Ruling keeps Republican primary open

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

Should Arkansas voters be required to declare they are Republicans in order to vote in Republican Party primaries? They won’t be after a court decision May 5. 

The case stems from a vote by rank-and-file Republicans at last year’s state convention to close the primaries. Members did not want non-Republicans, particularly Democrats, voting in their primary. The Executive Committee leadership did not agree. Eighteen of its 24 members voted to rescinded the vote in July. In response, 22 party delegates sued the party chairman, the secretary of state, and the state Board of Election Commissioners.

This is a good, old-fashioned intraparty conflict, in the middle of which U.S. District Judge Brian Miller said he could not get. In his seven-page decision May 5, he wrote that a federal courtroom was not the place to settle the dispute. 

First, he wrote that it’s not a constitutional case. It was not about freedom of speech because the Republican Party of Arkansas is not a government entity. It was not about freedom of association because the RPA can decide its own rules. 

If state laws governed the process, then state officials could regulate. However, the law merely says that parties must prescribe qualifications for voting in primaries and must create rules and procedures. It’s up to the party. Regardless, he wrote that the U.S. Constitution’s 11th Amendment states that federal courts cannot compel state officials to obey state law.  Continue reading →

Legislators adjourn sine die

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

The 2025 Arkansas General Assembly returned from its recess at 10 a.m. May 5 to adjourn “sine die.” Pronounced “sigh-nee die,” that’s Latin for “without a day” planned to return.

Lawmakers had not been in Little Rock since April 16. As is typical, they had planned to return for one day in case they needed to tie up loose ends. 

There were very few. Lt. Gov. Leslie Rutledge banged her gavel and declared the Senate adjourned at 10:18. Speaker of the House Brian Evans, R-Cabot, did the same in the House at 10:26.

The session was noteworthy both for what legislators passed and for the one major piece they left undone. 

Lawmakers proposed 2,652 bills, of which Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed into law 1,026. Continue reading →

Who will say no in health care?

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

Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield had a rough 2024 financially. In a recent appearance on Talk Business & Politics, President and CEO Curtis Barnett offered some reasons why.

The company lost $226.2 million in 2024 after earning $13.2 million in 2023, according to its filing with the Arkansas Insurance Department. It announced it was laying off 75 employees, or 2% of its workforce, in January. 

Barnett said other insurers are also struggling with high costs. He listed several factors. One is the Medicaid redetermination process in 2023. All recipients intentionally had been left in the program throughout the pandemic. Once the pandemic ended, the eligibility process resumed, and many recipients were removed from the program. That process disrupted the health insurance market in 2024, he said. Second, health providers want insurance companies to increase payment rates, which he said was understandable given their inflation challenges and workforce shortages. Third, he said patient utilization of services “skyrocketed” in 2024. Joint replacements were 37% higher than they were in 2019, which he attributed largely to pent-up demand coming out of the pandemic. Finally, he mentioned “high cost claimants” and pharmaceutical costs.  Continue reading →

College players may soon get NIL contract lessons

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

College athletics has become a professional sports endeavor, which means 18-year-old student-athletes soon will learn that contracts are enforceable and that they don’t want to get on the wrong side of rich people and powerful institutions with good lawyers. 

The first paragraph comes after Arkansas Edge hired attorney Tom Mars to enforce a contract buyout clause involving former Arkansas Razorbacks backup quarterback Madden Iamaleava. CBS Sports first reported the story.

Let’s identify everyone in the above paragraph. 

Arkansas Edge is the University of Arkansas athletic department’s collective. It represents the department in its name, image and likeness (NIL) agreements that pay players to play for the Razorbacks. 

Continue reading →

Schools, Sanders seek to limit cell phones


Bentonville West High School last school year hung pouches in classrooms where students stored their phones during class periods. Principal Dr. Jonathan Guthrie, left, said that compared to the previous year, there was a 57% decrease in verbal or physical aggression offenses and a 51% reduction in drug-related offenses. Eighty-six percent of teachers like English teacher Amy Groves, right, said they saw a positive effect in student engagement.

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

 Ninth graders walking into English teacher Amy Groves’ classroom at Bentonville West High School slip their cell phones into pouches hanging on the wall, where they remain throughout the 90-minute class period.

The school instituted the practice last year for a simple reason: Students weren’t paying enough attention in class. 

The results? In a survey, 86% of teachers believed the practice had a positive effect on student engagement, while 77% believed it had a positive effect on classroom behavior and 75% said it increased classroom interaction and socialization. Compared to 2022-23, verbal or physical aggression offenses fell 57%. Personal electronic device offenses, where students were using a phone when not allowed, fell 94%. Drug-related offenses such as the use of THC vapes fell 51%. The principal, Dr. Jonathon Guthrie, suspects it became harder for students to plan meetups. 

Groves said the practice has “improved my students’ focus immensely.”

“What that provides is the opportunity for students to actually talk to each other in person and listen to the teacher and look at the teacher when they’re talking,” she said. “I very rarely have any issues with them following the phone policy. And because they’re paying attention, their communicating is better, their grades are better, their understanding is better, so overall it has created a more peaceful environment for us here.”

What Bentonville started last year is now happening on a statewide level. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has created an $8 million pilot project where schools can apply for grants to pay for magnetically locked Yondr cell phone pouches and mental health services for students. According to the Department of Education, 112 districts planned to participate this year.

Continue reading →