Candace Chapman Scott of Little Rock, 37, worked at a mortuary and arranged to transport remains to buyers across state lines
A former mortuary worker in Arkansas has admitted to stealing parts of corpses and trying to sell them.
On Thursday, the US attorney for the eastern district of Arkansas announced that 37-year-old Candace Chapman Scott of Little Rock, Arkansas, had pleaded guilty to transporting stolen body parts across state lines and conspiring to commit mail fraud.
Continue reading...Donald Trump looks all but certain of Republican presidential nomination as Nikki Haley rejects suggestions of third-party bid and says she may keep fighting
Over at CNN, Ronald Brownstein has an analysis piece which looks a little at the potential weakness of Donald Trump support away from his core base. Brownstein writes:
[Trump’s] performance so far reflects his success at transforming the Republican Party in his image. He’s reshaped the Republicans into a more blue-collar, populist and pugnacious party, focused more on his volatile blend of resentments against elites and cultural and racial change than the Ronald Reagan-era priorities of smaller government and active global leadership that former South Carolina Gov Nikki Haley has stressed.
But while the primaries have underscored Trump’s grip on the GOP, they have also demonstrated continued vulnerability for him in the areas where he has labored since he first announced his candidacy in 2015 – particularly among the white-collar suburban voters who mostly leaned toward the GOP before his emergence. The early 2024 nominating contests have shown that a substantial minority of Republican-leaning voters remain resistant to Trump’s vision.
Continue reading...Former Arkansas governor, a stalwart conservative, was willing to sharply criticize Donald Trump
The former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, a stalwart conservative willing to sharply criticize Donald Trump, has suspended his beleaguered bid for the White House the day after the Iowa caucuses.
“My message of being a principled Republican with experience and telling the truth about the current front runner did not sell in Iowa,” he said in a statement. “I stand by the campaign I ran. I answered every question, sounded the warning to the GOP about the risks in 2024 and presented hope for our country’s future.”
Continue reading...Prisoners in Arkansas settle lawsuit for $2,000 each after accusing Washington county detention center of ‘medical experimentation’
The four Arkansas prisoners who sued their jail over allegations they knowingly prescribed them ivermectin to treat Covid without consent have settled the dispute for $2,000 each.
The quartet previously said they were administered the drug as a form of “medical experimentation” without prior informed consent or knowledge of the drug’s contents and potential side effects. Instead, the doctor at the jail told them they received “vitamins, antibiotics, and/or steroids”.
Continue reading...About 100 students have reported symptoms of infection, and officials are trying to pinpoint the source of the outbreak
Health officials are investigating an outbreak of E coli food poisoning among students at the University of Arkansas, with dozens reporting symptoms and five people needing treatment in the hospital.
Among those affected are two 19-year-old sorority members who developed serious complications that can lead to kidney failure after being infected with the E coli strain O157:H7. That is according to Bill Marler, a Seattle food safety lawyer who said he reviewed the patients’ medical records after being contacted by the families.
Continue reading...Officials have said class will not count toward graduation credit but some schools offer course as ‘local elective’
The six Arkansas schools that planned to offer an Advanced Placement (AP) course on African American studies say they will continue to do so despite state officials saying the class will not count toward a student’s graduation credit.
The North Little Rock and Jacksonville North Pulaski school districts and eStem charter schools said on Thursday they would offer the course as a “local elective” despite the Arkansas education department saying it is not considered a state-approved course. They join two other school districts that have said they will continue offering the class.
Continue reading...Decision comes as lawmakers in conservative states are pushing for measures making it easier to ban or restrict access to books
Arkansas is temporarily blocked from enforcing a law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing “harmful” materials to minors, a federal judge ruled on Saturday.
US district judge Timothy L Brooks issued a preliminary injunction against the law, which also would have created a new process to challenge library materials and request that they be relocated to areas not accessible by kids. The measure, signed by the state’s Republican governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, earlier this year, was set to take effect on 1 August.
Continue reading...Ruling states that the prohibition violated due process and equal protection rights of transgender youth and families
A federal judge struck down Arkansas’ first-in-the-nation ban on gender-affirming care for children as unconstitutional Tuesday, the first ruling to overturn such a prohibition as a growing number of Republican-led states adopt similar restrictions.
US district Judge Jay Moody issued a permanent injunction against the Arkansas law, which would have prohibited doctors from providing gender-affirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers or surgery to anyone under 18.
Continue reading...The 2024 presidential field widens although Senator Joe Manchin remains evasive about his own possible White House run
The former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson announced on Sunday that he plans to run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, saying the US needs “leaders that appeal to the best of America, and not simply appeal to our worst instincts” while also calling for Donald Trump to drop out the race.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the political aisle, the centrist Democrat and West Virginia senator Joe Manchin evaded a question during an interview on CNN about a potential run challenging his party’s Oval Office incumbent, Joe Biden, fueling speculation about his own ambitions.
