Quote of the week
“I want to come home to a home-cooked dinner at six every night, one that she fixes and one that I expect one day to have daughters learn to fix after they become traditional homemakers and family wives — think Norman Rockwell here and Gloria Steinem
Files pleads guilty to federal charges
State Sen. Jake Files, 45, a Fort Smith Republican, pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering, and resigned his Senate seat Monday. Files’ plea related to misuse of General Improvement Fund money appropriated by the legislature and pledging a forklift he did not own as collateral for a $56,700 bank loan. Court documents say Files misspent state GIF money designated for a sports complex at Fort Smith that his construction company was supposed to build but never completed. He admitted falsifying bids for a water line on that project that was awarded to an employee. The employee said she gave Files the money and he used it to pay workers of his construction company as well as keeping some for himself.
Criminal charges had been expected. Files’ financial troubles were well known. They surfaced when he got a loan from a lobbyist, Bruce Hawkins, to help pay bills. The troubled sports project, multiple
Another LRPD recruit fired for using a racial slur
A third Little Rock Police Department recruit has been fired for having a social media page with a post in which a racial slur appeared. The latest, a black recruit, Katrina Jones, 25, was fired because — after
The first to be fired was a white recruit, Brandon Schiefelbein, who was fired for having a photo on
The second, Brandon Gurley, was a black recruit who complained about the white recruit’s Facebook post. But he, too, had used the word in a Facebook post, and he was fired.
Spring game coming to LR
It’s not the real thing, but the Razorbacks are adding a football game in Little Rock in 2018 in addition to the one Southeastern Conference game promised at War Memorial Stadium in the fall. The Razorbacks will play their spring game in Little Rock at 1 p.m. April 7. Admission will be free and some other activities will be announced. A Northwest Arkansas “family friendly” spring event will be announced later by the Fayetteville-based Hogs. Hunter Yurachek, the new athletic director, said in a statement: “One thing that has become abundantly clear to Coach Morris and me is the importance of the Razorbacks throughout the state. From every corner and region, people are calling the Hogs. To better connect our new staff and program across the state this spring, Coach [Chad] Morris and I have decided that we will be taking the spring game to War Memorial Stadium … .”