Scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop today out ahead of a cold front, with additional development possible overnight Wednesday right along the cold front.
• Thunderstorms that become severe will be capable of producing damaging winds (up to 60 mph) and marginally severe hail (equal to or greater than 1 inch).
• The best chances for seeing severe thunderstorms will be this afternoon and early evening
From battlefield tours in Prairie Grove to sunset boat cruises in DeGray Lake, Arkansas State Parks hosts more than 42,000 educational programs, activities, and special events.
In Arkansas, there are 52 state parks in 48 counties covering 54,643 acres.
If you haven’t visited one of our state parks this summer, now is a perfect time to start planning. July is National Park and Recreation Month. And in Arkansas, we have a reason to celebrate.
Park and recreation professionals play a vital role in bringing people together, providing essential services, and fostering the growth of our communities. They make a positive impact on our state every single day. Parks help protect open spaces and natural resources. They also play a crucial role in our overall health and help to fight obesity by providing activities and resources for all people.
No matter where you live in Arkansas, a state park is nearby. The beauty of Arkansas’s parks is that they are all unique in their own way and all free for you to enjoy in your own way.
State parks include 12 swimming beaches, 37 boat launches, 9 marinas, 19 fishing piers, and access to 24 lakes and 18 rivers.
There are over 450 miles of walking and horse riding trails and the Monument Trails provide a world-class mountain biking destination within Arkansas State Parks.
In addition to providing recreation for Arkansas families, state parks are playing an essential role in our economy. Our parks attract more than 7,600,000 visitors annually. Visitor spending to our state parks, including goods purchased from local businesses, is estimated to have a $1 billion impact every year.
We encourage you to celebrate National Park and Recreation Month by exploring our parks. You can find a list of events, trails, and accommodations at arkansasstateparks.com
By Sarah Cato
U of A System Division of Agriculture
LITTLE ROCK – As summer moves along, the season is running according to plan for many Arkansas crops – including annual pest issues.
FOURTH OF JULY FLIGHT – Extension specialists and county agents say growers should expect an influx of the Helicoverpa zea, also known as the corn earworm, cotton bollworm or tomato fruitworm, with a main concern for corn and tomato crops. (Division of Agriculture photo.)
Extension specialists and county agents across Arkansas are seeing an increase in Helicoverpa zea, also known as the corn earworm, cotton bollworm or tomato fruitworm. But specialists say this influx is to be expected this time of year.
“This is what we call the Fourth of July flight,” said Ben Thrash, extension entomologist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “Our moth trap numbers have been up the past couple weeks, and growers should be keeping an eye out.”
With soybeans and cotton still early in the season, the main concern with this flight is corn and tomatoes.
“Tomatoes and sweet corn are a prime target for serious losses due to tomato fruitworm feeding,” said Aaron Cato, horticulture integrated pest management specialist for the Division of Agriculture. “It’s important for growers to get out and scout tomatoes as soon as possible so control can be achieved prior to those larvae moving on to their second, third, or fourth fruit to munch on. Anyone with sweet corn that isn’t Attribute Plus or Attribute II needs to be applying insecticides at two- to three-day intervals, after silks are seen, to prevent significant infestations.”
Although cotton and soybean may not be a worry yet, Thrash said the worms could be moving into those fields soon.
“Bollworms are in cotton fields south of us in Texas and Louisiana,” he said. “The worms we’re seeing now will be coming out of corn into cotton and soybeans in about 28 days, maybe a little earlier. We usually see issues about the third or fourth week of July.”
As the growing season continues, it’s important for producers to be aware of annual insect pest issues. Data from moth traps for Helicoverpa zea and other common Arkansas pests are tracked and uploaded into interactive maps. Find up-to-date data and resources below:
Horticulture insect pest monitoring, interactive map
2023 county trap catches for Arkansas row crop pests
MP144 for insecticide recommendations, also available at county extension offices.
