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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Early voting began Monday for Arkansas' primary election, which features crowded races for a Senate seat and some of the state's top offices. Voters can begin casting ballots [today] for the May 24 election, which will also include nonpartisan races for state Supreme Court and other judicial seats.

Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) is looking to shut down Trump-inspired primary challengers as his under-the-radar race goes down to the wire. Boozman snagged the former president’s backing in March 2021, got funding from his PAC and frequently highlights his support in ads. But that’s done little to stop his opponents from trying to link themselves to Trump, the party’s de facto leader. The soft-spoken senator is hoping to cut his opponents — former NFL player Jake Bequette and gun rights activist Jan Morgan, the most well-known names among his challengers — off at the pass and avoid what could turn...

At a time when President Biden is at 33 percent approval while Congress sits at 21 percent, there’s one politician who is seeing his numbers rise briskly: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.). Overall, 57 percent of West Virginia voters approve of Manchin’s performance in the Mountain State. That’s a 17-point jump since Joe Biden took office in early 2021. No U.S. senator has seen a bigger increase in support than Manchin. More notably, the former governor has doubled his approval ratings among West Virginia Republicans, with a whopping 69 percent approving of his performance. For context, Biden’s approval in the state...

Outgoing Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) is making an appearance at a popular political speaking event in New Hampshire next week amid speculation he may be eyeing a 2024 presidential bid. The New England Council and The New Hampshire Institute of Politics & Political Library at Saint Anselm College announced Monday that Hutchinson, who is term-limited, will appear at their latest installment of “Politics & Eggs” on April 25. The speaking series in the first-in-the-nation primary state is a mainstay of the presidential campaign trail and also often features other political leaders and analysts. Hutchinson is wrapping up his second...

Governor Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that former President Donald Trump running in 2024 would not affect his decision to run. Anchor Dana Bash said, “Are you seriously considering running for president?” Hutchinson said, “I am, but you’ve got to get through, of course, this year, but that’s an option that’s on the table. That’s one of the reasons that I was in New Hampshire. You had Secretary Mayorkas on, and the border security is such an incredible issue. That’s what the kind of thing I’m passionate about. Whenever you look at it, we...

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson on Sunday became the latest Republican to publicly toy with the idea of running for president in 2024 -- potentially setting up a fierce battle within the GOP if Donald Trump attempts another White House bid. 'I’m not ruling it out. That’s something that is a consideration, an option,' Hutchinson told Fox News of a possible presidential campaign. 'I’m certainly not ruling it out, because this is too critical a time for our nation and it’s a defining moment and I want to not only engage the debate now but keep my options open down the...

The Biden administration's Justice Department warned states across the country on Thursday that any legislative attempt to limit access to sex-change therapies or operations for children could violate federal law. The letter to state attorneys general from Kristen Clarke, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, states that any effort to restrict procedures available to "transgender youth" amounts to "unlawful discrimination based on their gender identity, including when seeking gender-affirming care." Governors in several states have signed laws or issued executive orders meant to protect children from sex-change operations, hormone-blockers, and other medical interventions that switch their biological sex. An...

Election Watchdog Finds 137,500 Ballots Unlawfully Trafficked in Wisconsin, 4.8M Nationwide At Least The TrueTheVote organization found that during the 2020 election, at least 137,500 ballots were cast through an unlawful vote trafficking process. This processing did not take place in just one city, but rather in several of the most populous areas in Wisconsin. See video at link.

Senate Judiciary Committee member Ben Sasse (R-NE) announced Friday night he will vote “no” on Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination, threatening the committee’s approval of the judge. If a majority of Judiciary Committee members do not vote to approve Jackson’s nomination, the vote may result in an 11-11 tie between Republicans and Democrats, forwarding her nomination to the Senate floor with additional procedural steps, meaning the nomination does not have the committee’s recommendation, which under other circumstances is often fatal. A full Senate vote could then mean moderate Democrats may oppose Jackson’s nomination because of her record of soft...

The Republican governor of Indiana has vetoed a bill that would have prohibited biological males who identify as female to participate in female sporting competitions, expressing multiple concerns about the proposed legislation.Gov. Eric Holcomb vetoed House Enrolled Act 1041 on Monday, explaining his reasoning in a letter to Indiana House of Representatives Speaker Todd Huston, also a Republican. Holcomb expressed concern with the bill’s “wide-open nature of the grievance provisions,” believing they made it “unclear about how consistency and fairness will be maintained for parents and students across different counties and school districts.”The governor worries about the potential for the...

