Braden Jones made a choice four years ago to move two-and-a-half hours away from the southeast Arkansas home he loves to attend Arkansas Tech University.

As he prepares to graduate from ATU, Jones now has two homes: the one he’s always known in Warren, and the one he chose at Arkansas Tech.

“I think we have one of the greatest campuses in the state,” said Jones. “It’s beautiful. It’s big enough that you don’t know everyone, but you have the opportunity to meet everyone if you want. You can create your own path at Arkansas Tech. If I need anything from my professors, I call them. They’re going to answer and help me the best they can. There are just so many ways to get involved and so many things to do off campus, as well. Arkansas Tech does a great job of putting the student first. We have everything for everyone.”

Jones is the 2024 recipient of the Alfred J. Crabaugh Award as the most outstanding senior male student at Arkansas Tech. He will be recognized during ATU spring commencement ceremonies at Tucker Coliseum in Russellville on Saturday, May 11.

“To me, it’s an honor I cannot describe,” said Jones when asked about the Crabaugh Award. “It shows that Arkansas Tech is inviting to everyone and anyone. We’re all here together. It shows that Arkansas Tech loves its students and that we’re a family. If it hadn’t been for my professors pushing me, looking out for me and understanding what I could be, I wouldn’t be here. Looking back, I was just having fun. I didn’t really think about how influential it had been. I just felt like I was at home.”

Jones was a man for all seasons growing up in Warren, where he played football, basketball, baseball and golf. When he wasn’t playing a sport or going to school, chances are he was hunting or fishing with family.

“I even tried my hand at pole vault for a little bit,” said Jones.

As he prepared to graduate from Warren High School and take the next step in his educational journey, the community of Russellville helped sell him on Arkansas Tech.

“I chose to come to Tech because I loved the feel of Russellville,” said Jones. “Coming from a small town…Russellville is much larger than where I’m from, but it still has that small-town feel. Then I learned about all the opportunities outside the campus with the state parks, Lake Dardanelle and a lot of wildlife management areas to hunt at. I knew a lot of people in south Arkansas, and I felt like it was time to go and meet new people.”

Jones and his roommate, fellow Warren High School graduate Kade Weaver, did just that. They enrolled at Arkansas Tech in fall 2020 and Jones quickly found his place in the Bachelor of Arts degree program in journalism, where he focused his studies on public relations.

“I fell in love with the program,” said Jones. “I started taking classes with Dr. Hanna Norton, Mr. Tommy Mumert and Mrs. Megan Toland. Instantly, I was learning Associated Press style, the rule of thirds and multimedia practices my very first semester. I was excited to get that insight so early in my college career, and I could tell they weren’t just teaching this stuff from a book. They had lived these experiences, and I knew one day I’d be able to use those experiences for my benefit.”

Jones began to see those benefits in action when he was selected for an internship with The Communications Group, a public relations firm in Little Rock. There, he designed and executed a public relations campaign and event that earned him a Prism Award from the Arkansas chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.

“It cemented that what I’ve learned at Arkansas Tech is what I need to know,” said Jones. “When I entered my internship, I was a little nervous about being in the real world. But I found that everything transferred from what I was doing in school right into what I was doing in my internship. To see the hard work that I put in during my classes pay off in the real world showed me it was all worth it and that I had some great mentors. I can’t thank them enough for what I’ve learned (at ATU).”

Jones has served as president of ATU’s Public Relations Student Society of America chapter, as a tour guide in the ATU Office of Admissions and as a senator in ATU Student Government Association.

“I was always passionate about school,” said Jones. “My mom and grandmother understood the importance of education. They always told me academics come first, so I entered here with the same mindset. Winning is a mindset you can put to anything you do…in the classroom, athletically and in relationships with your friends and family…so I wanted to continue that. At Tech, I grew as a person and realized there’s more than just going to class and getting good grades. I continued to do that, but I got involved in other areas and feel more prepared as a whole now. I have a better understanding of how to meet people, how to talk to them, how to work as a team and how to be a leader.”

The No. 9 University of Arkansas women’s golf team fired a second consecutive 8-under 280 and added a stroke to its lead at the NCAA Las Vegas Regional on Tuesday.

Junior Kendal Todd, a former UNLV golfer, shot a 66 on one of her former home courses to join Arkansas teammates Kajal Mistry and Maria Jose Marin in the top five at the 6,665-yard Spanish Trail Country Club course 6 miles from the Vegas Strip.

The Razorbacks, who got eagles from Marin and sophomore Reagan Zibilski, tied sixth seed Purdue for the day’s best round and lead the Boilermakers (12 under) by four shots heading into the final round Wednesday.

“I’d love to get a third day of an 8 under,” Arkansas Coach Shauna Taylor said. “Again, I think an absolute team effort.”

Top seed and No. 4 UCLA carded a 5 under and sits in third place at 2 under. No. 19 Florida State (1 under), the regional’s fourth seed, is also under par, followed by Baylor (2 over), second-seed Arizona (5 over), Oklahoma (5 over) and California (14 over) in the top eight.

The top five finishers in the six NCAA regionals will comprise the 30-team field for the NCAA Championships on May 17-22 in Carlsbad, Calif.

Colorado State is in ninth place at 16 over, followed by Kent State (18 over), Dartmouth (35 over) and Xavier (36 over).

