Arkansas

Judge blocks Arkansas law that would allow librarians to be charged for loaning

Published

2 years ago

July 30, 2023

Judge blocks Arkansas law that would allow librarians to be charged for loaning

Arkansas is temporarily blocked from enforcing a law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing “harmful” or “obscene” materials to minors, a federal judge ruled Saturday.

U.S. 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 Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders earlier this year, was set to take effect Aug. 1.

A coalition that included the Central Arkansas Library System in Little Rock had challenged the law, saying fear of prosecution under the measure could prompt libraries and booksellers to no longer carry titles that could be challenged.

The judge also rejected a motion by the defendants, which include prosecuting attorneys for the state, seeking to dismiss the case.

Under the law, librarians or booksellers that “knowingly” loan or sell books deemed “obscene” by the state can be charged with a class D felony. Anyone “knowingly” in possession of such material could face a class A misdemeanor. “Furnishing” a book deemed “harmful” to a minor could also come with a class A misdemeanor charge.

Under the law, members of the public can “challenge the appropriateness of” a book. Under that process, officials at both school and municipal libraries must convene committees to review and decide, through a vote, whether a challenged book should be moved to areas of the library that are “not accessible to minors.”

The ACLU of Arkansas, which represents some of the plaintiffs, applauded the court’s ruling, saying that the absence of a preliminary injunction would have jeopardized First Amendment rights.

“The question we had to ask was — do Arkansans still legally have access to reading materials? Luckily, the judicial system has once again defended our highly valued liberties,” Holly Dickson, the executive director of the ACLU in Arkansas, said in a statement.

The lawsuit comes as lawmakers in an increasing number of conservative states are pushing for measures making it easier to ban or restrict access to books. The number of attempts to ban or restrict books across the U.S. last year was the highest in the 20 years the American Library Association has been tracking such efforts.

Laws restricting access to certain materials or making it easier to challenge them have been enacted in several other states, including Iowa, Indiana and Texas.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said in an email Saturday that his office would be “reviewing the judge’s opinion and will continue to vigorously defend the law.”

The executive director of Central Arkansas Library System, Nate Coulter, said the judge’s 49-page decision recognized the law as censorship, a violation of the Constitution and wrongly maligning librarians.

“As folks in southwest Arkansas say, this order is stout as horseradish!” he said in an email.

“I’m relieved that for now the dark cloud that was hanging over CALS’ librarians has lifted,” he added.

Cheryl Davis, general counsel for the Authors Guild, said the organization is “thrilled” about the decision. She said enforcing this law “is likely to limit the free speech rights of older minors, who are capable of reading and processing more complex reading materials than young children can.”

The Arkansas lawsuit names the state’s 28 local prosecutors as defendants, along with Crawford County in west Arkansas. A separate lawsuit is challenging the Crawford County library’s decision to move children’s books that included LGBTQ+ themes to a separate portion of the library.

The plaintiffs challenging Arkansas’ restrictions also include the Fayetteville and Eureka Springs Carnegie public libraries, the American Booksellers Association and the Association of American Publishers.

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Arkansas

Arkansas educators report more engagement, less bullying after schools go phone-free | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

Published

3 hours ago

October 27, 2025

Press Room

Arkansas educators report more engagement, less bullying after schools go phone-free | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

Dmitry Martirosov

Dmitry Martirosov is a reporter covering K-12 education for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He writes about the issues affecting students, teachers and families and has a particular interest in transparency, as well as the day-to-day political battles over education. Before joining the Democrat-Gazette, he covered government and politics in Charlottesville, Virginia, and was a political reporter based in Columbia, Missouri, where he covered the state legislature in Jefferson City. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri, where he studied journalism and political science.

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Arkansas

Swatting leaves law enforcement ‘chasing ghosts,’ but Northwest Arkansas agencies obliged to respond | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Published

21 hours ago

October 26, 2025

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Swatting leaves law enforcement ‘chasing ghosts,’ but Northwest Arkansas agencies obliged to respond | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Ron Wood

Ron Wood has been a professional journalist in Arkansas for about 40 years. He has covered state and federal courts in Northwest Arkansas since 1995. Over the course of his award-winning career, he has covered a wide range of beats including city and county governments, police and fire, regional planning and transportation, education and business.

