Category Archives: Uncategorized

Henderson State comes back from the brink

Tiffany Wright, Henderson StateIn 2019, Henderson State University in Arkadelphia was within a week of having no cash on hand. Today, its finances have recovered, its enrollment is up, and it’s looking for ways to distinguish itself from other schools. But it won’t be paying anyone to play football.  

Those were takeaways from a conversation with chancellor Dr. Trey Berry on the HSU campus Sept. 1.

Berry came to Henderson on Jan. 1, 2024, after serving as president of Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia. He had grown up on the HSU campus, where his father, Clyde Berry, was a head football coach and baseball coach. Continue reading →

Cotton, Sanders make the top 10

Tiffany Wright, Cotton SandersThe 2026 elections haven’t occurred, so is it too early to talk about 2028? It’s not when a prominent national news outlet ranks Sen. Tom Cotton and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders among its top 10 contenders to be the next Republican presidential nominee.

The Hill ranked Cotton eighth and Sanders ninth in an article written by Niall Stanage, senior staff writer.

Those slots would make Arkansas’ two most prominent Republicans more dark horses than frontrunners, which include the top contender, Vice President J.D. Vance, followed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 

Early frontrunners have failed to catch fire in the past, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in 2008 and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in 2016.  Continue reading →

Litter letter campaign seeks to make Natural State more natural

Drivers on Arkansas’ roadways are passing the word “Natural?” written with five-foot-tall metal letters and wire mesh and crammed with something very unnatural – manmade litter.

The signs are part of the Arkansas Department of Transportation’s stepped-up effort to clean up the state’s roadsides. Two have been in circulation with a third recently built.

“We pick up litter in a district, fill it up, fill those letters up, and leave them there for about a month as sort of a public service announcement,” said ARDOT Director Jared Wiley.

“Kind of trying to step on toes to say, ‘Hey, this litter’s not natural. It’s making our state look bad. Please help us to curb the problem.”’ Continue reading →

Effort to rein in LEARNS stalls, as expected

Rep. Jim Wooten, R-Beebe, knew his resolution meant to reduce spending for the LEARNS Act’s educational freedom accounts would not gain much traction. In fact, he said so.

After no member of the House Rules Committee made a do-pass motion last Wednesday and the resolution failed, he said, “Thank you. Expected that.”

Wooten’s resolution would have allowed Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, to introduce a bill limiting the scope of the LEARNS Act’s educational freedom accounts (EFAs). Those are providing families $6,864 per student for private and homeschooling expenses this year. Next year they will provide $7,208. 

King’s bill would have reduced that amount to $5,000 for homeschooling students while making students ineligible for the accounts if they were already enrolled in private schools when their families applied for the EFAs. That provision would have disqualified most of the current recipients. It also would have required students to achieve a minimum score on a state test to continue receiving the funds.

Continue reading →

Sanders: Run for president has crossed her mind

When Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders makes an honest statement when asked about someday maybe running for president (“Certainly, you know, things cross your mind”), it’s worth a mention. 

Sanders made the comment in response to a direct question by Politico national reporter Jonathan Martin. She was the first interview subject in his new “On the Road with Jonathan Martin” series, where he is traveling the country talking to political types while enjoying local cuisine. They did the 40-minute interview at Wright’s Barbecue in Little Rock with a tempting plate of food sitting on the table in front of them.

Martin referenced a comment by one of Sanders’ friends that a Democrat probably will be elected president in 2028, but that Sanders will be out of office after the 2030 elections and her children will be grown. (“Almost,” she corrected.) In 2032, could she be a candidate?

In response, Sanders said, “I think in any job, especially one like that I have right now in public service, your goal, your focus has to be to do a really good job in the role that you have, and see what happens from there. So my focus is Arkansas and helping us move to the top and take it from that point.”

When Martin rephrased the question, Sanders replied, “Certainly, you know, things cross your mind,” but she added that she had never thought she would be the White House press secretary or even the governor despite growing up in a political family.  Continue reading →