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Wednesday, December 31, 2008 - 15:54:01
Ringing in the New Year
Early for you. Late for me. Mortar blasts and fiery rockets are already exploding all over Amsterdam and a huge throng has gathered in the city's Dam central plaza to greet the midnight countdown. Not me. I'm in a hotel overlooking this canal, dusted by snow earlier today. We had a family dinner over an Indonesian-influenced "rice table meal," partially pictured below, and I'm not long for the world. (Aromatic rice and the toasted-coconut-red-pepper condiment is food enough for the gods.)
Here's to a happier 2009. Thanks for the 160,000 or so comments on the Arkansas Blog since we began. The line is open on another year.
Advance deposit wagering
Oaklawn Jockey Club, the Arkansas division of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and TrackNet Media have finalized an agreement on advance deposit wagering. The result of the agreement will have Oaklawn races available on the ADW outlets owned by TrackNet Media, TwinSpires.com and XpressBet.com, as well as to Youbet.com for the 2009 live thoroughbred season at Oaklawn, which includes 54 racing days from January 16-April 11.If we understand the process correctly, a bettor opens an account with one of the four entities listed in the Oaklawn announcement and then makes bets -- up to the amount in the account -- on races at Oaklawn and other tracks around the country. Again, if we understand the process, it appears that the Internet might be used to place bets using the funds in your account.
It all sounds sort of complicated.
New Insurance Commissioner
Former state legislator and insurance executive Jay Bradford will be the new state Insurance Commissioner starting Jan. 15. Gov. Beebe announced the appointment today. Bradford has been director of Behavioral Sciences at the Arkansas Department of Human Services, which runs the State Hospital, for the past two years.
Bradford replaces Julie Benafield Bowman, who resigned today. Lenita Blasingame will serve as interim director until Bradford is sworn in.
Text of Beebe's announcement is on the jump.
Come on in my kitchen
Guitarist Delaney Bramlett ― whose own Delaney and Bonnie and Friends variously included Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Jimi Hendrix and George Harrison ― passed away Saturday, December 27, at the age of 69.The Mississippi native reportedly died due to complications following gallbladder surgery at a Los Angeles hospital.
Bramlett first became popular in the '60s on the TV music series Shindig and then with his band Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, which featured Bramlett and then-wife Bonnie Lynn. The duo's backing band was populated throughout the years with the likes of Clapton, Hendrix, Allman and Harrison, among other famous friends.
Though a list of his collaborations could fill volumes, Bramlett's most legendary pairing was arguably with Clapton, who claimed it was Bramlett who gave him the courage to sing.
Stop the presses!?!?
Blake Rutherford's always-thoughtful blog takes a rational look at the future of printed newspapers and offers a sensible solution:"Still, with no discernible solution in sight and the market bearing down on newspapers, I propose this hypothesis: Allowing the market to dictate the future of the newspaper business will result in a recognizable void - perhaps for an extended period of time - in the ways news is reported at the community level.
"What’s the end result? Lots of people are out of work and communities become more disconnected. Infusing capital into publications with sound business models, an effective approach to community-based news reporting, and a demonstrated ability to adapt to life on the Internet isn’t a terrible idea. Neither is running them as non-profits. Particularly when you weigh the alternative."
About those virginity pledges
Still more evidence that they don't work. The patterns found here suggest further that comprehensive sex education (including birth control) is the best approach to preventing pregnancy. Side benefit: fewer abortions.
Teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and are significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control when they do, according to a study released today.
The new analysis of data from a large federal survey found that more than half of youths became sexually active before marriage regardless of whether they had taken a "virginity pledge," but that the percentage who took precautions against pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases was 10 points lower for pledgers than for non-pledgers.
Count ALL the ballots
Seems a simple idea. But not for Republican Norm Coleman. The Minnesota senator, trailing in his re-election race, won't count ballots in Democratic counties if they don't comply with non-existent rules. His transparent anti-vote strategy even cost him one vote in Duluth.Suds to Fayetteville
Hog tie in DWI fatality
She has a dream
This won't stand
96-88
Open line
No moving
Arkansas, naturally
ACLU sues
Blago to all: Eh
Minnesota circus
Hurricane casualty
The party of old Southern white men
Pre-Ledge thinking
Forever young
Taxing smokes
Alltel closing nears
The magic Huck
Open, at last
Go-o-ol-lee, s'prise, s'prise s'prise
Traffic tickets DID take a holiday
Caution: Opportunists at work
Pret-a-porter
News never takes a holiday
Situation wanted
Trash talk
Warren courting
Doing the math
A loss for words
Open line time...
