Saturday, May 17, 2014
Make that Dr. Mara Leveritt. UALR honors a famous grad
Posted By Max Brantley on Sat, May 17, 2014 at 7:53 PM
I was going to wait until morning, but too many fans at UALR demand instant news coverage of UALR commencement today at which Chancellor Joel Anderson awarded an honorary Ph.D. — Doctor of Humane Letters — to Mara Leveritt, who graduated from UALR 40 years ago. Dr. Anderson taught her then.
Mara Leveritt is the co-founder, godmother, senior editor, award-winner and, still, conscience of the Arkansas Times, which itself came to life as a scrappy newsprint magazine 40 years ago this fall. Would we still be here today without her immense contributions? Doubtful.
Thanks and congratulations, Dr. Leveritt.
Mara continues her work on a trilogy of books on the West Memphis 3, her passion and obsession and a key part of the lifeline that saved three wrongly convicted East Arkansas youths. If that story be her fame and glory, be assured that it was really a small part of her legacy of advocacy, compassion and courage here.
UALR put commencement on YouTube. Her segment starts at 1:41:45.
Speaking of Mara Leveritt
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WM3 supporters rally at State Capitol, call for case to be reopened.
May 5, 2015Marking the twenty-second anniversary of the deaths of Stevie Branch, Chris Byers and Michael Moore, three eight year old boys left in a muddy ditch after being murdered in West Memphis on May 5, 1993, about 30 people rallied on the steps of the Arkansas State Capitol today, asking that the state to reopen the investigation into the boys' deaths. /more/
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Former prosecutor defends actions in Howard murder case
April 28, 2015Mara Leveritt reports on a newspaper interview by the former prosecutor, now Circuit Judge Tim Cooper whose failure to provide the defense with all available evidence led to the reversal of Tim Howard's death sentence and his new trial this week in Little River County. Leveritt challenges his version of events. /more/
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Jury set for Tim Howard murder retrial
April 24, 2015A jury of six men and six women was seated today for the trial of Tim Howard which is to begin Monday. In a subsequent pretrial hearing, for which the jury was not present, Circuit Judge Charles Yeargan denied the motion filed last week by Howard's attorney that had sought dismissal of the charges against Howard due to alleged prosecutor misconduct. /more/
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Murder trial begins with Mara Leveritt in courtroom
April 23, 2015Tim Howard's retrial on two murder charges in Little River County begins today in Ashdown and Mara Leveritt, who's chronicled the Death Row case over the years, will be in the courtroom. /more/
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Petition drive started to convince Beebe to pardon the WM3
October 2, 2014Mara Leveritt passes along information about a new change.org petition drive asking Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe to pardon Jessie Misskelley, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin before his term as governor comes to an end. /more/
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Mara Leveritt wins 2014 Porter Fund Literary Prize
July 22, 2014The Porter Fund, founded by Little Rock novelists Jack Butler and Phillip McMath in 1984, has announced writer and Arkansas Times contributing editor Mara Leveritt as the recipient of the 2014 Porter Fund Literary Prize. Past award winners include Kevin Brockmeier, Trenton Lee Stewart, Roy Reed, David Jauss and Donald Harington. /more/
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Reading in the Rock
July 17, 2014Summer book picks from locals. /more/
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Talk with Mara Leveritt, Jason Baldwin at NLR library Wednesday
July 1, 2014The William F. Laman Public Library in North Little Rock will host a discussion with author Mara Leveritt and and West Memphis Three defendant Jason Baldwin via Skype at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the library. /more/
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New Damien Echols and Lorri Davis book 'Yours For Eternity' out today
June 17, 2014"There comes a point when you realize that you might not have a lot of time left, and there's a lot of work to be done." That's what Lorri Davis told Arkansas Times contributing editor Mara Leveritt in an interview back in 2004, her first-ever public address. At the time, the Arkansas Supreme Court had just rejected Davis' husband Damien Echols' most recent appeal and she felt the situation was dire. /more/
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Today in Arkansas: Pryor takes Cotton to task for voting against job development
June 3, 2014On today's episode, Max also talks briefly about Arkansas tax revenue, the closure of Barbara Graves Intimate Fashions and Mara Leveritt's new book, "Dark Spell." /more/
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