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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20459024

Morgan Nick was six years old when she was abducted from a baseball field in Alma in June 1995. In a news conference Tuesday, Alma Police Chief Jeff Horner said a former person of interest in the case, Billy Jack Lincks, is now the main suspect in Nick’s abduction.

“The most important thing here is Morgan is still missing, but we’ve reached a point where we can concentrate on one suspect to determine the circumstances surrounding Morgan’s abduction,” he said.

Lincks died in 2000 while serving a prison term for sexual indecency with a child. He attempted to abduct a child about 12 weeks after Nick’s disappearance, about eight miles away from where she was last seen.

A Missouri-based health care charity bribery and embezzlement scheme that had already put several former Arkansas lawmakers in prison had two former firm executives sentenced in federal court in April.

The two were the former chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Missouri-based Preferred Family Healthcare, Inc. The former COO, 68-year-old Tommy “Tom” Ray Gross, received a six-year prison sentence on April 25, and his wife and former CFO, 65-year-old Bontiea Bernedette Gross, received a three-year sentence on Monday. The court also ordered the pair to pay $4.35 million in a combination of forfeitures and restitution.

The sentencing came after both had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to pay bribes and kickbacks to elected Arkansas officials in September 2022. Tom Gross also pleaded guilty to embezzling funds and filing false tax returns.

One Arkansas legislator discovered in the government’s investigation was former state Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson. Hutchinson received an eight-year sentence in 2023 after pleading guilty to false tax returns and federal program bribery charges in the Eastern and Western District of Arkansas and the Western District of Missouri federal courts in 2019. He is the son of former United States Sen. Tim Hutchinson and nephew of former Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

An Arkansas Senate committee unanimously approved two bills Thursday that would regulate cryptocurrency mining operations, and the committee will reconvene Tuesday to hear more public comment on the policies.

There are crypto mines in DeWitt and in the Bono community near Greenbrier, and officials have raised concerns over foreign ownership and whether the mines pose a national security risk. Additionally, Greenbrier-area residents have filed a lawsuit claiming noise pollution from the local crypto mine, which is in Irvin’s district.

Bryant’s bill, Senate Bill 78, would place noise limits on Arkansas crypto mines, prohibit them from being owned by certain foreign entities and allow local governments to pass ordinances regulating the mines.

The bill’s listed options for noise regulations include “using liquid cooling or submerged cooling” techniques, sealing computers into structures that minimize the sound heard outside, and being located at least 2,000 feet away from “the nearest residential or commercial structure.”

Residents or business owners within 2,000 feet of a crypto mine would be able to seek legal remedies regarding noise complaints in county circuit courts, Bryant said.

In what may seem like an unusual pairing, Trinity Episcopal Church and "Love, Titos," the philanthropic branch of Tito’s Handmade Vodka, have teamed up with the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance to establish a community garden in downtown Little Rock.

On a somewhat chilly Friday morning, nearly 200 volunteers came out to the site on south Broadway Street to complete the final phase of the installation, building on work from October of last year, and planting tomatoes, okra, blueberries, squash, and other healthy fruits and vegetables.

A state committee continues its work to build a pro-life memorial on the Arkansas Capitol grounds.

The “Monument to the Unborn” was created through a law the legislature passed in 2023. Bill sponsor Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, said the monument would be “tastefully done.” He wanted the memorial to celebrate the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which immediately made abortion illegal in Arkansas.

The Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission along with the Secretary of State are responsible for installing the monument. Last year, the group sifted through submissions from artists across the state. On Tuesday, the commission landed on a living flora wall, put forth by artist Lakey Goff.

“God is doing a new thing with this wall,” Goff said at a Tuesday meeting of the commission. Abortion was only mentioned once during her presentation.

On the far right of the wall, a plaque will be adorned with Psalm 139. This verse contains the phrase “you knit me in my mother's womb.” Goff says this verse will serve to “bring honor where there was once shame.”

For anyone new to this thinking "that's a lot of religion and god for a government property" I'd like to remind you that Arkansas already has a 12 commandments monument and then all other (non-christian) religious monuments were rejected. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/26/606029241/arkansas-installs-a-new-ten-commandments-monument-at-its-capitol

At least it will be "tastefully done" I guess... I'm sure Hammer knows a lot about taste.

