That's the conclusion of NY Times columnist Tim Egan:
If this case does not sink the presidential aspirations of Huckabee, a leading Republican candidate, it should. By the standards that Republicans launched almost 20 years ago, Huckabee will be Willie Hortonized. But this case also shows, as with an earlier [...]
For the second time today I've received a tip about an expansion of the FBI's announced investigation of aspects of North Little Rock city government related to the indictment of a Cabot bookmaker who allegedly tried to set up a kickback scheme on city contracts. Phone and computer records are' [...]
In a few minutes, volunteers at the Clinton Library will begin reading names of lives lost to AIDS. It's the beginning of an observance of World AIDS Day, which will include display of the largest traveling segment of the AIDS Memorial Quilt on library grounds.
By 10 a.m. tomorrow, 110 12- [...]
This is a must read by anyone with more than a passing interest in the Maurice Clemmons/Huckabee commutation case.
It's by Joe Carter, who directed rapid response and research for Huckabee during his presidential run. Carter studied commutations in depth. He offers a generally supportive view of Huckabee's motivations and actions, [...]
Ozark cop who Tased 10-year-old is fired. Not, strictly speaking, for the jolt.
[...]The Seattle Times has posted documents from the state parole board that bear on the decision by Gov. Mike Huckabee to commute murder suspect Maurice Clemmons' 108-year-prison sentence to immediate parole eligiblity. He said he'd fallen in with a bad crowd after moving to Arkansas, but had turned his [...]
Mike Huckabee tweets that he'll be on O'Reilly's show tonight. What you think the chances are of a Fox host asking tough questions of another Fox host?
Will Huckabee reveal office memos that led to his recommendation for commutation?
Will he reveal office communication with the parole board, all his appointees?
Will he name the [...]
Arkansas Business' Mark Friedman pores over the UAMS books and finds they've papered over operating losses with capital gifts to show a positive outcome for the big medical sciences campus' last fiscal year. Operating losses in October alone were $2.8 million.
Dr. Daniel Rahn, the new UAMS chancellor, hasn't ruled [...]
The Hillcrest Residents Association plans a rally Tuesday at LR City Hall to protest closure of neighborhood alert centers. The issue runs deeper than centers. If they cut code enforcement officers, doesn't matter how many centers are kept open, no enforcement can be done.
The HRA notes all the alert centers' [...]
To clarify matters, here's what state Correction Department spokesman Dina Tyler says the state record shows for a criminal past for Maurice Clemmons (shown in LRPD mugshot), who's being sought for questioning in the slaying of four Washington police officers. (UPDATE on earlier: Clemmons turned out not [...]
Chelsea Clinton and Mark Mezvinsky told friends they are looking toward a wedding next summer.
Interesting. It took almost 60 hours before their e-mails to friends leaked into media. That's an eon in this day and time.
[...]The Atlantic rounds up what no doubt will be a growing list of commentaries on Mike Huckabee's role in commuting the lengthy prison sentence of Maurice Clemmons, a suspect in four police slayings Sunday in Washington. It's mixed. Some sympathy; some criticism.
The early going is marked by confusion.
The Atlantic [...]
(UPDATE: The subject of this item, wanted for questioning in four police slayings, is reportedly cornered by police. Police believe he was wounded in the shooting, based on accounts from people who helped him. He may be dead, according to a Seattle Times report. The Times' photographer is Twittering from' [...]
The Little Rock School District will have a strategic planning committee Tuesday, part of process that might or might not lead to some new ways to target underachieving students.
School Board member Baker Kurrus sounds skeptical, however, about the administration's readiness to meaningfully change the status quo. A note he sent to other [...]
Paul Krugman criticizes the Obama administration for a "strange passivity" about addressing high unemployment. The country needs an emergency jobs program, now. It could begin, he writes, with more aid to hurting state and local governments. A New Deal-type government program is also worth considering.
All of this would cost [...]
The tip I gave you earlier is panning out.
