Arkansas

Former AGFC director dies

Published

2 years ago

June 5, 2024

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KAIT/Edited News Release) – Loren Hitchcock, who was Arkansas Game and Fish Commission director for almost two years during 2011-12, died May 28 at his home in Higden. He was 70.

Hitchcock started his career with the AGFC as a game warden in 1985. He became chief of the Enforcement Division in 1989 and was named deputy director in 2001 (he held both titles until he became a deputy director exclusively in 2003).

When AGFC Director Scott Henderson announced he was resigning his position Sept. 1, 2010, Hitchcock was tapped as interim director. He was promoted to director Jan. 20, 2011, and retired from the agency Oct. 27, 2012.

Loren Hitchcock (left) succeeded Scott Henderson (right) as AGFC director after serving as interim director for five months.(Arkansas Game and Fish Commission)

“It’s a tremendous honor to be asked to lead the dedicated, professional staff at our agency,” Hitchcock said when he became director. “It is with these wonderful people that we can build a new era of efficiency and professionalism at Game and Fish. We’ll work together as a team to take advantage of the opportunities we have ahead of us to tell Arkansans about the wonderful opportunities that exist in Arkansas’s incredible outdoors, and the role this Commission plays in managing those resources.”

Hitchcock led the Enforcement Division’s role in the passage of the Amendment 75 Conservation Sales Fund in 1996. He was lead administrator in the agency’s acquisition of a large conservation easement – 16,000-acre Moro Big Pine Natural Area Wildlife Management Area in Calhoun County – plus 4,000 acres in fee title property in Searcy County for elk restoration.

He also negotiated with Chesapeake Energy in its acquisition of mineral rights and natural gas exploration on WMAs in the Fayetteville Shale play. The deal brought $32 million in mineral lease bonuses, plus gas royalty payments, to the AGFC.

Loren Hitchcock speaks at the dedication of Richland Valley Sonny Varnell Elk Conservation Area.(Arkansas Game and Fish Commission)

Loren “Gib” Hitchcock was born to Margaret and Gilbert Hitchcock Oct. 9, 1953, in Batesville, where he was raised. He graduated from Arkansas State University in 1975 with a bachelor’s degree in business management. He’s survived by his partner, Shawna, as well as two sons, two stepdaughters and eight grandchildren.

To report a typo or correction, please click here.

Source link

Related Topics:agfc director Featured loren hitchcock

Click to comment

Arkansas

Shepherd confirmed as federal judge in Arkansas’ Western District – Talk Business & Politics

Published

11 hours ago

April 14, 2026

Press Room

Shepherd confirmed as federal judge in Arkansas’ Western District – Talk Business & Politics

John Thomas Shepherd of El Dorado has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be a U.S. District judge in the Western District of Arkansas, according to the offices of U.S. Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton, R-Ark.

Shepherd is a native of El Dorado and graduate of Rice University and the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville, where he was managing editor of the Arkansas Law Review.

He was a partner at Shepherd & Shepherd in El Dorado and also served as a prosecuting attorney, and later judge, for the Arkansas Circuit Court’s 13th Judicial District. He is a member of the Federalist Society, according to a press release from Cotton’s office.

His brother, Matthew Shepherd, is a partner in the El Dorado law firm and is a former speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives. Their father is Federal Judge Bobby Shepherd who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

“I am pleased to congratulate John Thomas Shepherd on his confirmation and am confident he will serve with the same integrity, professionalism and sound judgment he has demonstrated throughout his career,” noted a statement from Boozman’s. “We are grateful for his deep commitment to public service and the rule of law.”

Shepherd succeeds U.S. District Court Judge Susan Hickey who has been on the bench since October 2011. She was chief judge of the district between 2019 and 2025. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas includes 34 counties stretching from Texarkana and El Dorado to Fayetteville and Fort Smith.

Shepherd is the second Western District judge to be confirmed so far in 2026. David Clay Fowlkes, the former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, was confirmed in early February to be a federal judge in the Western District of Arkansas. He succeeded U.S. District Court Judge P.K. Holmes III, and will be in the Fort Smith office.

Other judges now in the Western District are Chief Judge Timothy Brooks (Fayetteville bench), Magistrate Judge Christy Comstock (Fayetteville), Magistrate Judge Mark Ford (Fort Smith), and Magistrate Judge Spencer Singleton (El Dorado).

Source link

Arkansas

Furman transfer Cooper Bowser visiting Arkansas basketball | Whole Hog Sports

Published

23 hours ago

April 14, 2026

Press Room

Furman transfer Cooper Bowser visiting Arkansas basketball | Whole Hog Sports

Source link

Arkansas

How far Alabama dropped in new USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

Published

1 day ago

April 13, 2026

Press Room

How far Alabama dropped in new USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

Pitching for Alabama baseball had been fine for much of this season. Then the Crimson Tide ran into an Arkansas Razorbacks team that got hot at the plate over the weekend at Sewell-Thomas Stadium in Tuscaloosa.

Arkansas scored 25 runs in a three-game sweep of the Tide, snapping a string of three straight SEC series victories for Alabama. In all three games, the Razorbacks’ bats came alive late. Arkansas used a six-run eighth inning on Friday for a 7-5 win, then plated 11 runs over the final three innings Saturday in a 15-6 rout.

Alabama had a 2-0 lead in after five innings in Sunday’s series finale, but the Razorbacks scored single runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to complete the sweep. The Crimson Tide had won 11 of their last 12 games entering the weekend, including SEC series victories over top 25 teams Florida, Auburn and Oklahoma.

After a 1-3 week in Week 9 of the 2026 NCAA baseball season, here’s where Alabama ranks in Monday’s new USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.