Arkansas Republican Attorney General Tim Griffin has approved a ballot initiative aimed at enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution after having blocked two earlier drafts of the proposal.

“Today, we are one step closer to restoring the freedom that was taken from individuals when Roe v. Wade was overturned,” McHugh said in a statement. “We won’t stop until Arkansans can use their voice at the ballot box in November.”

Although the measure would restore abortion rights for many individuals, it would still offer less abortion protections than were in place prior to Roe v. Wade’s overturn;

I've been trying to get my 3d printed circular knitting machine going for almost 6 months now and I think I'm almost there. I finally realized that it's impossible to crank the heel/toe on this machine - but only because the extra drag of decreases causes it to bind up. It'd totally be possible if the gaps on the spindle were larger so it was less difficult to pull slips/decreases down into it.

Anywho, I gave up on doing everything on the CKM and just cranked a tube (worsted weight - 36 needles) with the intention to do an afterthought everything. I did the heel today. Not great, not terrible, it'll work. I'll try to throw on the toe tomorrow. I definitely should've made it wider so I had a more gradual decrease and a larger heel. But hey - try, fail, learn, do better : )

Arkansas’ removal of thousands of children from Medicaid coverage this year has raised concerns with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, according to a Monday letter from the department secretary to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

In Arkansas, 78,506 fewer children were enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in September than in March of this year, an 18% enrollment decrease, according to HHS data.

Much of the decline resulted from the Arkansas Department of Human Services’ six-month review of the eligibility of Medicaid recipients whose coverage was extended for three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Roughly 420,000 Arkansans retained coverage during that period even if they no longer qualified for benefits because of income or other eligibility limits.

Arkansas lawmakers on Friday allowed the state Department of Finance and Administration to administer a taxpayer-funded $1 million program to provide funds to pregnancy resource centers, which are often religiously affiliated and discourage abortion while encouraging birth.

The department will start distributing the money in January, spokesman Scott Hardin said in an email.

Arkansas has more than 40 of these centers, often called “crisis pregnancy centers.” They operate independently but form a community, the Arkansas Pregnancy Network, due to their shared missions and similar services, Maria Speer, executive director of the Life Choices center in Conway, told lawmakers in August.

Digital advertising was a shared priority among several recipients of last year’s grant. Several centers said they would use the money to target ads toward Arkansans whose online activity suggests they might have an unplanned pregnancy.

Arkansas government transparency advocates proposed a ballot measure on Monday that would define a public meeting and create a special body to help citizens denied access to public records.

Arkansas Citizens for Transparency submitted a proposed ballot title and popular name for the “Arkansas Government Transparency Act,” a companion to a proposed constitutional amendment submitted last week that would create a right to government transparency.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law in September shielding these records from public access after a special legislative session. Sanders advocated for several more exemptions to the FOIA that met bipartisan pushback and did not advance in the Legislature.

A Norwegian liquid food packaging company will open a new $70 million, 300,000-square-foot factory including equipment at the Port of Little Rock, the company announced Dec. 5.

Elopak announced plans to build its first U.S. production facility at the port at 611 Zuber Road. It plans to start with about 80 employees including engineers and printers.

The company produces Pure-Pak gable top cartons – the kind with a triangular top – for milk, juices, plant-based products and liquid eggs. It is the world’s largest producer of fresh liquid carton fiber-based packaging.

The eight plaintiffs in the lawsuit allege the sexual abuse was mostly perpetrated by a former staffer, Emmett Alden Presley. Presley was a licensed counselor and the Ranch’s Director of Social Services.

Family members Bud, Ted and Shirley Suhl lead the facility. The complaint alleges these high-ranking members were told about the abuse and allowed it to continue.

In the complaint, the plaintiffs are only known as “John Doe’s.” John Doe 1 stayed at the facility from 1997 to 2000. He says he was raped by Presley repeatedly during their weekly counseling sessions. He said the abuse happened over three years.

“The several years I spent at the Lord's Ranch were the worst most horrific experiences I can remember,” he said. “He used my trust as a weapon against me,” he said of Presley. The abuse, he said, “has impacted my entire life.”

The descriptions of the abuse listed in the complaint have a similar pattern. Often Presley would force children to perform oral sex and promise them gifts if they complied. Students who refused the abuse were threatened with the removal of privileges like access to phone calls and visits home.