Week in Review Podcast

The Outrage Edition

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Posted By Lindsey Millar | Permalink | Comments (2)

An early open line

I'm checking out early to work on a project. The line is open. Stuff to add:

* REPUBLICANS RIP TREASURER SHOFFNER ON MISSED DEALDINE: I mentioned this earlier in the day and now the Arkansas Republican Party is making hay about a paperwork screwup that could cost 14 Arkansas counties a total of $1.1 million in federal support for road and other projects. It's kind of complicated. As the Association of Arkansas Counties tells it, the legislature in 2011 transferred authority for disbursing of federal turnback on Forest Service timber sales from the state Education Department to State Treasurer Martha Shoffner's office. Shoffner got a letter notifying her of the change, but the assumption appears to have been that a veteran Education Department employee would continue handling the paperwork as she always had. That employee retired. The paperwork wasn't filed by the Sept. 30 deadline. When the Forest Service called Shoffner's office about the missing documents, Shoffner's office got on it and filed the papers 20 days late, on Oct. 20. The state and the congressional delegation are now appealing denial of the money, which would have been distributed about this time of the year. The state is arguing that the state substantially complied. Counties' plans for spending the money had been drawn up and reviewed by federal officials, for example. A meeting a few days ago went well, county officials said. Now, they are waiting word. Meanwhile, Republicans have another example of a state foulup by a Democratic officeholder to add to the Forestry Commission. They want Shoffner to admit her "gross mismanagement." Perfectly fair. I just wish they'd issued the news release yesterday, when Visa, the credit card company, was using Shoffner as a pinup for its PR gimmick to market the credit card peddler's supposed good citizenship through a video game distributed to high schools. The immediate impact of the problem is delay of planned work, except in one case. Montgomery County may have to lay off three workers already employed for upkeep of rural parks. Here's a full rundown from the Association of Arkansas Counties. Stone County managed to get its paperwork in on time. Said AAC's Jeff Sikes: "The county treasurer had a note on her calendar or a tickler in her calendar that there was something that needed to be filed in September. When she didn't receive anything she started calling and, eventually, was directed to a Forest Service website where she downloaded the election form. She mailed the form in herself." See jump for Shoffner's response

* NEW MISSION FOR FT. SMITH FIGHTER WING: A new mission has been won for the 188th Fighter Wing in Fort Smith, which had been in danger of being cut. It will lose 20 A-10 aircraft, but will begin responsibility for a remotely piloted mission. That IS the future, isn't it?

* HEADSTART: Stephens Media has been following the nitty gritty, but it looks like the Head Start operator in Russellville — CDI — that ran into financial troubles is going to be mostly replac3ed by another operator. The new operator will take over federally funded slots, but some confusion remains about whether the troubled operator will get to stay in place and receive money provided through the Arkansas ABC program (which makes no sense in terms of efficiency or anything else). A statement from Arkansas DHS:

The federal government has hired CDI out of Denver to take over the HeadStart slots relinquished by CDI Russellville. Both the Headstart and ABC slots that CDI Russellville has will remain at the same facilities in the same counties so that there will be no disruption of service to the children. DHS will increase its monitoring of the programs. Historically, the CDI Russellville programs have been very high quality with few problems. DHS has no indication that any state funds were misspent. (ABC funds are reimbursed, meaning we pay for services already rendered.) Management from CDI out of Denver will be here on Monday to begin the transition of the Headstart program, but that contractor doesn’t officially take over until Feb. 10. In the meantime, the facilities continue to be open and the children continue to receive services.

* CARE ABOUT VETERANS?: I'm hearing that a stout grassroots response is underway to the city's crazy emergency ordinance to remove by-right zoning approval for everything from churches to liquor stores with specific emphasis in between on agencies that serve people in need of mental health services, such as the VA vet center proposed for 10th and Main. The ordinance is aimed at giving the City Board a tool to kill the vets center. Great question posed by a reader:

I notice a psychologist's office downtown on Cumberland Street. Will all psychologists and psychiatrists have to apply for a conditional use permit in the future? Will the psychiatric floors of St. Vincent and Baptist hospital have to apply for permits if they seek new facilities. What about the new Psychiatric Research Institute at UAMS. Would the new Wolfe Street center for Alcoholics Anonymous (on Louisiana, behind the proposed vet center Main Street) have been approved under this ordinance? The list goes on.

This ordinance hasn't been thought through, beyond the kneejerk effort by Mayor Mark Stodola and U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin to stop at nothing to prevent establishment of an adequate, carefully conceived facility for people who fight our wars. The ordinance would add a conditional use permit to hurdles the vets center must jump. Stodola believes he has the votes to kill it. If enough people call city directors, that vote count could change.

Here's how to reach your city directors.

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Posted By Max Brantley | Permalink | Comments (25)

Arkansas Politics

Republican Burris doubles down — put poor kids to work!

• WORKFARE: Too many deadbeats aren't working, John Burris suggests. We suggest he get a job.

It's all about Medicaid with Burris. Too bad he doesn't understand much about the program for the very poorest Arkansans. Said he to Roby Brock:

We’ve got to change the way we do business in Arkansas. The real problem, the real solution to get people off Medicaid rolls is to give them a job, make them able to self-sustain themselves without government assistance.

Only a small percentage of Medicaid recipients are able-bodied people — about 5 percent, the Democratic Party says. The rest are nursing home residents, the disabled and children.