The incident took place at about 7:25 p.m. at the Delta N.E.Y.O. Hood-nic Foundation car show The shooting happened in the town of Dumas, about 85 miles southeast from the state capital of Little Rock Arkansas State Troopers were sent to Dumas following an initial report of a shooting outside a local business where the show took place Authorities said that 'as many as 10' people were wounded Investigators have since confirmed that at least one person has been killed in the shooting, according to KARK

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Sunday condemned Russia for what he called the "shocking and horrifying" killing of an American journalist in Ukraine by Russian forces and vowed the U.S. would respond with "appropriate consequences" once the Biden administration obtains more information about the death. "This is obviously shocking and horrifying, and I've just learned about it as I came onto air here, so I will be consulting with my colleagues, we'll be consulting with the Ukrainians to determine how this happened and then to measure and execute appropriate consequences as a result of it," Sullivan told...

Full title: Proposed Legislation Would Enter Tennessee into an Interstate Compact, Creating an Unelected Quasi-Governmental Entity with Broad Powers Including Eminent Domain A bill scheduled to be heard by the House Commerce Committee on Tuesday would enter Tennessee into an interstate compact with Arkansas and Mississippi for the greater Memphis region, creating a quasi-governmental and public entity of unelected commissioners that will be vested with very broad powers, including eminent domain and condemnation of any and all rights or property.

During his presentations of a bill that would enter the state of Mississippi into an interstate compact with Arkansas and Tennessee, the Senate sponsor completely omitted that, if passed, the law would create an unelected quasi-governmental entity with very broad powers, including eminent domain. The bill went on to pass the state Senate unanimously on February 3. SB2716, sponsored by Republican Senator David Parker (R-DeSoto), is a 17-page document that creates the RegionSmart Development District (District) and the RegionSmart Development Agency of the Greater Memphis Region (RegionSmart Development).

Parts of the central U.S. are at risk of a devastating magnitude 7 earthquake within the next 50 years, experts are warning, with added urgency due to what they say is a sense of 'complacency' in those areas. Experts have been predicting a magnitude 7 earthquake in the areas surrounding the New Madrid fault line in Missouri for decades. It covers an area including Memphis, Tennessee, as well as St. Louis, Indianapolis and Little Rock, Arkansas. Despite 45 million people living within the danger zone, warnings have largely been ignored, said Robbie Myers, the emergency management expert from the region....

Trump Wins CPAC 2024 Straw Poll By 49 Points, DeSantis Second At 21%, Mike Pence Gets 0%Mike Pence and Greg Abbott got 0% of the vote.45th President Donald Trump easily won the CPAC straw poll asking attendees who they would prefer to win the 2024 Republican nomination for President with 70% of the vote. The only other potential candidate coming close to being competitive is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, with 21% of the vote. The overwhelming number of potential 2024 opponents received 0% of the vote.Voters were asked “Thinking ahead, if the 2024 Republican Primary for President in your state...

GOP Sen. John Boozman (Ark.) voted with former President Trump more than 91 percent of the time and snapped up an early 2022 endorsement and a donation from his PAC. But as Boozman seeks a third term for his reliably red Senate seat, his primary opponents are coming after him by trying to paint themselves, and not the 71-year-old, as the real Trump candidate. The under-the-radar race has echoes of the broader headaches facing Republicans heading into primaries: anti-establishment challengers trying to claim the former president’s mantle, and his voter base, while they face off with traditionally conservative — and...

@TomCottonAR Good news. Biden's HHS is no longer funding crack pipes. But make no mistake: yesterday's change in policy is because HHS got caught. Statement...

White-tailed deer on Staten Island have been found carrying the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus, marking the first time the variant has been reported in wild animals. The findings add to a growing body of evidence that white-tailed deer are easily infected by the virus. The results are likely to intensify concerns that deer, which are widely distributed across the United States and live near humans, could become a reservoir for the virus and a potential source of new variants. Researchers have previously reported that the virus was widespread in deer in Iowa in late 2020 and parts...

Link only - https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2019/dec/20/documents-allege-payments-arkansas-woman-company-u/?news-arkansas