Arkansas

Arkansans fight the power • Arkansas Advocate

Published

3 months ago

March 4, 2024

Arkansans fight the power • Arkansas Advocate

This is why Arkansas needs to keep a strong public records and open meetings law, and make it stronger.

On Dec. 4, Helena-West Helena Police responded to an unidentified caller’s report of a “gang fight that included parents” at the city’s Central High School. Less than 10 minutes later, the school district’s independent campus police department told city officers they weren’t needed.

We know this much about the violence that day thanks to the reporting of Phillips County’s scrappy weekly newspaper The Helena World.

Since then, however, the Helena-West Helena School District has stonewalled newspaper publisher Andrew Bagley’s public records requests for school security video, incident reports and other documents. Even after he filed a lawsuit under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act on Jan. 29.

The school district claimed a broad exemption to disclosing the video and other information under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), but, as the World’s lawsuit points out, FERPA allows the release of information if students’ identities are redacted.

Besides, the district undermined its own position when it held an expulsion hearing on Jan. 4 and not only publicly disclosed the names of students who participated in the melee, but discussed one student’s prior disciplinary record without the student being present or represented.

And, as Bagley pointed out in an article, the school district’s FERPA exemption claim is so broad that a publication “wouldn’t even be given the Honor Roll to print because it could be considered a student record under HWHSD’s claim.”

The school district “just doesn’t want this to see the light of day because it results in negative public relations,” Bagley said in the article.

“People have a right to know what is happening in their schools and how those entrusted with its management deal with issues. Bad things happen. Often, it’s the response to it that results in problems,” he said.

But the publisher’s struggle to make the school district comply with the FOIA isn’t his only public records battle.

After Helena-West Helena Mayor Christopher Franklin fired four police officers amid allegations of use of excessive force in February, the World asked for the officers’ personnel files and body camera footage.

Surprise! The city is stonewalling. City Attorney Andre Valley, citing an ongoing investigation exception for the video, requested an opinion from Attorney General Tim Griffin on whether the records can be released, but Griffin’s office sidestepped the issue, saying the city didn’t ask a clear-cut question, and declined to opine.

Since then, the mayor has left the matter in the hands of the city attorney, who continues to oppose the release of the personnel records and the body cam footage. Worse yet, the county prosecutor supports the city attorney’s position.

“This apparently is going to be the M.O. going forward. Delay, deny, delay,” Bagley said in an interview last week.

A proposed initiated act that would toughen civil penalties for violating the state FOIA and create a commission to help citizens enforce the law would help, Bagley said. He is part of the bipartisan coalition seeking to get the measure on the November ballot.

The proposed Arkansas Government Disclosure Act will “provide an avenue other than through a lawsuit” for citizens to enforce their right to know, Bagley said.

Plus, the criminal penalties in the Arkansas FOIA as it stands are “worthless,” he said. Prosecutors have rarely filed criminal charges under the law’s misdemeanor provision.

Bagley added that his paper’s fight to enforce the FOIA is more than just a local fight.

Proof of that came last month in a Crittenden County Circuit Court lawsuit in which the West Memphis School Board admitted violating the FOIA by interviewing candidates for superintendent without notifying the public of the special meetings and by failing to record the meetings. The court ordered the school district to pay the plaintiffs’ court costs and $1,500 in attorneys fees.

“This lawsuit is a perfect example of why the people of Arkansas are pursuing a constitutional amendment and people’s act to enshrine the right to transparency in our constitution,” attorney and FOIA warrior Joey McCutchen said in a news release about the case. McCutchen represented the plaintiffs.

“This case is the perfect example of the need in the people’s law to allow a Circuit Court to hold individual wrongdoers personally liable with the imposition of a $1,000 civil penalty which will not be satisfied with public funds,” he said, referring to provisions in the proposed Government Disclosure Act.

“Conduct rewarded is conduct repeated,” he said.

Supporters of the disclosure initiative and the proposed constitutional amendment to enshrine the people’s right to know in the Arkansas Constitution are gathering signatures now to get both items on the November ballot.

After years of legislative moves to weaken the FOIA, encouraged last year by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the Helena-West Helena and West Memphis cases show why we need the pending proposals.

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Arkansas

Doctor gives coping tips during Arkansas’ elongated allergy season

Published

4 hours ago

May 19, 2024

Press Room

Doctor gives coping tips during Arkansas’ elongated allergy season

Little Rock, Ark. (KATV/KAIT) – With allergy season arriving early this year, one doctor is advising people on how to cope with different types of pollen.

According to our content partner KATV, Dr. Eddie Shields with Arkansas Allergy and Asthma Clinic says three types of pollen cause allergies. Tree pollen, grass, and weeds are the main three types of pollen.

“The less exposure you have to the pollen, the better off you are. So, leave the windows shut in the house and in the car. If you’re going to be outside working in the yard in the pollen, wearing a mask and eye protection is helpful. As soon as you’re finished, shower and get the pollen off of you,” says Dr. Shields.

Dr. Shields says that over-the-counter medications like nasal sprays work best during allergy season.

As a last result, you can treat allergies by getting an allergy shot.

“That’s what we see all the time. It works 80 to 90% of the time,” Dr. Shields added. “They tell me I should have done this ten years ago because it really is that effective and it really does change the course of the disease.”

