By Steve Brawner, © 2025 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Few entities have had a bigger effect on Arkansas than Walmart, and this year the effect was bigger than most. For that reason, philanthropist Alice Walton, daughter of founder Sam Walton, and retiring CEO Doug McMillon are the Arkansans of the year.

Every December, this column bestows that title on an individual or individuals who have most impacted the state. It is inspired by Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” designation for “the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year.”

The Arkansans of the year is a one-man decision. There is no award ceremony, and there are no cash prizes – not that Walton or McMilllon would need one.  Walton is the world’s richest woman, worth an estimated $122 billion, according to Forbes. Continue reading →

By Steve Brawner, © 2025 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

How should political leaders respond to the assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk? 

They could follow the example set by Arkansas Governor Winthrop Rockefeller 57 years ago, when passions were also high after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

For those who don’t know Rockefeller’s story, he was the grandson of oil baron John D. Rockefeller and the fifth of six children of John D. Rockefeller Jr. Of the six, he wore the last name, and all it implied about wealth and responsibility, the least comfortably. Known for being a playboy in New York, he left to work in the Texas oil fields and then served in combat in World War 2. He later got married, had a son named Win, and got divorced. 

Needing a fresh start, he moved to Arkansas in 1953 and built Winrock Farms on Petit Jean Mountain. To manage it, he hired Jimmy Hudson, an African-American private detective from Harlem. The hiring gave Conway County residents the chance to have good jobs working at a farm owned by one of the nation’s richest men. However, they had to be willing to take orders from a Black man. It was a step in the right direction. Continue reading →

By Steve Brawner, © 2025 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Two ceremonies 28 years apart honored the nine Black students who broke the color barrier at Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Both featured speeches by one of the nine, and both featured a Huckabee speaking as governor.

We’ll start with the second ceremony, which occurred Aug. 29 at the Capitol. It marked the 20th anniversary of the unveiling of Testament, the monument honoring the Little Rock Nine.

The ceremony started after Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders arrived with Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Nine, who walked slowly with a cane and spoke strongly from the lectern.

Eckford and her fellow students made history by being the first to attend the previously all-white school. The other eight were Minnijean Brown Trickey, Ernest Green, Dr. Melba Pattillo Beals, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Dr. Terrence Roberts, Carlotta Walls LaNier, the late Jefferson Thomas, and the late Thelma Mothershed Wair. 

Eckford arrived alone the first day of school in 1957 and was met by a mob. Photos of the abuse she endured remain among the most iconic of the civil rights movement. Gov. Orval Faubus had called out the National Guard to block her and her fellow Black students from attending. President Dwight Eisenhower then federalized the Guard and dispatched U.S. Army troops to restore order and protect the students.

Desegregating Central High amidst so much animosity was a “tumultuous” experience, she said.

“When I talk to students, I tell them about the history, but I also tell them that there’s no such thing as not being involved,” she said. “When you decide that you’re not involved, you’re giving permission to other people to act. Continue reading →

By Steve Brawner. © 2025 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

When Daniel Solis was eight-and-a-half years old, he told his dad he wanted to own an arcade someday. “Hold on,” his dad said, leaving the room and returning with a sketch pad, where the two drew out the plans. 

Now 55, Solis owns The Vortex Classic Arcade in Sherwood, featuring 230 vintage arcade games and pinball machines. PacMan, Ms. PacMan, Galaga, Frogger and Donkey Kong are all there. For $10 at the door, a visitor can enjoy unlimited play all day.

“We ended up with about 90% of what we drew, my father and I,” Solis said. 

Solis, the youngest of seven children from northern California, grew up preparing himself to own an arcade. Whenever he visited a place with a game, he’d try to talk to the person who knew something about it. He learned where to get parts. He saved two years to buy his first cabinet game and promptly ruined it by spilling a drink on its circuit board. His dad, Robert, bought him a different game.

“He died about 10 years before I was able to open it, so he didn’t get to see the end result,” Solis said of his dad. “But he always believed in me, and I think without that support from the second I told him what I wanted to do, I don’t think I would have made it.” Continue reading →

By Steve Brawner, © 2025 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

When school board members and administrators have a question about school law or board policy, they ask Lucas Harder, Arkansas School Boards Association staff attorney. He’s a legal expert, and he’s legally blind. 

Harder’s ability to cite chapter and verse of a particular statute or piece of legislation has made him a trusted source of information and an object of awe for ASBA conference attendees.

Harder, 37, was born blind in his right eye with limited vision in his left. He could read regular-sized print at four inches and said he wasn’t really hindered. 

Then at age 13, he suffered a total retinal detachment that left him blind for nine weeks. Doctors removed his lens, which left him farsighted and substantially more limited. A membrane formed where his lens had been. Doctors removed it, but it returned. He became totally blind his high school senior year in October 2005. 

Continue reading →