Ex-legislator crossed the bright red line

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

June 25, 2019

I’ve long believed that most legislators, like most people, try to do mostly the right thing most of the time.

I still believe it, but it’s becoming harder to make that argument – particularly this week after former Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, the governor’s nephew, decided to plead guilty to federal corruption charges in Arkansas and Missouri.

Hutchinson had pleaded innocent to corruption charges over the past nine months, but he ended his fight after federal prosecutors filed a new bribery charge Monday saying he accepted $157,000 to try to change state law in order to allow orthodontists to practice dentistry. With the walls closing in, he pleaded guilty to three charges with a maximum sentence of 13 years.

Hutchinson becomes the sixth recent legislator to plead guilty or be convicted of corruption charges. In addition, a current legislator, Rep. Mickey Gates R-Hot Springs, was arrested after being accused of not paying taxes, and not filing state tax returns from 2003-17. He didn’t deny not paying taxes but said he was working through the problem, and he’s still in office. In fact, last year he was re-elected. Continue reading →

With that big hog farm, it was time to fold ‘em

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

June 20, 2019

If you’re a red-blooded Arkansan, you know what words follow these: “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to …”

In “The Gambler,” it’s “fold ‘em.” In politics and the legal environment, it sometimes is “settle,” as I’m sure Gov. Asa Hutchinson knows, along with the owners of C&H Farms.

Hutchinson and the farm owners realized it was time to walk away before it came time to run. So that’s what both sides did with an agreement to close that big hog farm near the Buffalo National River.

Hutchinson announced June 13 that the state would pay Richard and Phillip Campbell (the “C”) and Jason Henson (the “H”) $6.2 million to close the concentrated animal feeding operation located 6.6 miles from Big Creek, which flows into the Buffalo National River. Of that, at least $5.2 million will come from the taxpayers, with the rest coming from private donations through The Nature Conservancy. Continue reading →

Sanders for governor? Things just got interesting

By Steve Brawner

© 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

June 18, 2018

The 2022 Arkansas governor’s race last week went from “potentially a competitive campaign” to “things just got interesting.”

The conventional wisdom was that Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin would face Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, with state Sen. Jim Hendren potentially running and then the winner of that Republican primary opposing whoever the Democrats could find. The Republican primary would be a good race, but it was still three years away, so there were plenty of other things to talk about.

Then last Thursday, we learned via presidential tweet that Sarah Huckabee Sanders, President Trump’s press secretary and Mike and Janet Huckabee’s daughter, is coming home to Arkansas. Trump fueled an already existing rumor by tweeting he hopes Sanders runs for governor.

Sanders confirmed nothing. She might decide to cash in on her celebrity while being a mom, rather than try to return to the Governor’s Mansion where she spent much of her childhood.

But if she runs for governor? That’s must see TV. Continue reading →

How ocean trash became Greta the Great White Shark

Angela Haseltine Pozzi poses next to one of her creations at the Clinton Presidential Center.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

June 13, 2019

Angela Haseltine Pozzi’s a-ha moment came when she was walking along her beloved southern Oregon beach and saw a “mosaic of plastic” – pieces so small she realized they were turning into sand.

“I always felt that the ocean was something that would never change, that would always be the same and be that beautiful constant, serene beautiful place. And I was horrified to know that we were really hurting the ocean so much, so I really decided that my mission in my life was going to have to be to save the ocean,” she said with a laugh.

The artist and art teacher founded Washed Ashore in 2009 at age 51. It has created 75 works of art from 22 tons of trash washed up on the Oregon coastline to call attention to ocean pollution. Pozzi has done this with help from a staff of 10 and more than 14,000 volunteers. Twenty pieces are on display at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock until Oct. 27.

How big is the problem? Her website says the world produces 300 million pounds of plastic annually, and less than 10 percent is recycled. In some places overseas, trash-infested rivers are pouring plastic into the ocean. Some of the plastic litter in Arkansas’ recently flooded areas likely will end up in the sea. Plastic is not biodegradable and can take hundreds of years to disintegrate (turn into tiny plastic pieces). Sea creatures mistake it for food and eat it, so it enters the food chain. Ocean currents have created the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is twice the size of Texas, between California and Hawaii. There are four other garbage patches worldwide. Trash including a plastic bag has been found in the Mariana Trench seven miles below the surface. Continue reading →

So, Hutchinson’s coding push is a big deal for Arkansas

By Steve Brawner

© 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

June 11, 2019

At first glance, Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s initiative requiring high schools to teach a computer science course seemed more like a single than a home run. It seemed nice, but small.

But the results have been big for Arkansas.

When the initiative started in 2015, fewer than 1,100 high school students were taking a computer science course, and fewer than 20 teachers were trained to teach it. This past school year, more than 8,000 students took a course – more than 2,400 of them females – and the state now has more than 370 trained teachers.

On June 10, education leaders from 30 states, Washington, D.C., and Canada met at the Governor’s Mansion for the National Computer Science Summit for State Leaders. Participants discussed increasing computer science education opportunities, and meanwhile sang Arkansas’ and Hutchinson’s praises. Continue reading →