Free Republic

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Arkansas intends to execute seven death row inmates between Monday and April 27, a pace never seen since the U.S. Supreme Court reauthorized the death penalty in 1976. Gov. Asa Hutchinson initially set four double-executions so the state could use a key execution drug before its April 30 expiration date, but a federal judge stayed one execution, saying prisoner Jason McGehee was entitled to a 30-day comment period following a clemency recommendation. Another federal judge is considering the men's request for stays of execution.A look at the seven men who are scheduled to die and...

The Arkansas General Assembly has declared that “pornography has created a public health crisis,” leading to a broad “spectrum” of public health “impacts and societal harms.” The Assembly also stated that pornography can increase “the demand for prostitution and the sex trafficking and slavery of children and young adults, primarily girls.” The Resolution, HR 1042, is an official recognition by the Arkansas government. It is not a law. It reflects the official view of the legislature and a copy of the Resolution is sent to the director of the Department of Health in Arkansas. Similar resolutuions have passed in South...

OKLAHOMA CITY – Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is looking for Oklahoma entrepreneurs to pitch their made-in-the-USA products to the company’s buyers in a daylong event at Walmart’s global headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. on June 28. Registration has begun at walmart-jump.com and the deadline is May 18. “We are excited to once again invite businesses from all 50 states to meet with Walmart buyers who have one goal in mind: to buy more American products for our stores, clubs and Walmart.com,” Cindi Marsiglio, Walmart’s vice president of U.S. Manufacturing said. “By investing in products supporting American jobs, we are able...

It's easy enough to be in favor of the death penalty for abstract reasons. There's revenge, for one, which goes under the alias of justice. There's obedience to the letter of the law rather than its spirit. There are at least as many reasons to favor the death penalty in legalistic debate as there are prisoners waiting to be lined up and killed, all of whom have names, families, friends and a grave waiting to receive their lifeless bodies once they're put to death: --Don Davis and Bruce Earl Ward, whose executions have been set for April 17. --Ledelle Lee...

Representatives from 13 states including 12 state attorneys general and one governor filed a motion in support of President Trump’s temporary travel ban. From the Dallas Morning News: Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday led a coalition of 13 states in filing a brief with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals defending President Donald Trump’s revised immigration order.In the brief, Paxton and representatives from 12 other states argue that the Trump administration’s new order is legal and falls under the president’s power over foreign affairs and national security. Those joining the brief included Paxton plus AG’s in the...

Mook would not rule out if Clinton was planning to run against President Donald Trump in 2020, but he did say the Clinton camp’s focus is on figuring out the degree to which Russia was involved in the last election cycle. “I’m going to let her answer for that,” Mook said. “I think what happens right now, we’ve got to get to the bottom of what happened in 2016 then we can start worrying about the next cycle.

The state of Arkansas plans to put to death eight inmates over a span of 10 days next month, a pace of executions unequaled in recent American history and brought about by a looming expiration date for a drug used by the state for lethal injections. The eight men facing execution — four black and four white — are among 34 death row inmates in Arkansas, where capital punishment has been suspended since 2005 over legal challenges and difficulty in acquiring the drugs for lethal injections. All eight men were convicted of murders that occurred between 1989 and 1999, and...

Just a link because I don't know the posting rules for this source. A tornado outbreak is shaping up tonight across several states. A lot of people will be asleep during the peak of the outbreak.

The largest and busiest airport in Arkansas would no longer be named after the only president and first lady from the state if a bill introduced in the legislature on Thursday succeeds. The legislation would prohibit public buildings or civil works from being named for anyone living or who served in public office in the 10 years prior to the structure’s completion. [Snip] "You have a president who was impeached for having an affair with an intern in the Oval Office and then disbarred," said state Sen. Jason Rapert, the bill’s author and one of the Arkansas legislature’s most outspoken...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a city’s ordinance banning discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, but it stopped short of saying whether a state law aimed at prohibiting such local LGBT protections is constitutional. The justices reversed a judge’s decision that Fayetteville’s anti-discrimination ordinance didn’t violate a state law prohibiting cities from enacting protections not covered by state law. Fayetteville, a liberal enclave in northwestern Arkansas, is one of several cities that approved local protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in response to the 2015 law....

A new law in Arkansas that bans the most common procedure used in second-trimester abortions is making international headlines. Supporters believe the law prohibiting dismemberment abortion benefits the unborn baby, while opponents believe it punishes the mother. But there's a third life involved: the father. "What if we said to men, 'Before you can have a vasectomy...,'" said State Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock. "That would be so outrageous. But they don't see the outrage in constantly putting the thumb on women to dictate what they can do and not do."