Mention of product names does not imply endorsement by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.
By Mary Hightower
U of A System Division of Agriculture
LITTLE ROCK — Nga Mahfouz is bringing more than 25 years of public and private sector experience as she joins the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture as its general counsel.
Mahfouz, of Hot Springs, earned her juris doctorate at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law after earning a B.S. in accounting from the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania.
Portrait of Nga Mahfouz, general counsel for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Kerry Rodtnick)
Before joining the division, Mahfouz served in the Arkansas attorney general’s office as senior assistant attorney general for the agencies division and assistant attorney general for the civil litigation division. Some of her work with the attorney general’s office was with two-year colleges.
Her private sector experience includes serving as a chief legal officer for RP Holdings Group and as an associate with Provost Umphrey. Mahfouz also served as staff attorney for the City of Bryant and staff litigator for the Arkansas Municipal League.
Mahfouz’s move to the Division of Agriculture seemed like a natural transition.
“I represented two-year colleges for eight of the 10 years I worked at the Arkansas attorney general's office,” she said. “Moving to a university job seemed like an excellent way to professionally develop the skills I had acquired as a legal adviser to institutions of higher education.
“My knowledge of the substantive laws relevant to higher education, my previous experience advising colleges, and my commitment to regularly training clients will serve me well as I begin my new role,” Mahfouz said.
Deacue Fields, head of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said that “We are fortunate to have someone with Nga’s depth of experience working for our team. With her background in both the public and private sectors and for entities dealing with domestic and international affairs, she’s a good match for the work we do.”
Mahfouz said she was looking “forward to being part of a team that has such a large presence in every county in the state. There will be tremendous opportunities to forge new relationships and offer training.”
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.
By John Lovett
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station
HOPE, Ark. — More than 130 people braved the heat Wednesday at the 2023 Horticulture Field Day to hear from experts with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture on issues facing Arkansas specialty crop growers.
Crowd of field day participants listens to researcher's presentation.
FIELD DAY — The 2023 Horticulture Field Day featured talks on a variety of subjects, including pest and weed control. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo)
The Southwest Research and Extension Center hosted the annual event with information on growing blackberries, watermelons, peaches, pumpkins and ornamental trees. People from 27 counties in Arkansas and two counties in Texas attended.
Management tactics to combat pests were a dominant theme across the field trials, including research that seeks pumpkin varieties with natural tolerance or resistance to the dreaded melonworm that damaged a significant portion of the state’s pumpkin crop in 2020-2021. Melonworm, Diaphania hyalinata, is a tropical moth species that migrates to Arkansas each year from coastal regions from August to October.
Aaron Cato, extension horticulture integrated pest management specialist, said the pumpkin trial includes nine varieties from four different cucurbit species planted in mid-June and again after July 1. The experiment, supported by a Specialty Block Grant administered by the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, will also help establish an action threshold for the pest and investigate other sustainable management tactics.
Matt Bertucci, assistant professor of horticulture, is testing more than a dozen varieties of seedless watermelons from five seed companies to determine growth quality in Arkansas. The study, also supported by a Specialty Block Grant, includes varieties like Exceed, Onza, El Capitan, Crackerjack and Blackjack. Bertucci included several varieties of seeded cantaloupe in the study to help determine the number of days to ripen in Arkansas.
Bertucci said he hopes his study can provide Arkansas growers with growth and management information more specific to Arkansas. He added that most major seed companies evaluate their varieties in states with larger horticultural industries, like Florida. “But what if some of these varieties that do well in Florida come up short in Arkansas?”
Bertucci's melon study seeks information like fruit count, fruit size, sweetness level and ripening date.
To help manage annual grass and small-seeded broadleaf weeds in watermelon fields, Bertucci said Dual Magnum, a trade name for S-metolachlor, now has a five-year, 24(c) pre-emergent herbicide registration with the Arkansas State Plant Board for use in watermelon fields. He also remarked on the new registration of Optogen (bicyclopyrone) as a “clean-up” material in the row middles. Bertucci said that Optogen was federally registered for use in watermelons late last year.