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Arkansas

Key Arkansas Offensive Players that Could Give Auburn Fits

Published

3 days ago

October 24, 2025

Press Room

Key Arkansas Offensive Players that Could Give Auburn Fits

Amidst a season of struggle, Auburn football isn’t a favorite against the 2-5 Arkansas Razorbacks. The Hogs have a new head coach, are 0-3 in the SEC, but are overall ranked above the Tigers, who are 3-4 with a 0-4 SEC record.

Bobby Petrino’s squad, despite struggles, boasts a litany of talented offensive players that could easily cause significant issues for Auburn, a credible threat given that the team currently leads the SEC in total offense. The game could quickly evolve into a high-scoring affair for the Hogs, especially if Auburn’s offense is unable to stay on the field.

Here’s a look at a few key Razorbacks that could cause strife for Hugh Freeze’s strong Tiger defense.

Every high-flying offense has to have a general, and Taylen Green is far from an exception to the rule. On the season, Green boasts an impressive 1,910 passing yards and 17 passing touchdowns, complemented by 589 rushing yards and five more touchdowns with his legs.

He’s currently boasting a whopping 155.9 passer rating and has been dicing up defenses all year. Green’s offense even put up 42 points in a three-point shootout loss to Texas A&M, a team that Auburn only scored 10 points against.

In fact, the lowest-scoring game of the year for the Razorbacks was 13 points against Notre Dame, but they’ve shown an ability to put up very high point totals against other top-tier defenses, like 31 against Tennessee and 35 against Ole Miss.

Conversely, the Tigers have yet to score more than 17 points in SEC play, so they’ll have to step up if they want to keep up with Green’s pace.

No quarterback can generate these high-scoring results on his own, of course; receiving help is crucial. Green’s favorite target this season has been O’Mega Blake, who’s boasting 582 yards on 42 receptions, good for an average of 13.9 yards per catch.

He’s also hauled in four touchdowns on the season, but his longest play of the season was just 36 yards. The Tigers will need to limit his production, as he’s far and away the most-targetted receiver in Arkansas’ core.

The Tigers famously struggle to limit tight end play, and Rohan Jones could quickly take apart any hopes of a Tigers victory if he’s not contained. His nine receptions on the season are quite a misleading stat, as he’s the Hogs’ second leading receiver by yards this season.

On his nine receptions, Jones has accumulated over 280 yards, good for a terrifying average of 31.2 yards per catch. He’s tied for second in total receiving touchdowns with three, and he also boasts the Hogs’ longest receiving touchdown of the season, at 62 yards.

Statistically, one in every three Rohan Jones catches is a touchdown, likely due to the fact that he doesn’t receive many targets, making him a variable threat, particularly later in the game, where Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino surely hopes the Tigers’ defense will have forgotten about him.

Rounding out a balanced Razorback attack is Mike Washington, Jr., a senior running back who’s been able to keep defenses on their toes all season. On 96 carries, he’s accumulated 671 yards and five touchdowns, but his average of seven yards per touch is something the Tigers can’t allow to continue if they want to emerge victorious.

Washington has been a strong rushing threat for the Razorbacks for three years now, and he’s proven to be strong on essential short-gain plays while still flashing significant ability to break off long runs.

He complements his quarterback’s rushing, too; the two of them have combined for 1,260 rushing yards in just seven games this season. The Razorbacks’ attack is impressively balanced, with 1,577 rushing yards and 2,019 passing yards this season, and Washington’s veteran production is almost certainly to blame.

Auburn’s displayed abilities to limit the rushing game, particularly against Ahmad Hardy and Missouri, while also flashing impressive pass coverage, particularly in games like Texas A&M, but the Tigers’ defense hasn’t faced a threat as balanced as the Razorbacks this season.

The Tigers have limited every single opponent to under 24 points this season, but since that’s likely to change this week against Bobby Petrino’s Razorbacks, the Tiger offense will have to find its footing in all four quarters, and potentially beyond.

The game will be played at 11:45 a.m. CDT in Fayetteville, Ark.