Continue reading...Monster storm system struck at least eight states over the weekend, prompting at least 50 preliminary reports of tornadoes
As many as 29 people have been killed after a slew of tornadoes tore through parts of the southern and midwestern US in recent days, leaving immense destruction and debris in its path, according to officials.
A monster storm system struck at least eight states over the weekend, prompting at least 50 preliminary reports of tornadoes. The states affected include Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Delaware and Alabama.
Continue reading...Tornadoes leave devastation across Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa and Oklahoma, including theatre roof that collapsed during concert
At least 21 people died and as many as 900,000 places were without power after a monster storm system tore through the southern and midwest US on Friday, spawning deadly tornadoes that shredded homes and shopping centers, and collapsed a theatre roof during a heavy metal concert in Illinois.
More than 50 preliminary reports of tornadoes were recorded across seven states, with twister-producing conditions continuing into Saturday as the storm system threatened a broad US swath which is home to 85 million people.
Continue reading...Fatalities from tornado the worst in 50 years, with more severe storms expected in the region on Sunday
Devastating storms and at least one large tornado which ripped through rural Mississippi on Friday night left 25 people dead in the state, dozens injured and rescue workers hauling people from rubble throughout Saturday, as the state reeled from its highest tornado-related death toll in decades.
Severe weather pounded several southern states overnight as the centers of destruction emerged on Saturday morning as the small, majority Black towns of Rolling Fork and Silver City in the Mississippi delta.
Continue reading...State could also pass harsher bill to criminalize transgender people using public bathrooms based on gender identity
Arkansas has become the latest Republican-run US state to ban transgender people in schools using the bathroom that matches their gender identity.
The Arkansas governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, signed the bill on Tuesday. It applies to multi-person restrooms and locker rooms in public and charter schools for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, ABC reported.
Continue reading...Ex-Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson: man facing charge over porn star payment should ‘respect institution of the presidency’
Donald Trump should quit the race for the Republican nomination in 2024 if he is indicted in New York over a hush money payment to a porn star during his victorious run in 2016, a prospective rival said.
“It doesn’t mean that he’s guilty of it or he should be charged,” said Asa Hutchinson, a former governor of Arkansas. “But it’s just such a distraction that would be unnecessary for somebody who’s seeking the highest office in the land.”
Continue reading...Slick roads have caused at least 10 deaths with thousands of flights canceled since frigid weather set in on Monday
A mess of ice, sleet and snow lingered across much of the southern US on Thursday, as thousands in Texas endured freezing temperatures with no power, including many in the state capital, Austin.
Treacherous driving conditions had resulted in at least 10 deaths on slick roads since Monday, including seven in Texas, two in Oklahoma, and one in Arkansas. The Republican Texas governor, Greg Abbott, urged people not to drive.
Continue reading...Sarah Sanders, a former Trump press secretary, says move is preventative and ‘to make sure we’re not indoctrinating our kids’
The new Republican governor of Arkansas, Sarah Sanders, said the move to ban critical race theory in public schools in her state was a preventative measure.
“It’s incredibly important that we do things to protect the students in our state,” she told Fox News Sunday. “We have to make sure that we are not indoctrinating our kids and that these policies and these ideas never see the light of day.”
Continue reading...The ‘green wave’ expanded to Maryland with voters opting for recreational cannabis while California voted to enshrine abortion
Voters across the US weighed in on a variety of ballot measures during the US midterms on Tuesday, passing judgement on everything from recreational drugs to abortion rights, to sports betting and the climate crisis.
Multiple states voted on whether or not to legalize recreational marijuana, part of a growing “green wave” that has already seen many relax their laws on cannabis use.
Continue reading...‘Total destruction’ and dozens of people still unaccounted for in Texas town while Arkansas and Oklahoma also hit by tornadoes
At least two people have died and dozens more are injured after tornadoes ravaged parts of Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Several twisters caused property damage and physical injury across the various states on Friday. Tornado warnings had still been in effect as of late Friday in parts of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.
Ramon Antonio Vargas contributed reporting.
Continue reading...New book by Arkansas senator, a Republican presidential hopeful, also suggests president did not understand military procedures
In January 2020, the rightwing Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton said he would vote to acquit Donald Trump in his first impeachment trial because despite senators having “heard from 17 witnesses … and received more than 28,000 pages of documents”, Democrats had not presented their case correctly.
According to Cotton, the senators who sat through so much evidence would “perform the role intended for us by the founders, of providing the ‘cool and deliberate sense of the community’, as it says in Federalist 63”.
Continue reading...Program has been paused as the court considers a motion filed by six Republican-led states
Joe Biden’s plan to cancel billions of dollars in federal student loans has been temporarily halted by a federal appeals court as it considers a motion from six Republican-led states to block the program.
The eighth circuit court of appeals issued the temporary stay on Friday, ordering the Biden administration not to act on the program while it considers the appeal.
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