Category Archives: State government

Their home was his place

Inspirational, State government

By Steve Brawner

After 2,310 days in foster care and 24 caseworkers, Chase Bailey was adopted Jan. 10 by a mom who had insisted that the only way she would ever adopt a child was if Jesus descended from heaven and told her to do so.

Dawn Bailey and her husband, Brad,  had two daughters out of the home and a third who was a pre-teenager, and they could see the empty nest in the distance. Then three friends over a weekend sent her a link to 15-year-old Chase’s story, told by KTHV’s Dawn Scott in one of her regular “A Place to Call Home” features about children waiting to be adopted.

After tears and prayer, they decided their home could be his place. 

Continue reading Their home was his place →

Why is this man so comfortable?

Elections, Politics, State government
Asa Hutchinson
Gov. Asa Hutchinson visits with reporters Oct. 17.

By Steve Brawner

This is the part of the calendar when elected officials often are more worried about campaigning than governing. That’s not the case with Gov. Asa Hutchinson – not yet, anyway.

Hutchinson’s apparent peace of mind – with the campaigning part of his job, anyway – was reflected during an Oct. 17 sit-down with reporters. With the Republican primary half a year away, he might have used the occasion to toss red meat to the base. Instead, he talked policy. He stated his opposition to using general revenues for highways. He also offered assurances that his Arkansas Works health program would not be harmed by President Trump’s ending some subsidies for insurance companies.

That’s boring government stuff, not campaign stuff.

Why is Hutchinson so comfortable with the state of his campaign? Several reasons. Continue reading Why is this man so comfortable? →

The end of GIF spending in Arkansas? Probably not

Legislature, Politics, State government

GIFBy Steve Brawner

Spending other people’s money can be pretty easy, especially if you tell yourself you have the authority and it’s for a good cause. In other words, we probably haven’t seen the last of the Legislature’s spending on local projects.

Here’s the back story. On Oct. 6, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that legislators can’t direct state surplus dollars to so-called General Improvement Fund (GIF) projects such as rural fire departments and libraries.

The ruling was the latest curve in a long legal road that began with a 2005 lawsuit by former legislator Mike Wilson. After the Supreme Court twice ruled in 2006 and 2007 against GIF funding, legislators instead sent the money to eight nonprofit regional planning districts that would decide how it was spent.

Only that’s not really what happened. As the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has detailed, the planning districts often rubber-stamped the wishes of individual legislators. The Democrat-Gazette reported that taxpayers have spent more than $50 million on these projects just since 2013.

So Wilson sued again. This time, the Supreme Court ruled the process ran afoul of the state Constitution’s requirement that appropriations must be “distinctly stated.”  Continue reading The end of GIF spending in Arkansas? Probably not →

Here’s the latest Arkansas Week

Politics, State government

Host Steve Barnes hosts AETN’s Arkansas Week with KUAR’s Sarah Whites-Koditschek, Talk Business & Politics’ Wes Brown, and Independent Arkansas’ Steve Brawner. Topics include:

  • The Supreme Court’s ruling on state General Improvement Funds
  • Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen’s lawsuit over the Supreme Court removing him from death penalty cases
  • The Arkansas economy
  • Las Vegas.