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BRTC and AR National Guard sign memorandum of understanding

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BRTC and AR National Guard sign memorandum of understanding


POCAHONTAS, Ark. (KAIT/Edited News Release) – On Aug. 12, Black River Technical College signed a memorandum of understanding with the Arkansas Army National Guard.

Signing the MOU were BRTC president Dr. Martin Eggensperger, Arkansas Adjutant General, and Arkansas National Guard Brigadier General Chad Bridges. The partnership is the first in the state of its kind.

Arkansas National Guard Brigadier General Chad Bridges, who is Arkansas Adjutant General, and Arkansas National Guard Brigadier General Michael Henderson, Director of the Joint Staff, arrived at BRTC with 17 other guardsmen aboard two black hawk helicopters.

Brigadier General Bridges remarked on the uniqueness and need for the partnership with BRTC then signed the MOU with President Eggensperger.

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BRTC and the Arkansas Army National Guard hope this partnership will help keep Northeast Arkansas’s young workforce in the region and the state.

The BRTC/Arkansas Army National Guard MOU lays the groundwork for increasing curriculum and instruction collaboration.

The Arkansas Army National Guard will also house a recruiter at BRTC Pocahontas who will assist all BRTC students and will visit area high schools to provide more information about the Guard.

In addition, Guardsmen will serve as guest speakers in BRTC classrooms, particularly focusing on the durable or soft skills that are required by business and industry.

Attending with Brigadier General Henderson were Colonel Derald Neugebauer, 233rd RTI Commander and Arkansas Army NG Chief of Staff; Colonel Joseph Geaney, Director of Staff for the Arkansas Air NG; Command Sergeant Major Gregory White, State Sergeant Mayor; Colonel Anthony Sanders, Arkansas NG Director of Military Support; Major Justin Moss, Arkansas NG J-33/57; Lieutenant Colonel Eric Scarborough, Army Recruiting and Retention Commander; Command Sergeant Major Curtis Coleman, Army Recruiting and Retention; Alpha Company Commander Major Randy Vest, Army Recruiting and Retention; First Sergeant Jeff Gober, Army Recruiting and Retention; Sergeant First Class Russton Rankin, Army Recruiting and Retention Recruiter; Staff Sergeant Holden Hartsfield, Army Recruiting and Retention Recruiter; Major Cibeles Ramirez-Rodriguez, Arkansas NG State Public Affairs Officer; Zac Lehr, Arkansas NG Public Affairs Specialist; Major James Schafer, NG MTC Administrative

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Officer; First Lieutenant Daniel Condit, Air Recruiting and Retention Public Affairs Officer; Master Sergeant Greg Burks, Air Recruiting and Retention Recruiter; Sergeant First Class Joshua Daffern, CSMS Maintenance Control noncommissioned officer. Several of the Guardsmen attending are natives of Northeast Arkansas.

Also attending the event were Arkansas state representatives Bart Shulz, Trey Steimel, and Jeremy Wooldridge; Arkansas State Senator Blake Johnson; Pocahontas Mayor Keith Futrell; and several BRTC Board of Trustee and Foundation Board members.

For more information about opportunities with the Arkansas Army National Guard including how the Guard can pay for college tuition and fees, contact Staff Sergeant Holden Hartsfield, Arkansas Army National Guard Recruiting and Retention Recruiter, at (870) 248-4000.

To report a typo or correction, please click here.

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Murder charge dropped for Arkansas sheriff nominee who killed teen daughter’s rapist

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Murder charge dropped for Arkansas sheriff nominee who killed teen daughter’s rapist


A judge tossed a murder charge against an Arkansas sheriff nominee who was about to go on trial for killing his 14-year-old daughter’s rapist.

The case against Aaron Spencer was dismissed by a judge on Thursday afternoon after law enforcement lost a dash camera memory card that may have captured the fatal October 2024 shooting of 67-year-old Michael Fosler.

