It was a GOOD week for …

 BOBBY PETRINO. He’s now 2-0 as the new head Hog football coach. OK, so what if it again took last-second heroics from Casey Dick to beat a cupcake? A W is a W.

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The ARKANSAS DEMOCRATIC PARTY. It will be hard to match  the late Bill Gwatney as chairman, but former Sen. David Pryor, tapped by Gov. Mike Beebe, is a welcome successor.

It was a BAD week for …

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GOV. MIKE BEEBE. He continued his silence on four foster child deaths and a near-death of a bruised child sent back to an abusive home by a DHS worker. He’s apparently undertaken a reform of the agency, but so far has refused to discuss the shortcomings that prompted him to do this.

The UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS. The Arkansas Times blog reported that the school had been deficit spending in recent years and had to make a cut in scholarships and other spending to balance the books this year. The go-go Hardin years are over.

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RESTAURANTS. Tax records show a sharp drop in receipts for most Little Rock restaurants this year, even such budget-friendly places as Franke’s Cafeteria. Brownbag sales must be on the upswing.

NORTH LITTLE ROCK MAYOR PAT HAYS. He took a go-slow approach to a request for more money for Central Arkansas Transit to increase bus service for city residents in these troubled times. But he told the Democrat-Gazette that he was doing everything he can to find $9 million (probably much more) to go on top of taxpayer contributions to subsidize a sporting goods store that will destroy Dark Hollow wetlands and harm unsubsidized retail competitors. Who’s your NLR daddy, rich folks?

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GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin got the vice presidential nomination that his fervent Religious Right backers wanted for him and he showed his disappointment in a lackluster Republican National Convention speech full of factual errors. (See Smart Talk.)

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