The line is open. Some final notes:

* TODAY AT THE LEGISLATURE: STEEL MILL ADVANCES: The Big River Steel project, authorizing millions in state bonds to provide incentives for construction of the private project, was approved on a voice vote in a Senate committee this afternoon and then later approved in the Senate itself by a 26-6 vote, despite continued strong opposition from an existing competitor in Mississippi County, Nucor. The six nays were Republicans Bledsoe, Hendren, Hester, King, Sanders and Williams. Not voting were two Republicans, Hickey and Irvin, and one Democrat, Chesterfield. This was the enabling legislation. The appropriation, which will come later, will take 27 votes. UPDATE : Roby Brock at Talk Business reports that the Beebe administration slipped appropriation authority through earlier in a broad Economic Development agency bill now in the House.

Advertisement

ALSO AT THE LEGISLATURE: A $25 million tax break on gas and electricity sales taxes passed out of a House committee. (No, silly. Not the common people’s sales taxes. Manufacturers sales taxes.) The House again passed over a vote on a bill to move school elections from September to the November general election.

* JUDICIAL NOMINEES: Black legal and community groups — NAACP, Legislative Caucus, Ministerial Alliance, Flowers Law Society — have scheduled a news conference Wednesday on federal judicial nominations. It’s easy to conclude the point is to apply pressure to President Obama to choose a black lawyer for nomination to two federal district court openings in Arkansas. Sen. Mark Pryor has sent a slate of candidates for judgeships in the eastern and western districts of the state. His choices include one black candidate, Derrick Smith of Little Rock, for the eastern district. Scuttlebutt has made Circuit Judge Jay Moody the favorite for that appointment, at least on Pryor’s end, depending on the president’s wishes. The president rejected initial choices for a previous judicial openings in Arkansas, but didn’t pick a minority candidate. There’s currently one black judge among the state’s district judges.

Advertisement

* A GUIDE TO EVOLVING TOLERANCE: Another Republican senator, Mark Kirk of Illinois, announced support for gay marriage today and the Democrats in opposition dwindled to a handful, including Sen. Mark Pryor. Not that he’s likely to evolve, but Talking Points Memo offered a guide on how other senators have moved in that direction. Careful on suggesting anything to Pryor. As he’s made very clear on another hot button topic recently, HE IS ARMED!

* RAW MILK: Another vote could happen this week on legislation to allow farm sales of small quantities of unpasteurized milk. Government and business lobbyists don’t like the idea. But add to the supporters the well-known chef, Lee Richardson, who outlines the reasons at length in an article now on our Eat Arkansas blog.

Advertisement

letty.JPG

* IN PASSING: LETTY DUVALL: Ernie Dumas sends word that Letty Duvall, widow of Leland Duvall, died today in a Russellville hospital. She was 92.

Arkansas Times readers became acquainted with Letty when we published an excerpt from “Dearest Letty: The World War II Love Letters of Sgt. Leland Duvall,” a University of Arkansas Press book edited by Dumas. The trove of letters she kept when Duvall began courting her by correspondence during the war told the tale of a self-taught farm boy who became a columnist and editorial writer for the Arkansas Gazette and his love of a girl he met at a Methodist church on Crow Mountain.

Advertisement

Duvall left manuscripts of a couple of novels that Dumas is now also preparing for publication. Ernie tells me that Letty kept the full manuscript he’d prepared of all her late husband’s letters and read a few daily in her final years. Leland Duvall died in 2006. Humphrey Funeral Home in Russellville is handling arrangements.

*POLICE BEAT: ROBBERY SUSPECT SOUGHT/BURGLARIES INVESTIGATED: Police think the same gunman is responsible for robberies of two Subways, one Friday at 1 Stagecoach Heights and just before midnight Monday at the Subway at Markham and Van Buren. Also from the LRPD: cops are searching for leads on spate of residential burglaries in Hillcrest and the Heights, homes on North Lookout, Stonewall, Fillmore, Buchanan, Tyler. Doors broken in during daytime while homeowners away and stuff taken — from wine and booze to sterling silver place settings.

Advertisement

* WHO PAYS FOR OIL SPILLS?: This was an amazing piece of news to me. Pipeline companies pay into a fund that is used for cleanups when disasters happen. EXCEPT ….. that fund will be used in the Mayflower disaster but Exxon will not have contributed any of the money in the fund being used for that line. A tax on oil moved through the lines does not apply to unconventional materials such as the tar sands heavy crude being moved in the Exxon Pegasus pipeline. Said a group opposing the Keystone pipeline, which would also enjoy the same tax loophole:

“The great irony of this tragic spill in Arkansas is that the transport of tar sands oil through pipelines in the US is exempt from payments into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. Exxon, like all companies shipping toxic tar sands, doesn’t have to pay into the fund that will cover most of the clean up costs for the pipeline’s inevitable spills. In other words, Exxon is about to cash in on the ‘please spill tar sands oil in my kid’s playground’ subsidy.

“Tar sands pipelines like the one spilling in Arkansas and the proposed Keystone XL are the definition of a lose-lose situation— we get stuck with toxic spills in our communities and extreme weather from the climate change it causes, but get little of the gasoline destined for foreign markets. In light of yet another spill, it’s time for President Obama to say no to the Keystone XL pipeline once and for all.”

On the jump, a joint statement from the Sierra Club and others on the higher risk posed by transportation of Canadian tar sands, whether in Arkansas or by the proposed Keystone pipeline

Advertisement

50 years of fearless reporting and still going strong

Be a part of something bigger and join the fight for truth by subscribing or donating to the Arkansas Times. For 50 years, our progressive, alternative newspaper in Little Rock has been tackling powerful forces through our tough, determined, and feisty journalism. With over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 email subscribers, it's clear that our readers value our commitment to great journalism. But we need your help to do even more. By subscribing or donating – as little as $1 –, you'll not only have access to all of our articles, but you'll also be supporting our efforts to hire more writers and expand our coverage. Take a stand with the Arkansas Times and make a difference with your subscription or donation today.

Previous article Arkansas “private option” experiment full speed ahead after releases from feds Next article The most decadent burger on earth