- Issue Archive for
- Feb 28 - Mar 6, 2013
- Vol. 39, No. 26
- Best Restaurants of Arkansas 2013
News
Back in town
Gov. Mike Beebe speaks to reporters Tuesday. Beebe had harsh words for Lt. Gov. Mark Darr, who signed legislation exempting the concealed-carry permit list from the state Freedom of Information Act as acting governor last week while Beebe was out of town.
Houses of worship in Arkansas deal with lifted gun ban
On Feb. 11, Gov. Mike Beebe signed a bill into law that alters the exemption in the concealed carry handgun statute that had prohibited permit holders from carrying their guns into houses of worship. Called "The Church Protection Act," the new addendum to the law says that church officials may now determine for themselves who can carry a concealed handgun into their place of worship. An emergency clause attached to the bill made the new law go into effect immediately after it was signed.
Best Restaurants of Arkansas 2013
Each year, when it comes time to plan our annual Readers Choice Restaurant issue, we survey the winners, start riffing on what readers got right or wrong and then pretty quickly get too hungry to concentrate and disperse to chow down. We tried to capture that approach in this edition.
It was a good week for grandstanding by the lieutenant governor
Also, for the use of school gun scans, Mike Beebe and Asa Hutchinson and those who don't believe guns solve all the world's problems. It was a bad week for women's reproductive rights and common sense and responding to a Craigslist advertisement.
Adios, Bob
If you look in the back of the Arkansas Times this week, you'll notice something missing: The Observer's pal and spiritual Yoda, the great Bob Lancaster, retired from writing his weekly column a couple of weeks ago, which means he has retired from journalism and a career that stretched all the way back to the reign of Orval Faubus, who once hated Bob so much for something he'd written that Faubus personally saw to it that he was fired as editor of his college newspaper. We'd call that a badge of honor.
Voter ID disenfranchises elderly
As an older Arkansan, I'm very concerned about the bill SB 2 requiring all voters to present a photo ID before they are allowed to vote. I'm concerned for the friends that I take to the polls because they no longer drive and don't have a driver's license or a current photo ID from a job. I'm equally concerned about people with disabilities who may never have had a driver's license or photo ID from a job, or who may no longer have either due to a catastrophic accident or major health issue.
52 dishes we crave in Central Arkansas
Fill up a year with one great eat a week.
Light fingers in Little Rock
If you've looked at the daily newspaper lately, you've undoubtedly seen the gray cinderblock of tiny text that proves one of the major growth industries in the city of Little Rock these days is jacking other people's stuff.
Arkansas Times readers pick best restaurants
As has been recent tradition, this year, all Readers Choice voting took place online (print readers were directed to the online poll).
Arkansas Fresh Bakery: the best bread you never knew you'd had
Ashton Woodward makes artful, delicious bread in relative anonymity
Matthew Bell readies Oxford American restaurant
It'll serve what he calls "refined Southern" fare.
H.A.M., slammed
Hillcrest specialty butcher shop has devoted patrons.
Loblolly serves up old-fashioned (gourmet) ice cream
When Sally Mengel, 26, and Rachel Moore, 25, opened the soda fountain at the Green Corner Store on South Main to serve their Loblolly brand ice cream, it signaled another step in the progress of SoMa neighborhood's revitalization.
The Root: a South Main anchor
The restaurant taps into local demand.
John Beachboard helps Big Orange, Local Lime and ZAZA grow from within
He grooms employees for eatery empire.
Jonathan Wilkins, the king of bar food
He does it all at White Water.
Travis McConnell runs the Capital bar while prepping Butcher & Public
The creator of the Capital Hotel's bacon program returns home to open his own place.
Counting our chickens with Gus's in Little Rock
Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken is a sure bet for next year.
Greenhouse Grille gets it
The opening of the Fayetteville's Greenhouse Grille was one of those rare instances in the restaurant business in which inspiration met pent-up demand and an institution was born.
Columns
Throw dunks, not tantrums
"You would think the news of constructive discussions between [the Department of Human Services] and Legislative Audit staff would please the chairman rather than illicit a tantrum."
Putting the genie back in the bottle
As they came into their leadership roles following the 2012 elections, the moderate, young GOP leaders of the House and Senate emphasized that they expected the current legislative session to be focused on the bread-and-butter issues of economic development, tax policy and Medicaid. In short, they indicated that they wanted to be Republican versions of Mike Beebe, a governor whom House Speaker Davy Carter regularly holds up as the best in the state's history.
In over his head
No job is so small that it's not too big for somebody. Political scientists had thought it virtually impossible for any occupant to embarrass the office of lieutenant governor, the office itself being something of an embarrassment, serving no real purpose.
Drone policy indefensible
We have probably talked and heard more about the Academy Award nominations and winners this month than whether it is right or makes sense for a nation supposedly dedicated to life and civil liberty to be killing its citizens for taking unpopular stances in foreign countries. What does that say about our devotion to life and liberty? What does it say about our ethics?
The media's dangerous obsession with the center
With many Americans alternately bored and infuriated by the latest made-for-TV fiscal melodrama in Washington, something highly unusual happened. A prominent, name-brand pundit published a column about the "sequestration" battle that was not merely smug, lazy and condescending, but factually false.
The voter I.D. law: Pure GOP meanness
You can make a case for passing unconstitutional laws when the sponsors and supporters are driven by moral zealotry, even when it is misplaced, but what can you say for simple meanness?
He's offended?
While the Senate was approving a Republican bill to discourage voting by non-Republicans (minorities, the poor, the elderly), Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, was irked that Democratic opponents spoke frankly of the bill's objectives.
Entertainment
Laundry for the Apocalypse at The Joint
Bill and Kate Isles come to St. Michael's Episcopal Church.
Bielema hits the right notes
Bret Bielema's goodwill tour through the state of Arkansas has been a customarily fleet and spectacularly engaging one, and even though Pearls doesn't want to harp on the distinctions between the new lead Hog and his predecessors, it's an impossible one to simply ignore.
It's time for the Musicians Showcase finals
Sound of the Mountain wins Round 5.
'John Dies' might be bad-good, or maybe just bad
...but gets an 'A' for futuristic distribution.
Cirque du Soleil 'Quidam' at Verizon
Also, 'Sons of the Prophet' at Nadine Baum Studios in Fayetteville, Shinyribs and Kevin Kerby at White Water, Wayne Hancock and Bonnie Montgomery at Maxine's, "Relive your Prom" at Robinson and Ken Stringfellow at Stickyz.
Dining
A.W. Lin's hits all the marks
Offers upscale pan-Asian at Promenade at Chenal.
Cartoons
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Re: This weekend: Intl. Greek Food Festival
I hate to bash what is clearly a local favorite, but after multiple people telling…
- on May 19, 2013
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Re: Sunday morning: IRS, Kochs and movies
Actually, what they've got there in Detroit is a Koch mountain. And, in any event,…
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on May 19, 2013
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Re: UPDATE: FBI confirms State Treasurer Martha Shoffner's arrest, apparently for official misconduct
Schoffner, according to wikipedia, was a real estate agent and state politician prior to becoming…
- on May 19, 2013
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