Aaron Spencer was slated to go to trial in a few weeks for fatally shooting Michael Fosler, 67, after catching him driving off with his daughter, whom he had already been charged with grooming and abusing. Heather Spencer/Erin Cassinelli via AP

“The court finds that conduct by law enforcement was so egregious that dismissal of this case is warranted,” wrote Special Circuit Court Judge Ralph Wilson Jr.

The development comes just a few weeks before Spencer was slated to go to trial on a second-degree murder charge for allegedly gunning down Fosler on Oct. 8, 2024 after catching him driving off with his daughter — whom the sicko had already been charged with grooming and abusing.

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Spencer woke up around 1 a.m. to find his then-13-year-old daughter had vanished. He soon found her in the passenger seat of the car Fosler was driving.

He then forced the truck off the road and allegedly shot the accused sexual abuser, according to court documents.

The case was dismissed on Thursday afternoon after law enforcement lost a dash cam memory card that may have captured the shooting. Facebook/Heather Spencer

Prosecutors argued that Spencer planned the murder and could have called the cops during the car chase instead of taking matters into his own hands.

He pleaded not guilty to the crime, maintaining he acted accordingly to protect his child from a predator.

Spencer’s attorneys have not denied that he shot and killed Fosler — and the protective dad said the incident spurred him to run for sheriff in Lonoke County, Arkansas.

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“I’m the father who acted to protect his daughter when the system failed,” Spencer said in the video statement to launch his campaign.

Spencer won the Republican primary for Lonoke County sheriff in March and is expected to win the general election. Facebook/Heather Spencer

He won the Republican primary for Lonoke County sheriff in March and is expected to win the general election in the overwhelmingly conservative area east of Little Rock, the New York Times reported.

“No member of this family should ever again be forced to walk into a courtroom and relive this horror,” Spencer’s attorney, Erin Cassinelli, said in a statement to the Associated Press.

“This father should have never been charged for protecting his child.”

With Post wires

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Stockton rappers plead guilty to possessing machine gun, marijuana in Arkansas traffic stop

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Stockton rappers plead guilty to possessing machine gun, marijuana in Arkansas traffic stop


LITTLE ROCK, AR — Two well-known Northern California rappers have pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the 2025 traffic stop where an Arkansas state trooper found a stolen Glock pistol and about five ounces of marijuana, court records show.

Jaymani “EBK Jaaybo” Gorman, 22, and Xavier “Baby Maxx” Jones, 19, pleaded guilty to possession of a machine gun and possessing a controlled substance with intent to distribute it. The gun charge carries up to 10 years but the actual prison term they’ll get is up in the air; no specific sentence has been agreed to and their sentencing date wasn’t announced, court records show.

Gorman and Jones entered their guilty pleas on Thursday, weeks after Jones signaled his intent to plead guilty, backed out, then changed his mind again. Both men were scheduled to go on trial before reaching an agreement. In light of their guilty pleas, prosecutors dismissed several other federal charges.

Gorman and Jones were arrested last year during a traffic stop in Arkansas with a Glock pistol illegally modified to shoot fully automatic, about five ounces of marijuana, and $8,534 in cash, according to court records. The money and a Luis Vuitton handbag have been seized by the federal government, court records show.

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Oakland police say the gun has been “forensically linked” to a February 2025 shooting where a rival rapper, Jarico “Dreamllife Rizzy” Anderson, was shot and wounded as he drove on Highway 24 towards Orinda in Oakland. No charges have been filed in that shooting. Police have named Anderson as a member of a San Francisco gang and both Jones and Gorman as members of a rival gang in Stockton.

Anderson has since been hit with federal charges in the Bay Area for allegedly having a gun as a felon. A judge has released him while the case is pending, court records show.



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Arkansas cotton, soybean planting pushes toward finish as June ‘Acreage’ surveys get underway – Pine Bluff Commercial

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Arkansas cotton, soybean planting pushes toward finish as June ‘Acreage’ surveys get underway – Pine Bluff Commercial






Arkansas cotton, soybean planting pushes toward finish as June ‘Acreage’ surveys get underway – Pine Bluff Commercial


















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