Bertucci recommended specialty crop growers inspect the Division of Agriculture’s MP44 publication for more information on herbicides registered in Arkansas.
Theresa Mitzler, a Miller County Master Gardener, said she has attended the Horticulture Field Day since 2017 to learn from researchers and extension specialists.
Roderick Greene of Camden also attended to support his operations at Titan Farm, where he grows sweet potatoes and cut flowers.
“It was worth the heat,” Greene said. Temperatures swelled into the high 90s with high humidity by noon.
Other Division of Agriculture faculty who presented sessions at the field day included:
Anthony Bowden, assistant professor of horticulture and ornamental extension specialist, gave a presentation on grafting Japanese maples and Eastern Redbuds.
Wendell Hutchens, assistant professor of turfgrass science, provided guidance for dealing with Large Patch, Spring Dead Spot and Gray Leaf Spot.
Amanda McWhirt, horticulture extension specialist, described how to use a rotating cross-arm trellis system to grow blackberries.
Hannah Wright-Smith, extension weed specialist, provided steps to take when reestablishing an abandoned peach orchard, and updates on turfgrass herbicide trials.
Daniel Rivera, director of the Southwest Research and Extension Center, thanked the guests for their attendance and commended his staff for their diligence in preparing the grounds for the researchers’ studies.
To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.
By David Robinson
LITTLE ROCK — A federal grant of more than $11 million will provide five additional years of support to the Center for Musculoskeletal Disease Research led by Charles O’Brien, Ph.D., at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).
The $11.5 million Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) Phase 2 grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) branch of the NIH follows a 2018 Phase 1 award of $11.3 million to establish the bone research center.
COBRE funding aims to help establish multidisciplinary, collaborative and synergistic research centers in states with lower rates of federal research funding.
Team members of the UAMS Center for Musculoskeletal Disease Research include:, front row: Jinhu Xiong M.D., Ph.D., Amy Sato, Ph.D., Jesus Delgado-Calle, Ph.D.; second row: Janeelle Whitfield, Melda Onal, Ph.D., Qiang Fu, M.D., Ph.D.; third row: Charles O’Brien, Ph.D., Maria Almeida, Ph.D., Roy Morello, Ph.D.; back row: Intawat Nookaew, Ph.D., Ha-neui Kim, Ph.D., and Elena Ambrogini, M.D., Ph.D.
by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)
Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Herb Wright on Friday (June 30) ruled that the Arkansas LEARNS Act cannot go into effect until Aug. 1. The ruling, if it stands, could complicate the past few months of efforts by the Gov. Sarah Sanders’ administration to implement the law.
The case was brought by residents of the Marvell-Elaine School District and education advocates. The State Board of Education had voted to direct Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Oliva to place the district under the management of the nonprofit Friendship Education Foundation through a transformation contract made possible by the LEARNS Act.
The plaintiffs had sued saying lawmakers had erred in voting on the bill and its emergency clause at the same time. The Arkansas Constitution says the votes on the two are to be separate. The votes were recorded separately by the House and Senate clerks.
https://talkbusiness.net/2023/06/judge-rules-that-learns-act-not-effective-until-aug-1/
by Michael Tilley (mtilley@talkbusiness.net)
The relief was palpable among many of the 350 who gathered Thursday (June 29) to open the U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith. It was a project 16 years in the making. Doug Babb said what is now a “glorious opening” was a “difficult task” and sometimes felt like an “impossible dream.”
Babb, chair of the U.S. Marshals Museum Board of Directors, said a year after it was announced Fort Smith was selected as the museum site, the Great Recession hit. That would be among several “extremely harsh setbacks” during the process to fund and build the national museum, Babb told the crowd.
“We had a difficult task. We had to raise $50 million,” Babb said, adding that “Today, our dream is a reality, and I thank you all for that.”
