive amounts of water, and produces a considerable amount of waste.
Arkansas Times |
Gerard Matthews |
10-03-2008 |
Environment
Thanks a Lot, Milton Friedmannew
The worst thing that can happen to an economist is for the politicians to come over to his side and actually implement his grand idea. This week, the men who did the task for Friedman in the United States, or at least some of them, had to sift through the rubble in a very public and self-conscious way and explain why it all turned out so badly.
Arkansas Times |
Ernest Dumas |
10-03-2008 |
Economy
Obama's Mortgage Plan Has Already Been Tried and Defeated in Congressnew
Obama's proposed legislation would allow judges to adjust the mortgage terms of homeowners who are in bankruptcy, so they'd have a better chance of saving their homes from foreclosure. But such legislation was considered by the Senate in April, and defeated. Both Arkansas senators voted against it. Both say there's a good chance they'd do so again, even if the bill had Obama's backing, and even though they're both Democrats and supporting Obama for president.
Arkansas Times |
Doug Smith |
09-25-2008 |
Economy
Arkansas Nuns Recall Admitting Black Students in 1952 for DVD Projectnew
Before any other school in the state, as far as they know, the nuns of St. Scholastica monastery invited a couple of girls who'd recently graduated from an all-black Catholic grammar school to enroll in their previously all-white girls high school. Now Fort Smith Historical Society members are interviewing the surviving nuns from that era and preserving the interviews on DVD.
Arkansas Times |
Jennifer Barnett Reed |
09-05-2008 |
Race & Class
No Citizenship May Mean No College for Some Longtime Arkansas Residentsnew
As a graduate of an Arkansas high school, Cecilia might have been eligible for in-state tuition until recently. The state high school diploma signaled residency; state schools are not required to gather information on citizenship from applicants. Then, after an AP article reported that undocumented students might be enrolled as residents, Gov. Mike Beebe directed the state Department of Higher Education to make sure colleges had stopped the practice.
Arkansas Times |
Leslie Newell Peacock |
07-11-2008 |
Immigration
Combat Exposure for Women Soldiers Complicates an Old Problemnew
On the front lines, equality means exposure to more danger for women soldiers. Whether that's progress or not depends on whom you ask.
Arkansas Times |
Jennifer Barnett Reed |
06-27-2008 |
War