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Arkansas

Former Arkansas House Speaker dies

Published

11 hours ago

May 19, 2024

Press Room

JONESBORO, Ark. (KARK/KAIT) – Former Arkansas House Speaker Benny Petrus has died at the age of 67.

According to our content partner KARK, Petrus died Friday, May 17.

Petrus served as a Democratic member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 2002 until 2009. He served as House Speaker from 2007 to 2009.

Petrus was a successful Stuttgart businessman who owned several car dealerships.

He is survived by his wife and two children.

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Arkansas

Houston cleans up as heat risk climbs | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

Published

18 hours ago

May 19, 2024

Press Room

Houston cleans up as heat risk climbs | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

HOUSTON — As the Houston area works to clean up and restore power to hundreds of thousands after deadly storms left at least seven people dead, it will do so amid a smog warning and rising temperatures that could pose health risks.

National Weather Service meteorologist Marc Chenard said on Saturday that highs of about 90 degrees were expected through the start of the coming week, with heat indexes likely approaching 100 degrees by midweek.

“We expect the impact of the heat to gradually increase … we will start to see that heat risk increase Tuesday into Wednesday through Friday,” Chenard said.

The heat index is what the temperature feels like to the human body when humidity is combined with the air temperature, according to the weather service.

“Don’t overdo yourself during the cleanup process,” the weather service’s Houston office said in a post on the social platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

The Houston Health Department said it would distribute 400 free portable air conditioners to area seniors, people with disabilities and caregivers of disabled children to contend with the heat.

Five cooling centers also were opened — four in Houston and one in Kingwood.

The widespread destruction of Thursday’s storms brought much of Houston to a standstill. Thunderstorms and hurricane-force winds tore through the city, and a tornado touched down near the northwest Houston suburb of Cypress.

More than a half-million homes and businesses in Texas remained without electricity by midday Saturday, according to PowerOutage.us. Another 21,000 customers were also without power in Louisiana, where strong winds and a suspected tornado hit.

CenterPoint Energy, which has deployed 1,000 employees to the area and is requesting 5,000 more, said power restoration could take several days or longer in some areas, and that customers need to ensure their homes can safely be reconnected.

“In addition to damaging CenterPoint Energy’s electric infrastructure and equipment, severe weather may have caused damage to customer-owned equipment” such as the weatherhead, which is where power enters the home, the company said.

High-voltage transmission towers that were torn apart and downed power lines pose a twofold challenge for utility companies because the damage affected transmission and distribution systems, according to Alexandria von Meier, a power and energy expert who called that a rare thing. Damage to just the distribution system is more typical, von Meier said.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez reported late Friday that three people died during the storm, including an 85-year-old woman whose home caught fire after being struck by lightning and a 60-year-old man who had tried to use his vehicle to power his oxygen tank.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire previously said at least four other people were killed in the city when the storms swept through Harris County, which includes Houston.

School districts in the Houston area canceled classes Friday for more than 400,000 students and government offices were closed.

Houston Independent School District Superintendent Mike Miles said Saturday that he hoped to reopen schools on Monday, but that is dependent upon the restoration of electricity in school buildings.

In light of the storm damage, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Whitmire both signed disaster declarations, paving the way for state and federal storm recovery assistance.

A separate disaster declaration from President Joe Biden makes federal funding available to people in seven Texas counties that have been affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes and flooding since April 26.

Information for this article was contributed by Jamie Stengle, Valerie Gonzalez and Lisa Baumann of The Associated Press.

A crane sits on top of a cement truck, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Houston, at an address where authorities say a man was killed when a crane fell on the cement truck he was sitting in during the previous night’s storm. (Jon Shapley/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Power transmission lines were twisted and toppled after powerful storms swept through the Houston area on Saturday, May 18, 2024 in Cypress, Texas. As the Houston area works to clean up and restore power to hundreds of thousands, it will do so amid a smog warning and rising Texas heat. (AP photo/Mark Vancleave)

The wall of a tire shop at the intersection of Sowden and Bingle is blown out in the aftermath of a severe storm on Friday, May 17, 2024, in Houston. The widespread destruction brought much of Houston to a standstill as crews raced to restore power and remove uprooted trees and debris. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Fans make their way into Minute Maid Park as a severe thunderstorm hit before a baseball game between the Oakland Athletics and the Houston Astros, Thursday, May 16, 2024, in Houston. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Down power lines are shown in the aftermath of a severe thunderstorm Friday, May 17, 2024, in Cypress, Texas, near Houston. Thunderstorms pummeled southeastern Texas on Thursday killing at least four people, blowing out windows in high-rise buildings and knocking out power to more than 900,000 homes and businesses in the Houston area. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Cheryl Herpich takes a photograph of a downtown building with blown out windows in the aftermath of a severe thunderstorm Friday, May 17, 2024, in Houston. Thunderstorms pummeled southeastern Texas on Thursday killing at least four people, blowing out windows in high-rise buildings and knocking out power to more than 900,000 homes and businesses in the Houston area. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Blown out windows on a high-rise downtown building are shown in the aftermath of a severe thunderstorm Friday, May 17, 2024, in Houston. Thunderstorms pummeled southeastern Texas on Thursday killing at least four people, blowing out windows in high-rise buildings and knocking out power to more than 900,000 homes and businesses in the Houston area. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Carrie Jenkins stands in her living room by the light of her open front door, the only light in her home since losing power the night before in the aftermath of a severe storm, Friday, May 17, 2024 in Houston. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)

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