Washington autthorities are seeking Maurice Clemmons, 37, (pictured) for questioning in the slaying of four Washington police officers. Clemmons is wanted in Arkansas, where he has an extensive criminal record, according to unnamed sources in early reports. Clemmons [...]
Your thoughts here.
News dominated today by execution-style slaying of four police officers on coffee break in surburban Tacoma, Wash. At this moment, motive unknown. Suspect not in custody.
UPDATE: It's far too soon to take this very far, but good sources tell me the name of an Arkansas ex-con has' [...]
The golfter doesn't say much, however. He won't meet with cops. They say he doesn't have to do so. He clearly doesn't want to talk in a public way about circumstances of his tearing out of his house erratically in the wee hours. Mystery woman in tow of celebrity [...]
Jason Tolbert watched Mike Huckabee on Fox today so you didn't have to. (I know, as if ....)
He's leaning against a run for president in 2012 at the present time. He likes money better and he apparently wants something akin to unanimous consent from Repubs first.
“The reason I wouldn’t' [...]
The newspapers get thin toward the end of a long holiday weekend. A few notes:
* White County native Beth Ditto, the internationally acclaimed punk rocker, is interviewed today in New York Times.
Q. What music did you grow up hearing?
A. My mother was really into [...]
The Family, a secretive fundamentalist group with tentacles deep in Congress, has gotten plenty of attention recently -- when its members stray (Ensign, Sanford); when its friends try to restrict abortion rights (Stupak), or when they try to make homosexuality a crime punishable by death in Uganda.
We've written before, too, about Jeff Sharlet,' [...]
Arkansas to the Cotton Bowl, or better, with a win over LSU tonight?
Talk about that or whatever else moves you right here. Holiday blogging for me still.
Tweets of the day include:
* Kim Hanke has reportedly revived his long-standing interest in breaking into political life with a run for lt. gov. (Republican; he once [...]
Here's a provocative op-ed as we wait to avidly watch multi-million-dollar coaches deploy semi-pro athletes in Baton Rouge today. It's a suggestion on reducing the "arms race" and commercialization of college athletics. (I know -- pipe dream.)
But in dreams, Congress could end tax deductions for contributions to athletics and thus end taxpayer' [...]
Brummett declares the conventional wisdom today. Obama, Snyder down. Beebe, Halter up. etc.
But Mike Ross cruising to the governor's office in 2014? God help us.
[...]We've referenced it before, but a reader again points our attention to continued reporting on the potential danagers of gas shale exploration on ProPublica, the nonprofit reporting enterprise. Water pollution. Radioactive waste. Lack of adequate state controls. Etc. Lots of food for thought as the drillers poke thousands of' [...]
U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln's pivotal role in health legislation debate remains the political story of the hour.
In that vein, I have on the jump, a piece from Peter Dreier, a California college professor and frequent op-ed writer, on the hypocrisy of Lincoln's professed distaste for a government health program, given [...]
I'm slacking. But not much to report.
* Sen. Gilbert Baker tells Jason Tolbert he's raised $700,000. He'll need that, times five or more, to beat Jim Holt and Stanley Reed and more in a primary and then face Sen. Blanche Lincoln (or Bill Halter).
* I've avoided the stores. My' [...]
The lineup for Sunday talk shows says that Mike Huckabee will be a panelist on, where else, Fox News. Howard Dean will be there to keep him honest.
It's a reminder that only three days remain to enter Norma Bates' Huckabee haiku contest. 18 entries so far. A handsome plaque' [...]
Got a long shopping list but no enthusiasm for plunging into the maddening crowds?
Check out this week's Times and Kat Robinson's cover story. It's a detailed list of good Arkansas food, perfect for giving.
Also in this week's paper:
* Speaking of shopping, you CAN'T buy a North' [...]
James Jefferson rounds up some figures on the bonanza in issue-based TV advertising being experienced by broadcasters as interest groups target Congress on health care, clean air legislation, card check, etc.
KARK, for example, has pulled in $1 million this year, a non-election year, which more than double its political [...]
If so, comment here. Looks like the world is as sleepy as I am.
A Fayetteville reader grabbed the cellphone pix below -- "a statement of sorts," he writes.