Snyder staying put
Dept. of wretched excess
Obama and Warren, again
Dubya's Little Gifts
If it's Sunday...
A new low?
Ups and downs
Open line...
Speaking of bests and worsts
Attention, Hempstead County
The Benevolent Mr. Richards
Fort Smith Blues
The year that was
Open line
Birds of a feather
When the going gets tough...
You said it!
Another Bush?
Change we can hope for
NLR's navy
Done and done
Rock on
Calling Charlie Brown
Who's excited now?
'Clean' coal?
Ho, ho, ho
Cleared for landing
A win for Franken
Changing America
Lucky in love
Tis the season
Big Mac -- hold everything
Quids and quos
LRSD legal fees
Over to you
Wal-Mart settles suits
New hands at City Hall
Real estate continues to crater
Merry solstice
Obama's big tent
Attn: school wonks
Speaking of city government
Suckers at the track
Stealth government
Boss Hays at work
Halter v. Beebe
Credit where due
Still more crookedness
Pulaski school news
Parting shot
Huck: No Senate run in 2010
The Brummett blog is back
TIF tiff
Say cheese
Arkansas: Still growing
Lottery scholarships
All I wanted for Christmas
Going green? Go childless
Card check = Blanche
The lesson of lynchings
A Dick speaks
Tough times for Toyota
Light to the darkness
The third way
Obama: Growth for wingers
Slacker Sunday
An adult in charge
Gloomy Old Party
Crime watch
Wes Clark sez ...
Bush's legacy
Ho, ho, hopen line
Looking for the union label
Caroline speaks UPDATE
Franken leads?
Now he's gone to meddling
Leading the way
Eye on Arkansas
We're all autworkers
Open line
The Rep's bluelight special
Lincoln: 'Independent voice'
Blessed event 18
An Arkie to watch
Palinography
Obama inaugural party in LR
Dog's life in Helena
D-G turned down by Supreme Court
Al Franken is in the lead
Seasons greetings
Real estate combine
How to spend lottery money
Bush gets off his duff
LR schools weigh charters
NLR school board targets TIF
AP should appeal
You're on your own
Aloft to be built; different location
Mayor Hays' TIF
Robbery/slaying on Reservoir
Who'da thunk of it?
DHS response on child care criticism
Big Conway footprint
More on Rick Warren
The Clinton list is out
Christian persecution
Child welfare crisis
Big leaguer
The Third Reconstruction
The last acceptable bigotry
Reporters are human, too
Beebe v. Halter on lottery
Law east of the Cache
Late night open line
More judges in hot water
The purpose driven inaugural
Price gouging -- not!
Let's go fishing
Screw the working man
Spa tax aginners lose another
No moonlighting, judge
Lottery 'principles'
Simmering down here, boss
Tis the season
No new coal
Dogtown doings
Gym chatter
Texarkana jobs saved UPDATE
Free booze today!
Now the Republican perspective
Minds and bodies
Back to your regular program
Open line
Hog QB packs his grip
Weather eye
Work continues in NLR
Fed rate cut
LR city board meeting delayed
Foreign aid payments
Another polluter called down
Rumors of justice
The end of history
In re Blago
Who's Your Clarence?
Sen. Lincoln's opponent
Voting by mail
NW wind
Yes, it's icy
Your turn
Nothing from nothing is nothing
Weather watch
TIF tiff
Sen. Tim Griffin? UPDATE
Industrial bond issue coming
UPDATE: Chenal Circle fire
Single-sex education
Last person out of Fort Smith ...
Eckford: Thanks, but ...
Re weather
The Arkansas factor
Behind closed doors
Presidential vote UPDATE
Sunday thoughts?
Lincoln's raspberry to autoworkers
The hotel miracle
Sole man
Party report
NLR's bodacious grab
Who should get death?
The tiger v. the teddy bear
The line is open
Hey, Rod, it's Rahm
Seasonal greenery
Idle gossip
Where there's a will ....
The Nine at historic event
Have things improved?