The Fort Smith Police Department Color Guard stand near the Samuel M. Sicard Hall of Honor prior to the beginning of Thursday’s (June 29) ceremonial opening of the U.S. Marshals Museum.
KUAR | By Josie Lenora
Last month, Gladys Anderson, who lives in the Bono community in Greenbrier, started hearing a loud, unbearable sound.
A constant high-pitched hum, ranging from 60 to 70 decibels, is coming from a cryptocurrency mine built less than a half-mile away from her house.
Crypto mines are large collections of computers built to harvest cryptocurrency, a completely digital form of money not reliant on any central authority. The computers in Greenbrier are surrounded by a tall, opaque orange fence and signs that say “no trespassing.”
Josie Lenora/KUAR News
A black gate marks the entrance to a cryptocurrency mine in the Bono community of Greenbrier. A nearby resident complains the mine emits a constant, unbearably loud noise.
The U.S. Marshals Museum expects to tell the story of our nations’ Marshals beginning July 1st, 2023!
Founded in 1817, Fort Smith is now celebrating its bicentennial milestone. With an exciting past, a vibrant present, and a strong future, Fort Smith provides the perfect setting for the U.S. Marshals Museum – and an entertaining travel destination for you and your family. Use this page as a guide to help plan your trip. We look forward to your visit!
Museum Address: 789 Riverfront Drive, Fort Smith, AR 72901.
Hours Of Operation: Open: 9a-5p Daily starting July 1st, 2023.
Memberships: Learn more about Memberships available.
Contact: info@usmmuseum.org, (479) 242-1789
Our Mission
The Mission of the U.S. Marshals Museum is to form a national center of heritage and legacy, disseminate knowledge, and inspire appreciation for the accomplishments of the U.S. Marshals Service.
Our Vision
The U.S. Marshals Museum will inspire Americans across the country—both now and for future generations—to live with the core values of the U.S. Marshals Service: “Justice, Integrity, and Service.”
By Ryan McGeeney
U of A System Division of Agriculture
LITTLE ROCK — From the time he was a boy spending summers on his grandparents’ farm, Anthony Bowden knew he was destined for some aspect of agriculture. But it wasn’t until the final semester of his undergraduate studies that he veered from row crop agronomy to horticulture.
NEW HIRE — Dr. Anthony Bowden, extension ornamental horticulture specialist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. (Division of Agriculture photo.)
“I really thought what I wanted to do was research agronomy,” Bowden said. “But my last semester at Auburn as an undergrad, I took a horticulture course with Dr. Daniel Wells, and realized that this is what I really want to do.
“My grandmother kept pristine flower and garden beds, and I’d help her with that — but as a 10-year-old boy, I just didn’t think it was something I wanted to do as a career,” he said. “But that course changed my thinking.”
In May, Bowden left his position as a research associate with Mississippi State to join Arkansas’ Cooperative Extension Service, the outreach and education arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. As extension’s new ornamental horticulture specialist, Bowden is taking on a role last filled by Jim Robbins, who retired from the Cooperative Extension Service in 2022.
Having worked as a teaching assistant throughout his undergraduate career, Bowden continued teaching as a graduate student at Auburn University in Alabama before pursuing his Ph.D. in plant and soil sciences at Mississippi State University.
“I fell in love with teaching — I was a teaching assistant every semester I was at Auburn,” Bowden said.” I wanted to teach at the college level. I had some of the greatest teachers in horticulture. But everything at Auburn led me to Mississippi State. I was more focused on research there, with Dr. Tricia Knight, also an outstanding horticulture researcher.
“She really fired the passion that had lay dormant in me, to be a horticulture researcher,” he said.
In his new role, Bowden works directly with commercial horticulture retailers and wholesalers across Arkansas.
“That’s everything from greenhouses that produce plants to the retail garden centers that sell them,” he said. “Basically, if they have an issue, I help them figure out what’s going on.”
