GOP no’s on Sanders pick show prison uphill battle

Something noteworthy happened March 20: Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ appointment to the state Board of Corrections came up for a Senate confirmation, and eight Republicans voted no.

That vote further illustrates the challenges Sanders will have in building her proposed prison in Franklin County.

The 19-11 vote was about the appointment of Jamie Barker, a former Sanders deputy chief of staff and now a lobbyist, to the board that governs the state’s prisons.

Barker had already been serving on the seven-member board. In fact, he had been elected chairman 4-3 with the support of the three other Sanders appointees. The three appointed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson voted against his chairmanship. 

His appointment required 18 Senate votes for him to remain. If it had failed this time, it could have come up for another vote when some of the five absent senators were present. Continue reading →

Carlton Wing: State’s break with PBS paused, but still could happen

Arkansas TV’s split from PBS is on pause, but the relationship is hardly on solid ground, and it may take a major donor to save it.  

That’s the situation after the Arkansas PBS Commission voted March 12 to take a 180-day pause from its previous decision December 11 to disaffiliate from PBS.

PBS provides more than half the station’s programming. Disaffiliation would mean the station would no longer broadcast “Sesame Street” or “Masterpiece Theater.”

That first disaffiliation decision in December resulted in a public backlash and an overflow crowd at the March 12 commission meeting. Former Arkansas first ladies Gay White and Barbara Pryor co-chaired a group opposing the breakup.  Continue reading →

Is SAVE America Act worth all the trouble?

vote, Mark Moore, 16-year-olds, Arkansas, primaries, Goodson, photo ID, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, SAVE America ActMost Americans agree with requiring voters to present an ID at the ballot box. It’s already the law in Arkansas. Should it be a federal law, and should the government also require people to present a birth certificate or a passport in order to register to vote?

Those questions arise as Republicans in Congress, under President Trump’s leadership, seek to pass the SAVE America Act.

The bill would require voters to present a photo ID when voting in federal elections and to provide documentary proof of citizenship – generally a passport or birth certificate – when registering. 

The House of Representatives passed the bill, 218-213, with one Democrat voting with Republicans. All four members of Arkansas’ congressional delegation voted for it. It’s now in the Senate, where Arkansas Sens. Tom Cotton and John Boozman are co-sponsors.  Continue reading →

Ten Commandments ruling put schools between rock and hard place

Ten Commandments BrooksWhat do you do when you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place? Two Arkansas higher education institutions are choosing the rock. All but six public schools will have to make their own decisions. 

The rock is the law plus the lawsuit that could come as a result of obeying it. Act 573, passed last year, says every public school district and higher education institution must conspicuously post the Ten Commandments in every classroom and library. The law specifies that the posting must be the Protestant King James Version displayed on a 16-inch-by-20-inch poster or framed copy. The Commandments must be provided through private donations; otherwise, schools don’t have to post them. 

The hard place is a federal judge’s ruling this week that states that the law is unconstitutional, but only directly applies to six K-12 public schools. The limit exists because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year stating that judges cannot issue “universal injunctions” that reach beyond the parties in a case.

In other words, schools and colleges can obey the law and potentially get named in a lawsuit. Or they can disobey the law and, perhaps, face legal consequences for that. Continue reading →

Will voters take into account Bryan Norris’s ‘salty language’?

How important is a candidate’s use of online “salty language”? The question arose last week regarding past messages posted on the X social media platform by Bryan Norris, candidate for secretary of state.

Norris placed first in a three-person race in the Republican primary March 3. He faces state Rep. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, who finished a close second, in the March 31 runoff. The runoff is necessary because no candidate won a majority.

The secretary of state’s most noteworthy duty is being in charge of elections at the state level. The officeholder also maintains and secures the State Capitol and administers business filings. 

Norris’ posts came to light on social media last week. In one, he spelled out “f- you” in all caps in a comment directed at Sen. Tom Cotton. Several other posts also are not publishable in a family newspaper.

There was another where he said President Lyndon Johnson, the CIA and Israel assassinated President John F. Kennedy. He told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that he was “probably halfway asleep when I wrote that, if I did.” Continue reading →