Labor-management
What'll you do ... ? UPDATE
'Everyone would be in love with me'
Friday thread
Burnett dons pinstripes
Givebacks in Texarkana
Nolan returns to Bud Walton
School shooter engages gun lobby
Patrol car? Look again
NLR: finagling in the dark
Franken gets a break
Re Blanche: An opponent?
Blago: Presumed innocent
We bleed Hog red
No way to run a city
Cooling on coal
Whose side are you on UPDATED
Paying it forward at UCA
Fresh air
Death sentence in Fayetteville
Betty Rutherford dies at 110
Have things changed much?
Bank of America slashes
Pollution crackdown
What part of illegal alien, etc.
Adios AYPN UPDATE
What if there were no newspapers?
LRSD budget cutting
No-bid contracts OK
Arkansas -- by the numbers
Blog watching
Brother can you spare a job?
Fire on Kavanaugh
Wal-Mart fights a union
Ready to build highways
Blithering hypocrites
If we don't blow our own horn ...
Who you calling grumpy?
Thanks, but no thanks
Open line
Westside killer seeks gun permit
Verizon progress
Attn. arena football fans
Media madness
Teacher of the year
Enter the FBI
Compound tragedy
2012: It's Huck v. Palin
About those cheap SWEPCO rates
Something's in the air
Put America to work
Foster care deaths
Burglary beat
The Obama incident
Cooper Tire givebacks
Dillard's CDI purchase
Working on the budget
You say Bombay
Assembly line jobs
Stewart v. Huck on gay marriage
Open line
Hot air re coal plants
Jones benched
Blog bugs
Greetings, greetings, greetings
Ill. governor arrested
The apocalypse
Close to Huck ...
Mumbai v. Bombay
Heckuva way to run a navy UPDATE
Trauma system: Inaction again
Open line
Auto bailout
Act 1's victims
Arkie on Broadway
Tasty news
Bank fraud plea in TCB case
Charter school review tabled
Munson refuses to loosen order
What the election was about
Riding Dillard's
U.S. attorney goes private
Stocking stuffers
Sebelius says no
About that gas boom
Same old Georgia
Open line
Fire in the River Market
Da Mayor
Huckstering: With a bullet
Let's play powerball
Over to you
Crystal Bridges speculation
NLR watch
George W.'s valedictory
Citizen Clinton
Bill Ayers speaks
Children's interests
Why have regulators at all?
Mike Huckabee on gay bias
Friday night flights
Tracking Curtis Vance
Franken by 4
Gulpsville UPDATE
The perpetual campaign
What's wrong with Arkansas?
O.J. to slammer
Mary on the brain
Feel the earth move?
Laughter: the best medicine
Why not two days every 60 years?
Pressly suspect: A stalker?
Christmas greetings
$400 haircut? Chump change
The line is open
Joe T. in 'lockdown'
Pressly suspect sighting
Burglar set River Market fire
Let's eat
Blues duo immortalized
Hangup calls
Beebe appoints
Movin' on up
SWEPCO sophistry UPDATE
More orders in Pressly murder
When reporters get in the story
Bagel report
'Singlism' and the workplace
Old v. new UPDATE
Socialized tire making
Farm Bureau backs cruelty bill UPDATE
Anyone still around?
Dixie Chicks sued
Gag order
Another hero passes
What SWEPCO knew and when
New hotel for NLR
Unhand that phone!
Lottery strategy
Total eclipse of the Huck
No naughtiness allowed
Blog performance update
Behind the LRSD scene UPDATE
College report
New highway commissioner
Piracy at sea
The bah, humbug report
New arrival
Now he gets it
Hopkins to head retirement agency
Open line
Pressly case: A single suspect
Annals of corporate welfare
Coal plant work halted
Do they think about anything else?
Socialized banking
Lessons from history
What recession?
School choice
Sharpen your skates
Questions in the Pressly case
Will Dillard's survive?
Calling down the Huckster
Fergit, hell UPDATE
Technical difficulties
Once more with feeling
Anchor away
The old crystal ball
UA to make Ray Winder bid SURVEY
Bush fiddled ...
Ethics reform, schmethics reform
Obama's team
Charter school on hot seat
Pressly assaulted, parents confirm
UCA's future
Hard times
Union card check: Wait
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