Wayne MacKay, head of the Division of Agriculture’s horticulture department, said that Bowden was a natural fit for his new position with the Cooperative Extension Service.
“Dr. Bowden’s experience in ornamentals research and extension was exactly what the department was looking for to support the Arkansas ornamentals industries,” MacKay said.
As a research associate in Mississippi, Bowden studied ways to increase labor efficiency for nursery and greenhouse operations. He said he plans to continue research in that area in Arkansas as he works to support horticultural entrepreneurs.
“I’ve looked at it from the propagation angle — plant propagation places a large demand on labor in nurseries and greenhouses,” Bowden said. “If we can address labor efficiency issues at the front end of plant production, we can make the entire business more efficient and profitable.”
Bowden said he also hopes to revive the Arkansas Selects shrub program, previously championed by Robbins.
“It’s a process of evaluating and identifying shrubs that will perform well in Arkansas landscapes,” he said. “It’s similar to the Arkansas Diamonds program — you end up with well-tested plants for the unique Arkansas climate.”
Bowden said that in the 20 years since the Arkansas Selects program was active, many new shrub varieties have been released to the market.
“I’d like to start a study in Hope and Fayetteville and evaluate how certain shrubs handle the heat, drought and other issues we sometimes get,” he said.
In the past week, Bowden learned that the Division of Agriculture’s Southwest Research and Extension Center, located in Hope, was selected as a site to host a display garden for the All-American Selections program. The program, he said, is the oldest, independent testing organization of flower and edible varieties in North America.
“Being selected as a display garden location will be a fantastic resource for both consumer and commercial horticulture in the state of Arkansas,” Bowden said. “Once the garden is planted in 2024, both the industry and the end consumer can visit and see which varieties have been selected as both national and regional winners based on the exhaustive testing each entry into the program undergoes.”
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.
By Sarah Cato
U of A System Division of Agriculture
CLARKSVILLE, Ark. — Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has proclaimed June as Arkansas Blackberry Month and the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture celebrated by hosting a field day to showcase its research and education efforts.
A MONTH OF BERRIES — Margaret Worthington, associate professor of horticulture for the U of A System Division of Agriculture, addresses attendees during the blackberry field day in Clarksville earlier in June. (Division of Agriculture photo.)
The 2023 Blackberry Field Day, hosted in partnership with the Arkansas Blackberry Growers Association at the Fruit Research Station, welcomed almost 90 blackberry growers from Arkansas, Missouri, Texas and Oklahoma. The research station is a part of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the Division of Agriculture.
The Division of Agriculture is world-renowned for its blackberry varieties, which are grown on every continent except Antarctica. In 2017, blackberry production in the U.S. was valued at $31.1 million, according to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center.
The field day kicked off with indoor presentations on blackberry aromas and efforts to boost public interest in blackberries.
Promotion research
“We’ve partnered with the Arkansas Blackberry Growers Association to increase blackberry promotion in Arkansas,” said Lizzy Herrera, extension horticulture program associate for the Division of Agriculture. “We’ve created several promotional materials in an attempt to market blackberries as the healthy, fresh and local treat we know they are.”
With funding from the Specialty Crop Block Grant, administered by the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, Herrera said a survey was distributed last year to assess marketing habits, pricing, and what type of promotional materials growers would like to see. These answers were used to create recipe cards, stickers, road signs, and other promotional materials. Sales dollars for participating farms will be tracked over two years.
Increasing herbicide options
Matt Bertucci, assistant professor of horticulture for the Division of Agriculture, discussed his research on utilizing 2,4-D choline, a post-emergent broadleaf herbicide, in blackberry production. The chemical is not currently labeled for use in blackberries in Arkansas.
Pre-emergent herbicides, which target germinating seeds, are typically used to control broadleaf weed species. But pre-emergent herbicides can fail over time and are not effective on perennial broadleaf weed species.