Sens. Tom Cotton and Chuck Schumer reportedly got into an angry confrontation on the Senate floor Friday over Senate Democrats delaying the confirmation of Rep. Mike Pompeo for CIA director, The Weekly Standard reports. Cotton was reportedly irate with Schumer’s delay of the confirmation vote and loudly accosted him on the Senate floor. Schumer retorted that the Senate had never confirmed a CIA director on Inauguration Day, adding that Senate Republicans also did not do so for former President Barack Obama. He continued that Cotton would have known this precedent if he had been in the Senate eight years previously....

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Every third Monday in January, Arkansas state offices are closed in observance of an unlikely holiday: the shared birthdays of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Only three states commemorate both men on the same day, a practice that critics say hurts Arkansas' reputation. Now the Republican governor is reviving an effort to remove Lee from the holiday, but he faces resistance from opponents who complain the move belittles the state's Confederate heritage and from black lawmakers worried about a plan to set aside another day to...

The stock market has been on quite a roll in recent weeks, but signs of trouble continue to plague the real economy. Earlier this week, I talked about the “retail apocalypse” that is sweeping America. Major retail chains such as Sears and Macy’s are closing stores and laying off workers, but I didn’t think that Wal-Mart would be feeling the pain as well. Unfortunately, that is precisely what is happening. USA Today is reporting that approximately 1,000 jobs will be cut at Wal-Mart’s corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas by the end of this month…

Walmart (WMT) , the country's largest private employer, plans to eliminate roughly 1,000 corporate jobs as it looks to boost its e-commerce business and trim costs. The jobs, mainly in the human resources department, will be cut before Jan. 31, as a result of increased e-commerce spending and rising employee wages, an anonymous executive told the Wall Street Journal. When contacted by TheStreet, Walmart declined in an email to comment on the job cuts but said the company has "not made any announcements" on its current corporate structure, adding "... we are always looking for ways to operate more efficiently...

Arkansas Senator slams Obama administration over treatment of Israel at UN, says Palestinian Authority to blame for conflict. Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton (Rep.) doubled down on his criticism of the Obama administration's handling of the US-Israel relationship, condemning on Sunday the White House's decision to abstain on United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 targeting Israel. Cotton, Arkansas' junior senator who strongly opposed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, lambasted the Obama administration's tacit support for the recently passed UNSC resolution which labelled Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria as illegal. Speaking on Fox News on Sunday, Cotton reiterated earlier attacks on...

CONWAY, Ark. (KTHV) -- John Schenck, the co-founder of the Gay Pride Parade of Conway, has died. Schenck's husband and partner of nearly 41 years, Robert Loyd, died, from a heart attack last December. Schenck and Loyd moved to Arkansas in 1978 to care for Loyd's mother, who lived in Damascus. Loyd, who worked as a hairdresser in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Schneck eventually opened a salon on the outside of town. They named the gas station-turned-salon The Lion's Den. It proved so successful, they expanded to Greers Ferry and Heber Springs. In 1986, Schenck and Loyd moved to...

A 33-year-old man is facing a capital murder charge after being arrested in last week's road rage killing of a three-year-old Arkansas boy out Christmas shopping with his grandmother. Gary Holmes was charged after surrendering to police in his hometown of Little Rock, Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Harris said late Thursday. Holmes was the subject of national outrage and a $40,000 reward after allegedly shooting the boy after becoming enraged when his grandmother did not move fast enough after braking for a stop sign.

(CNN)Police are searching for the gunman who shot and killed a toddler during an apparent road rage incident in Little Rock, Arkansas. Investigators are offering a $40,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the person who shot 3-year-old Acen King. The toddler was on a shopping trip with his grandmother over the weekend when the gunman opened fire, police said.The incident began Saturday evening when a motorist behind the grandmother grew agitated that she was not moving quickly enough at a stop sign, Little Rock Police Department spokesman Lt. Steven McClanahan said. The man started honking...

...since the election, Clinton’s weight appears to have taken another dip, and those close to the former prez are allegedly concerned that something else might be going on. Back when Bill Clinton was in the White House, Clinton was said to promote a wild atmosphere, with trips to McDonalds while he was out with the Secret Service dressed to jog. And earlier this year, a former Secret Service agent wrote a book telling tales from the Clinton White House, says the Inquisitr. The book alleges that Clinton carried on affairs with several women, including Eleanor Mondale, daughter of the former...