Newt Gingrich, you've met your soulmate. John Burris appears to say:

Kids, grab a mop. There are school toilets to be swabbed.

Disabled folks, mount your wheelchairs. Rep. Burris has work for you to do.

Granny and gramps, get somebody to lift you out of that nursing home bed and into a geri-chair. Maybe you can scrape plates in the cafeteria or something worthwhile.

Oh, and the rest of you in the 5 percent: I know, I know. Many of you actually ARE working. But your income is so low that you still qualify for Medicaid? How much sleep are you getting? Sleep less. Get another job, you sorry sonofabitchin' welfare fraud.

(LATE CLARIFICATION: Some people appear to have missed that I tried to signal that the passage immediately above was satirical exaggeration for effect. No, John Burris didn't utter those words, though those he did utter about curing Medicaid finances by putting those people to work were all too real.)

No kidding, Rep. Burris. Do you really have a clue about who gets government assistance and how much and in what form they receive it? And what their condition would be without the mite we supply them? This is the future of Arkansas and America if Burris becomes majority leader. Mark it down.

PS — How about John Burris get a job — besides sucking off the taxpayer teat at the Capitol?

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Posted By Max Brantley | Permalink | Comments (32)

Showcase

Don't Stop Please wins Showcase round two

• Brian Chilson
• Don't Stop Please, Round 2 winner

How to describe Conway's Don't Stop Please? "Cosmic folk" occurred to me early on in the band's winning set last night, when the six piece did a a shuffling Southern ditty built on two guitars, a stand-up bass, keys, a saxophone and drums that occasionally drifted off into weird directions. In the spirit of that great Robert Palmer band The Insect Trust (but influenced by different drugs). Or The Damn Bullets with more going on. But then just about everyone switched instruments and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Anna Horton sang a smoky, Latin-tinged lounge number. While playing a ukulele. Later, after everyone had switched instruments a couple times, and we'd seen a trombone, banjo and harmonica make appearances, DSP did the whitest proto-rap funk song perhaps ever performed. The hook was "My ass is luxurious." And at one point, Horton asked, "Where my lazy sluts at?"

Yeah, it was unfocused. But perhaps not surprisingly for a group called Don't Stop Please, the band isn't used to playing 30 minute sets, singer/guitarist Joel Ludford told me after the set. So maybe they felt like they needed to move across the wide spectrum of their abilities quickly. It certainly showcased their crisp musicianship and charisma. And it worked with with the judges.

Sammy Williams: Cover multiple genres, all extremely well.

Cheyenne Matthews: "Where my lazy sluts at?!" Well, it's cool they aren't biased."

Clay Fitzpartick: "Great hair! They are extremely confident. Talented kids."

Epiphany: "Screaming in time, head banging on a stand-up bass, pinwheels, plus a megaphone. Good times."

Isaac Alexander: "Genuinely surprised by this band. Great musicianship. And fun to watch and listen to. Each song was a new thought/movement. Looked like a lot of fun. I'd like to be in this band for awhile."

Video on the jump.

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Posted By Lindsey Millar | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reviews / Music

Review: Austin Lucas

• Austin Lucas played a house show in Little Rock last night.

Austin Lucas has a booking agent. Austin Lucas is signed to a record label. Hell, he is signed to a few record labels. So why is Austin Lucas doing a tour of house shows? Because he wants to, that’s why. I had a chance to speak with Lucas following last night’s house show in Little Rock. He explained to me that his roots are firmly in the soil of DIY punk music and that is what he grew up doing — playing house shows. He said it offers him a different kind of interaction with the crowd.

“People that come to house shows are the die-hards,” he said. He’s right; the house was filled with as many as 40 die-hard fans. Many called out for their favorite songs, and when he indulged the request, most were singing right along with him, some in harmony. There was no amplification; this was an acoustic set in the truest sense and included no fewer than 12 songs, two of which were newly written. All were very well received by the capacity crowd, but for me the highlights were “Hollywood,” “Dead Factories,” “Go West,” “Somebody Loves You,” and “Wash My Sins Away.”

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Posted By Joe Meazle | Permalink | Comments (1)

Showcase

2012 AT Showcase Round 2: Holy Angell

Last night Holy Angell represented several firsts for the Showcase as best as I can figure. It was the first time we've had anything that could be described as a black metal band participate. And it's the first time when a vocalist exclusively screamed.* And it was awesome. And a good number of folks stuck around past midnight to see it.

They got to see lead screamer Philip Schaaf contort himself theatrically as he seemed to be pushing out the soul yawps. Sometimes he held his back and arched backwards. Sometimes he sort of slumped forward holding his belly. Alan Short (guitar), Kevin Raines (drums) and Kiffin Rogers (bass) all killed it, too.

Said the judges:

Sammy Williams: "Old school black metal, battered and deep-fried. I have no clue how those screams came from a human."

Clay Fitzpatrick: "I love this type of music. I wish vocally I knew what was happening, but the band killed." And then he drew an upside down cross.

Epiphany: "I'm wondering if dude practiced his screams (which were in tune or did he just feel 'em out? Regardless, it works."

Isaac Alexander: "A moving performance. Passionate and perfectly executed. I'm becoming more metal everyday."

*There were a few times I thought I could hear what started as a word and ended in a scream.

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Posted By Lindsey Millar | Permalink | Comments (0)