Category: Arkansas

Arkansas Senator Suspended Over Filing Frivolous Complaint

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—An Arkansas state senator won’t have access to Senate offices and can’t participate in legislative meetings after the Senate on Tuesday ruled he made a frivolous ethics complaint against a fellow lawmaker in retaliation for sanctions he received earlier this year. By a 26–4 vote, the majority-Republican Senate approved its ethics committee’s recommendation…


Former Missouri Charity Executives Plead Guilty in Widespread Fraud Case

Two former Missouri-based non-profit executives pleaded guilty Thursday to their roles in a multimillion-dollar public scheme that involved embezzlement and bribing Arkansas elected officials, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Bontiea Bernedette Goss, 63, and her husband, Tommy Ray Goss, 66, received favorable legislative and official actions in return for bribes and kickbacks they, and…


Study Says Cutting Off Breasts Beneficial to Trans-Identifying Youth, But Critic Calls It ‘Terrifying’

Controversy is swirling over a new study on the impacts of surgically removing breasts from biologically female patients as young as 13 who have been struggling with gender-related distress. The Chicago study, published on Sept. 26 in the distinguished peer-reviewed medical journal JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association) Pediatrics, reported that such surgeries have…


Beyond Meat COO Arrested for Biting Man’s Nose in Parking Lot Altercation

The chief operating officer of plant-based meat producer Beyond Meat was arrested this weekend after allegedly biting a man’s nose during an altercation that took place in Arkansas. Doug Ramsey, 53, was arrested on Sept. 17 on charges of terroristic threatening and third-degree battery, according to the Washington County, Arkansas, information page. Ramsey, who stepped into the…


Sarah Sanders Released From Hospital After Cancer Surgery

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, a Republican who is running for governor in Arkansas, was released from a hospital Saturday after undergoing surgery for thyroid cancer. “Following successful surgery on Friday to remove her thyroid and surrounding lymph nodes and in consultation with her physician, Sarah was discharged from an Arkansas…


These US Cities See the Largest Increase in Rent Prices

While New York, California, and Boston, Massachusetts, continue to be the most expensive rental markets in the country, some unexpected locales have actually experienced the largest increases in one-bedroom rental prices year over year. The August report from Rent.com puts Greensboro, North Carolina, at the top of the list, with rent hikes of 74.2 percent,…


Arkansas Man Accused of Sexually Assaulting 31 Children

ARKADELPHIA, Ark.—Prosecutors have charged a southwest Arkansas man with 132 counts accusing him of sexually assaulting 31 children over 25 years. Court records show Barry Walker, 58, of Glenwood, is charged with rape, engaging a child in sexually explicit conduct, computer exploitation of a child, producing or directing a sexual performance by a child and…


Storms Blamed in Deaths of 3 in Michigan, Ohio, Arkansas

MONROE, Mich.—Severe storms that brought damaging winds, heavy rains, and flash flooding to parts of the Midwest and the South were blamed for the deaths of three people, including two children in Michigan and Arkansas as well as a woman in Ohio. Monday’s storms also knocked out electrical service to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses…


Ex-FBI Agent Pleads Guilty to Destroying Evidence

A former FBI agent said he is pleading guilty to paying a business to wipe his computer hard drive to make it unavailable for forensic examination, according to a statement. Former FBI agent Robert Cessario was charged with corrupt destruction of record in an official proceeding in connection to the trial of former Arkansas Republican…


Court Upholds Arkansas’ Use of Sedative in Executions

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld Arkansas’ use of the sedative midazolam in its lethal injections. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court judge’s ruling upholding the state’s execution process. U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker in 2020 ruled that the state’s use of midazolam…