“You may be wondering why we’d spray a broadleaf herbicide on a broadleaf crop,” Bertucci said. “Our goal is to apply enough chemical to kill the weed, but not enough to hurt our plants.”
Bertucci’s research aims to pin down that sweet spot of how much herbicide will effectively control broadleaf weed populations without lowering yield or fruit quality, and, hopefully, get the product labeled for use in Arkansas blackberries to give growers more options to control problematic broadleaf weed species. This research is funded by the IR-4 Project, an organization with a focus on developing data required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the registration of pest management tools for specialty crops.
Rotating Cross Arm Trellis
Amanda McWhirt, horticulture production specialist for the Division of Agriculture showed attendees the rotating cross arm trellis, or RCA, used in her current research trial looking at labor data, fruit quality, and canopy conditions compared to the traditional T-trellis. However, one major benefit to the RCA comes with the recent surge in early season freezes Arkansas fruit growers have suffered the past few years.
“We’ve had many growers implement the RCA on their operation with great success,” McWhirt said. “It creates a really attractive wall of blackberries that is great for U-Pick operations, and several have said it’s saved them from the freezes we’ve been dealing with the past several years.”
The RCA trellis allows growers to lay the plants down, closer to the ground. This, paired with a cover, keeps the buds warmer during early-season cold snaps, oftentimes saving them from significant cold damage. However, the RCA helps battle summer struggles as well.
With the RCA, plants produce fruit on one side of the trellis. During the summer, producers can rotate the trellis to keep the fruit in the shade and reduce sun exposure, which McWhirt said is a common cause of red drupe, white drupe, and sunscald. This practice also reduces temperature and lowers humidity within the canopy, making a less-favorable environment for spotted wing drosophila, a common pest of blackberries. But the environmental characteristics aren’t the only advantage when it comes to controlling spotted wing drosophila on an RCA.
“We have also seen increased coverage in our insecticide sprays targeting spotted wing on the RCA. It gives us a nice wall of berries and your sprayer will hit them dead on every time,” said Aaron Cato, horticulture IPM specialist for the Division of Agriculture. “Because of this, we think it is possible that the RCA requires less spray volume compared to our traditional T-trellis. It may not seem like much, but if you’re covering a ton of acres, reducing 10 to 20 gallons of water can save a lot of time.”
Cato said other cultural control options are a must as well. He suggests harvesting often, keeping fields clear of discarded or culled berries and moving harvested fruit into cold storage as soon as possible.
The field day had an extended tour that touched on the blackberry breeding program, summer tipping reminders, blackberry fertility, and more. Learn more about blackberry production in Arkansas at uaex.uada.edu.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.
by Kim Souza (ksouza@talkbusiness.net)
Inflation pressures aren’t expected to curtail July 4th spending. The National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts spending will be $9.5 billion, up 21.7% from $7.8 billion last year. The increase, if realized, comes from more people celebrating and higher overall prices.
Average spending, according to the NRF, is $93.34 and will mostly be on food items and alcohol, which is up from an $84 average last year.
Numerator reports more consumers are celebrating this year but noted that 75% will look for ways to save money as gasoline prices are again above $3 per gallon.
https://talkbusiness.net/2023/06/july-4-spending-estimated-to-increase-more-than-21/
We are expecting dangerous heat to build throughout the duration of the week. It will be imperative, especially as we near the middle of the week, that any location lacking electricity and/or access to air conditioning will be at a greater risk for heat-related illnesses.
High Temperatures and dangerous heat index values will increase for the duration of the week across Arkansas.
• The most concerning days for heat-related illnesses will be on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday where both the air temperature and dewpoint temperature will increase.
• The reason will be a warm front lifting through the state on Wednesday leaving a more moist airmass across the state in its wake.
by Roby Brock (roby@talkbusiness.net)
Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Rhonda Wood remembered her colleague Justice Robin Wynne and outlined her vision if she is elected Chief Justice in 2024 – a vision that includes creating magistrates to make the trial process faster and more efficient in the state’s court system.