Alabama sees modest drop in Baseball Coaches Poll after Arkansas sweep

In Monday’s new Coaches Poll, Alabama (26-11 overall, 8-7 conference) fell four spots to No. 13. The Crimson Tide are ranked one spot above the West Virginia Mountaineers and one spot below Oklahoma.

Alabama is one of five teams to drop at least four spots in this week’s top 25 rankings. Florida State had a four-spot fall to No. 10, and Mississippi State tied Nebraska for the biggest slide. The Bulldogs fell eight spots to No. 16; the Cornhuskers eight spots to No. 25.

SEC slides, ACC rises in top 5 of NCAA Baseball Coaches Poll

Both Georgia Tech and North Carolina rose in the top five of the Coaches Poll after impressive weekend series against Florida State and Clemson, respectively. Texas and Georgia dropped in the top five after series losses to Texas A&M and Florida, respectively.

Here’s a look at the full top 25 rankings in the USA TODAY Sports Baseball Coaches Poll for April 13.

Rank	Team	Record	PTS	1st	Prev	Chg	Hi/Lo
1	UCLA	33-2	750	30	1	–	1/2
2	Georgia Tech	30-5	719	0	3	1	2/5
3	North Carolina	30-6	680	0	5	2	3/14
4	Texas	27-7	621	0	2	2	2/4
5	Georgia	29-8	618	0	4	1	4/13
6	Oregon State	28-7	611	0	7	1	6/18
7	Texas A&M	27-7	516	0	15	8	7/NR
8	Coastal Carolina	26-9	511	0	11	3	7/25
9	USC	30-7	506	0	10	1	8/NR
10	Florida State	24-11	437	0	6	4	6/17
11	Auburn	24-11	402	0	12	1	4/12
12	Virginia	26-11	383	0	14	2	11/NR
13	Alabama	26-11	325	0	9	4	9/NR
14	Oklahoma	24-11	319	0	18	4	8/NR
15	West Virginia	24-8	306	0	19	4	12/NR
16	Mississippi State	26-10	305	0	8	8	3/16
17	Arkansas	24-13	272	0	22	5	5/22
18	Florida	27-10	233	0	24	6	8/25
19	Oregon	26-10	216	0	20	1	10/NR
20	Southern Miss	25-11	176	0	13	7	7/20
21	Kansas	26-10	153	0	NR	12	21/NR
22	Arizona State	26-11	138	0	21	1	21/NR
23	Ole Miss	26-11	125	0	NR	3	18/NR
24	Boston College	26-12	111	0	25	1	24/25
25	Nebraska	27-9	93	0	17	8	17/NR

Schools Dropped Out

No. 16 UCF; No. 23 North Carolina State

Others Receiving Votes

North Carolina State 74; UCF 49; Jacksonville State 33; Miami (FL) 15; Tennessee 14; California Baptist 13; Missouri State 6; Wake Forest 5; Kentucky 4; UC Santa Barbara 3; Vanderbilt 2; UTSA 2; LSU 2; Liberty 1; Dallas Baptist 1

Alabama baseball 2026 schedule: When do Crimson Tide play next?

Alabama will face the UAB Blazers (23-13) at Regions Field in Birmingham on Tuesday in midweek play. First pitch for Alabama-UAB is 6 p.m. CT.

The Crimson Tide visit Austin for their next series in SEC play beginning Friday. They take on the Texas Longhorns (27-7, 9-5) at 6:30 p.m. CT Friday.

Here’s a look at Alabama’s 2026 baseball schedule. All start times Central.

Feb. 13-15: vs. Washington State (L, 8-4; W, 8-1; W, 11-1)
Feb. 17: at Samford (W, 3-2)
Feb. 18: vs. Alabama State (W, 2-1)
Feb. 20-22: vs. Rhode Island (W, 19-4; W, 8-5; W, 11-1)
Feb. 24: at Southern Miss (L, 14-4)
Feb. 27: vs. Iowa at Frisco College Baseball Classic (W, 12-2)
Feb. 28: vs. Oregon State at Frisco College Baseball Classic (W, 8-7)
March 1: vs. Houston at Frisco College Baseball Classic (L, 8-2)
March 3: vs. Jacksonville State (W, 6-5)
March 4: at Alabama State (W, 13-4)
March 6-8: vs. North Florida (W, 7-2; W, 9-3; W, 12-2)
March 10: vs. Troy (W, 7-3)
March 13-15: at Kentucky (L, 7-4; L, 8-7; L, 6-4)
March 17: at South Alabama (L, 6-3)
March 20-22: vs. Florida (W, 6-0; W, 8-4; W, 14-7)
March 24: vs. Austin Peay (W, 6-2)
March 27-29: vs. Auburn (W, 11-1; W, 3-2; W, 3-1)
March 31: at Jacksonville State (W, 4-3)
April 2-5: at Oklahoma (W, 10-7; L, 4-2; W, 3-2)
April 7: vs. Samford (W, 16-2)
April 10-12: vs. Arkansas (L, 7-5, L, 15-6, L, 3-2)
April 14: at UAB, 6 p.m.
April 17-19: at Texas (6:30 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday)
April 21: vs. UAB, 6 p.m.
April 23-25: at Tennessee (6 p.m. Thursday, 5:30 p.m. Friday, noon Saturday)
April 30-May 2: vs. Vanderbilt (6 p.m. Friday, 6 p.m Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday)
May 5: at Troy, 6 p.m.
May 8-10: at South Carolina (4:30 p.m. Friday, noon Saturday, 12:30 p.m. Sunday)
May 14-16: vs. Ole Miss (6 p.m. Thursday, 6 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday)
May 19-24: SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama