Arkansas Times

Hazy, good times

Back when The Observer was a pup, new in Little Rock and working a real job for the first time, I lived in the second floor of an old brick house near MacArthur Park with a pair of roommates who lit out for bigger cities long ago.

Dodging the bullet

The recent natural gas study released by the University of Arkansas for the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce shows only the positive side of the equation without counter balancing the minuses.

Defender of animals, Wayne Pacelle, comes to Little Rock

Wants more room for sows and hens.

• by Doug Smith
• Tags: Arkansas Reporter, Wayne A. Pacelle, Humane Society of the United States

Proud parents

Chelsea Clinton speaks Sunday at the Clinton Presidential Center as her parents look on. The Clintons were in town to debut an exhibit honoring Bill and Hillary Clinton's mothers, Virginia Clinton Kelly and Dorothy Howell Rodham. The exhibit is open until Nov. 25.

• by Brian Chilson

Inconsequential news quiz

Bald Knob made Comedy Central's "Colbert Report" last week, with copious ripping on the town's name ("... throbbing just beneath the skin of Bald Knob is an old problem"), for a story about a local pastor's successful attempt to stifle a threat which he said could lead to vandalism, methamphetamine use, burglary and sex. What was the problem?

Jennings Osborne and the eye of the needle

His worldly possessions went under the hammer last week. The collection of a lifetime, scattered to the winds.

• by David Koon
• Tags: Cover Stories, William Jennings Bryan Osborne Jr., Shretta Morris, Jennings Osborne, Mitzi Osborne, Breezy Osborne, Thomas Blackmon, Bryant "Bear" Morris, Slideshow

OA to create Southern restaurant, venue

The Oxford American magazine has won a $290,000 grant to transform its new headquarters on Main Street (in the space formerly occupied by Juanita's restaurant) as a place for the arts, built around a branded restaurant featuring Southern cooking.

GOP forgets Obama role in state surplus

Who is more out of touch with economic reality, the reigning leadership of the national Republican Party or the neophyte version in the rising Arkansas GOP?

• by Ernest Dumas
• Tags: Ernest Dumas, Mike Beebe

Total war

Absolutely pitiless, Republicans intensified their War on Women last week, defeating a bill that would give women a better chance of winning lawsuits against employers who pay them less than men for doing the same job.

• Tags: Editorials, John Boozman

Caution: voter fraud

Republicans have been raising the alarm for years about voter fraud. It's a concern, yes. But the most worrisome fraud is ON voters, not BY them.

• by Max Brantley
• Tags: Max Brantley, Bruce Westerman

Obama's realpolitik drone strategy

There's a definite Catch-22 aspect to the presidency. Anybody crazy enough to want the job probably shouldn't be allowed to have it. That said, anybody who thought Barack Obama was going to deal with terrorists by sending flowers and proposing group therapy is certainly naive enough to work for the Nobel Peace Prize committee.

• by Gene Lyons

Flack flak

"It's worth noting that Forbes caught quite a bit of flack because its article posted numerous incorrect population figures for the various cities when compared with the latest Census counts."

• by Doug Smith

Barth: By the Numbers: 40 + 5

Runoff elections have been around for over a century and are regular features in politics in the South. Most southern states adopted the runoff once one-party Democratic reign was established with the disenfranchisement of African Americans and the demolition of Populist threats to Democrats.

• by Jay Barth
• Tags: Jay Barth, Scott Ellington, Gene Jeffress

Also militant

And speaking of war, how about those people who want to get rid of the First Amendment? A report on their rally at the state Capitol last week showed they've gone past angry words and started waving their fists in the air. They may be brandishing guns before long, their priests working them into a state.

June havoc

June was the best month even before the advent of the pink tomato made it official.

• by Bob Lancaster

Pearls about Swine: Hogs riding luck into CWS

Could this band of Razorback baseballers be any more endearing or more aggravating?

• by Beau Wilcox

Rebirth of 'A Loss of Roses' at Rep

Theater gives neglected William Inge work another chance.

• by Bernard Reed
• Tags: A&E Feature, "A Loss of Roses", William Inge, Bret Lada, Jean Lichty, Austin Pendleton, Jane Summerhays

Dave Chappelle to Robinson

And War Chief at Stickyz and more.

• by Robert Bell and Lindsey Millar

Hawthorne Heights plays Juanita's

Plus, Band of Heathens does Dickey-Stephens.

'Prometheus': brilliant set pieces, stupid plot

There are two types of passionate filmgoers in this world, and "Promethus," the sci-fi attempted epic by director Ridley Scott, is bound to split them into warring factions.

• by Sam Eifling

Capers comes close

But doesn't always distinguish itself.

• Tags: Dining Review, Capers

Little Jimmy applies to LR Christian

• by Tommy Durham
• Tags: Orval, Little Rock Christian

Facepalm!

• by Tom Tomorrow