Florida State sophomore Lottie Woad, the ACC player of the year and winner of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last month, shot 5-under 67 to take the lead by a stroke over Mistry, who shot 3 under Tuesday.

UCLA’s Zoe Campos had the day’s best round with a 65 to reach 7 under and third place. Marin and Todd are tied at 5 under.

Mistry, the first-round leader, had four birdies Tuesday and carded her first bogey of the regional on the par-3 14th.

Marin opened her round with an eagle on the 365-yard first hole by holing a wedge from 86 yards then played the rest of her round at 1 over, with a birdie on the par-5 eighth countered by bogeys on 7 and 14.

Todd’s 66 featured four birdies on the front nine called “Canyon,” and three birdies on the “Lakes” back nine offset by only one bogey on 7.

“I can’t say enough about Kendall Todd today,” Taylor said. “She made some amazing clutch putts and she scrambled when she needed to scramble. It was a pleasure to watch. Then Kajal, great job again playing in the 1 spot for us. … [Marin] eagling her first hole and kind of holding it steady coming in. Just across the board, great teamwork.

“We’ve got one more day to go on this business trip and hopefully put ourselves in a good position.”

Arkansas senior Miriam Ayora had the final counting score with a 2-over 74 that featured three birdies and five bogeys. She is in a tie for 25th place.

Zibilski had an adventurous round of 76 capped by her 10-foot eagle putt on the 510-yard 18th after she carded five bogeys, a double bogey and one birdie on the first 17 holes. Zibilski is tied for 44th place.

The Razorbacks will tee off on No. 1 at 10 a.m. Central in the final round Wednesday with Purdue and UCLA.

A Pulaski County Circuit judge dismissed blogger Matt Campbell’s lawsuit against Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday.

Campbell sued Sanders in October, claiming her office violated the state Freedom of Information Act. Campbell spent weeks last fall using the FOIA and his Blue Hog Report blog to scrutinize the governor’s office’s use of public funds, including $19,000 spent on a lectern.

Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office filed a motion Monday to dismiss Campbell’s case because the plaintiff did not deliver the lawsuit’s summons and complaint to Sanders’ office within 120 days of filing the complaint, according to court documents.

Before Monday, there had been no action in the case since February, when Campbell filed a motion asking for more time to deliver the documents. Judge LaTonya Honorable never granted the request.

Campbell said Tuesday that he will refile the lawsuit with additional allegations of FOIA violations. He said he has been planning to do so for weeks and let the deadline to serve process pass on purpose.

Griffin said in a news release that the dismissal was “the proper outcome for this baseless case” and that “cases like this waste taxpayer dollars and clog up our judicial system.”

Campbell, who was a practicing attorney before the Arkansas Times hired him as a reporter last year, said he found it laughable that Griffin “would file a procedural motion and try to tout it as a win.”

Arkansas lawmakers question governor’s lectern purchase, potential law violations found in audit

In September, Campbell revealed on X that Sanders’ office had used a state-issued credit card to buy the lectern and a travel case for $19,029 from a Virginia-based event design and management firm with political ties to Sanders.

“Lecterngate” subsequently led to national and international attention for the Sanders administration. Arkansas Legislative Audit investigated the purchase from October to March and published a report in April detailing several instances of potential lawbreaking by Sanders’ staff throughout the purchase, delivery and record-keeping process.

Cortney Kennedy, Sanders’ chief legal counsel who defended the lectern purchase before lawmakers last month, denied two of Campbell’s FOIA requests to the governor’s office on Oct. 23, according to court documents.

Campbell requested:

• First Gentleman Bryan Sanders’ Outlook calendar.
• All messages to and from Bryan Sanders’ two state email addresses.
• “Aall bills of lading or other documents showing shipping and/or delivery of the lectern ordered from Beckett Events,” the firm that sold the lectern.
• “All communications sent from (or on behalf of) the Governor’s Office to any person making a FOIA request” since Jan. 1, 2023.

Kennedy claimed Campbell’s requests went against the FOIA’s exemption for “[u]npublished memoranda, working papers, and correspondence of the Governor.”

Campbell filed the lawsuit the next day, claiming that Kennedy’s denial of the requests was illegal because Bryan Sanders is not a state employee and therefore the exemption she cited did not apply.

In September, Sanders called a special legislative session and supported several exemptions to the FOIA that met bipartisan opposition in the Legislature and from the public. The only FOIA change that made it through the Legislature was an exemption for records related to the governor’s security. Sanders signed Act 7 of 2023 the day before Campbell made the lectern purchase public knowledge.

Bill to shield Arkansas officials’ security records moves forward

Sanders called the special session three days after Campbell filed a previous lawsuit over unanswered FOIA requests for Arkansas State Police communications related to security for the governor and first gentleman, as well as documents reflecting ASP security costs for the Sanderses.

Rep. David Ray, R-Maumelle, Act 7’s House sponsor, mentioned the lawsuit while encouraging his fellow House members to vote for the bill. The lawsuit was dismissed after Campbell contracted COVID-19 and was unable to appear in court.

In October, Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, requested the audit into the lectern purchase and an additional probe into “significant expenditures involving the governor’s office” shielded by Act 7. Lead auditor Roger Norman said in April that the second audit was still in the early stages.