David Bazzel reminds us all that there's a football game to be played Saturday (not Friday as I originally wrote erroneously) and a' [...]
Some serious entries follow on the blog, but I'll be busy like many others today cooking for family and friends.
An interesting article in the NY Times shows how regional differences in taste can be tracked by web traffic on a popular recipe site. The big action' [...]
I got an e-mail overnight that an SUV had joined the party inside the Cregeens, the Irish pub on Main Street, NLR.
Not quite, Scott Miller's Argenta News reports. He has the news and photo, as ever on top of all things Argenta.
[...]Be thankful.
Millions of others have risked passage to a separate, unauthorized life in a foreign land to provide for their families. Be thankful, too, that Arkansans are working in the interest of such people and mobilizing for immigration reform in the U.S.
Read on for details of a vigil Monday night in [...]
Be thankful if you do.
Eric Francis directs me to a fine LA Times feature on the desperate lives and violence that preys on homeless who camp along the Los Angeles River.
Nearby lives Sarah Lomeli, an Arkansas woman in her mid-40s who said she keeps a machete or a Louisville [...]
Be thankful if you do.
I got an e-mail last night from Dr. Ralph Freidin of Lexington, Mass., a primary care doctor who participated in last Saturday's free clinic. He's written an article about his experience. He's seen above in a brief clip taken at the clinic.
What, he asks, is wrong [...]
This Business Week cover story is of interest as Black Friday approaches.
Is the stylish discounter Target aping its larger rival, Arkansas-based Walmart, with heavier emphasis on low prices and groceries? Is it changing its corporate identity in desperation?
Little Rockers who welcomed Target as anchor to revitalization of [...]
The pharmacy lobby ads that have overrun the airways hating on Rep. Vic Snyder and Sen. Blanche Lincoln have, I admit, made me consider buying a can of whupass to spray on the grating whine of those cranky old coots saying they won't forget our congresspeople's votes for better health care for [...]
Be thankful out there, y'all.
To help: In case you missed it on our video player, Gerard Matthews has a film piece on some folks' favorites for the day.
[...]
Recent news articles have reported on the slow pace of President Obama in nominating candidates to fill federal judicial openings. Arkansas has three openings, with another on the way in Fort Smith from a coming retirement.
U.S. senators have sent three nominees for each of the openings, but no action has [...]
The PSC today annnounced its approval of a settlement of a SWEPCO rate increase case, with new rates effective today. Rates will rise from 5.2 to 7.1 percent for the average residential customer, with the higher amount on those who heat with electricity.
This includes no recovery for the coal [...]
Larry Norris, director of the state Correction Department, notified the governor's office earlier this week that he intends to retire Jan. 4.
He's been with the department 38 years, 16 as director as of next month, an uncommonly long stint for such a job nationwide. He's the longest-tenured' [...]
The Arkansas Supreme Court docket shows that Circuit Judge L.T. Simes' request for a rehearing of the order suspending him from the bench was denied Tuesday and the mandate was sent to the clerk.
The effect is that Simes is now suspended without pay through 2010 under terms of the court's order [...]
That's the headline on a Newsweek report that attempts to explain why Sen. Blanche Lincoln is such a reluctant vote on health care legislation while representing a state with such enormous needs and, polls show, an electorate favorably disposed toward government intervention depending on how you frame the question.
UA' [...]
Turns out I missed a callback yesterday from Jason Shepherd, who was executive campaign manager for Republican Jim Holt's Senate bid in 2004. He got 44 percent of the vote to Blanche Lincoln's 56 percent, spending about $125,000 (counting a primary) to her $6.5 million.
Shepherd called back today, responding to a message [...]
Trust me, the White House spoof video about the annual presidential turkey pardon will not be received with a chuckle from the haters. Details here.
[...]Blog reader "Couldn't be Better" says he believes this poll result indicates that people who self-identify as Christian on polls (typically majorities in most U.S. polling) do so to say what is expected, rather than as an indicator of beliefs:
More Americans believe a statement about giving "justice to the' [...]