Justice Wynne died last week after being re-elected to an eight-year term in November 2022. Wood said she and Wynne had a close relationship in part due to having the same initials.
“He was a lovely, lovely man. I worked with him for ten-and-a-half years because we served on the Court of Appeals together, we came on the Supreme Court together,” she said. “We would say, ‘Hi, R.W.’ to each other because it was ‘Robin Wynne, Rhonda Wood’. People got our names confused, nobody could figure out who we were.”
Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Rhonda Wood.
by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)
U.S. Senators John Boozman, R-Ark., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark. announced two U.S. Department of Transportation grants have been awarded to infrastructure projects in Arkansas.
The city of Russellville will receive a $23,752,759 for a 13.8-mile expansion of its Connected Trail System, connecting the areas north of Interstate-40 to the south at Lock and Dam Park.
Additionally, the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) has been awarded $25,000,000 to reconstruct approximately 3.6 miles of Old Stagecoach Road (Highway 5).
by Kim Souza (ksouza@talkbusiness.net)
Dustin Faulkner, a third-generation Arkansas farmer, is part of an aggressive plan by the world’s largest retailer to save billions of gallons of water in rice farming.
Faulkner lives south of Jonesboro in Harrisburg, where he oversees 26 Ditch Farm Partnership with his wife Kristy and teenage daughters Alyson and Abby. The family farms around 3,500 acres, with about one-third of that being rice he sells to Walmart. He also sells rice and wheat to beer maker Anheuser-Busch while improving sustainable farming practices.
He said running a regenerative farm is important because the land and its resources must be preserved for future generations. He was introduced to Walmart by third-party sustainability partner Indigo Ag, whose mission is to connect farmers to higher-valued markets while using sustainability practices.
Dustin Faulkner walks his 3,500-acre farm in Harrisburg just south of Jonesboro inspecting the growth of rice that will be sold to Walmart for its Great Value Long Grain brand. Faulkner has been selling rice to Walmart since 2021 and is one of several farms in the region taking part in sustainable farm practices.
by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)
The U.S. Department of Commerce released details Monday (June 26) of a $42.45 billion high-speed internet grant program and Arkansas will receive more than $1 billion as a result.
The “Internet for All” initiative is a component of Biden’s “Investing in America” infrastructure agenda.
Arkansas will receive $1,024,303,993.86 through the program. The state must submit a proposal describing how it will run its grant program within 180 days from June 30, 2023.
KUAR | By Tess Vrbin / Arkansas Advocate, Antoinette Grajeda / Arkansas Advocate
A year after abortion effectively ended in Arkansas, more Arkansans than ever are seeking permanent sterilization, and abortion access groups have seen their costs increase.
A renewed focus to implement policies experts say would improve maternal health saw mixed results, and Arkansas’ maternal mortality rate continues to be among the worst in the U.S.
Arkansas was one of several states with a “trigger law” that banned abortion in June 2022 almost immediately following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade.
John Sykes/Arkansas Advocate
Arkansas Pregnancy Resource Center’s office in west Little Rock provides testing and other services for pregnant people. It was one of nearly two dozen facilities that received state funds in 2022 and 2023 directed at entities that help those experiencing an unintended pregnancy give birth.
KUAR | By Josie Lenora
A member of the Arkansas Supreme Court died Wednesday. According to Arkansas Business, Associate Justice Robin Wynne of Little Rock died at age 70. His cause of death is unknown.
A graduate of Harvard and the University of Arkansas School of Law, Wynne was reelected to a second eight-year term in November. He was reelected in a nonpartisan runoff election with 58% of the vote.
“Our democracy depends on a fair, impartial and independent judiciary,” he told the Arkansas Advocate in November.
Courts.Arkansas.Gov/Courts.Arkansas.Gov
