Associated Press

JONESBORO, Ark. (AP) — Joseph Pinion’s 16 points helped Arkansas State defeat Akron 80-75 in overtime on Monday night in a season opener.

Pinion shot 5 for 6, including 4 for 5 from beyond the arc for the Red Wolves (1-0). Derrian Ford scored 15 points and added seven rebounds. Kobe Julien went 6 of 16 from the field (1 for 6 from 3-point range) to finish with 14 points.

The Zips (0-1) were led by Sharron Young, who posted 15 points. Akron also got 13 points, seven rebounds and two blocks from Josiah Harris. Nate Johnson had 11 points and three steals.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KAIT/Edited News Release) – Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin announced Monday, Nov. 4, that Arkansas will receive up to $13,535,086 as its share of a $1.37 billion settlement with Arkansas, 29 other states, and Kroger over its role in the opioid crisis.

“Opioid addiction continues to be a scourge in Arkansas and our nation. I am pleased with this settlement as the funds will go to opioid abatement. I am grateful to the bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general who worked together on behalf of their citizens to hold Kroger accountable,” he said.

Arkansas’s share will be paid over 11 payments through 2034. Kroger has agreed to injunctive relief that requires its pharmacies to monitor, report, and share data about suspicious activity related to opioid prescriptions.

Between 2006 and 2014, Arkansas was flooded with almost 1.5 billion units of addictive opioids. By 2016, Arkansas had the second-highest opioid prescription rate in the nation, with 114.6 opioids being dispersed for every 100 Arkansans.

In November 2023, Griffin announced a grant of $50 million of the state’s opioid settlement funds to help establish the National Center for Opioid Research & Clinical Effectiveness at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

You can read the settlement by clicking here.

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Copyright 2024 KAIT. All rights reserved.

Despite Thursday’s near-constant rainfall in East Arkansas, rural Delta counties’ few early voting locations were almost never empty.

Residents of Crittenden, Lee and Phillips counties showed up to make their voices heard in next week’s local, state and federal elections. Lee and Phillips counties have one early voting site each, at their respective county courthouses.

Crittenden County has three early voting locations after the Arkansas Supreme Court ended a dispute between voters and local officials by ordering that early voting must occur at two West Memphis churches. The third site is in Marion, the county seat.

One of the two churches, the Seventh Street Church of Christ, saw about 90 early voters between 4:30 and 6 p.m. Wednesday, poll worker Gwen Freeman said Thursday morning.

Unlike in a few North Arkansas counties, voters in the Delta haven’t been expressing doubt about the security of the machines they use to vote, according to poll workers in all three Delta counties, including Freeman.

When voters have questions for poll workers, they’re often about judicial candidates or proposed state constitutional amendments, first-time poll worker Lawrence Carter said.

“They have a lot of questions about the Supreme Court nominees because they really don’t know who they are,” Carter said. “…Most people vote [entirely] Democrat or Republican, but they can’t because the Supreme Court is neither one of those.”

First-time voters — some of whom are older rather than newly eligible young people — also tend to have questions about how to use the voting machines, Carter said.

Poll workers in Lee County said they’ve gotten some of the same questions about voting machines and the three constitutional amendments. Outside the courthouse’s “small courtroom” with its three voting machines, poll workers taped copies of all 24 possible ballots Lee County voters can receive depending on where they live, with the goal of helping people understand their ballots before they walk into the room.

About 25% of Lee County’s registered voters had already voted by Thursday afternoon, poll workers Donna Westbrook and Vivian Humbert said. Early voting began statewide on Oct. 21.

Meanwhile in Helena-West Helena in Phillips County, poll workers have seen roughly 250 voters per day, which is typical for a presidential election year, poll worker Linda Hayden said.

No one from the State Board of Election Commissioners was present at the Phillips County Courthouse Thursday afternoon, but Phillips County is one of several counties that the board is monitoring during early voting and will continue to monitor on Election Day.

SBEC monitored Phillips and Lee counties during the 2022 election; the board is monitoring Crittenden County but not Lee County this year.

Voters’ priorities

Voters in all three counties said the most important matter on their ballot was the presidential race between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump.

John Cummings of West Memphis said he is a lifelong Democrat and supported both Harris and state legislative candidate Jessie McGruder. West Memphis has two state House seats, and both have contested races with no incumbents.

Rosie Staples of Helena-West Helena said she also voted for Harris, largely out of concern over the cost of living and access to healthcare.

“I think the best choice is the person that can reduce those costs,” Staples said. “…You can’t trust politicians, period, but you just hope for the best.”

Stone Robbins, also of Helena-West Helena, said his top priority was “Trump all the way.”

“His track record from 2016 to 2020 versus [President Joe] Biden’s track record from 2020 to now is incomparable,” Robbins said.

Randy Bradshaw of Marianna said he also supports Trump. He called the current state of the economy “pitiful” and said he believes current leaders are allowing illegal immigrants and drugs to flow into the country.

“I’m not a Democrat or a Republican,” Bradshaw said. “It don’t matter who is on the ticket. It’s who I think can do the job better… I care about the welfare of my family, myself and everyone else in the United States.”

Bradshaw and his wife voted just before a 1:30 p.m. influx of voters that created a line out the door of the room with the voting machines.

Kerry Stiles, also of Marianna, was part of that line. She said the second-most important race on her ballot was the one for Arkansas House District 62.

Incumbent Rep. Mark McElroy, R-Tillar, faces a rematch against his previous Democratic opponent, Dexter Miller of Helena-West Helena. In 2022, McElroy won by fewer than 200 votes in a newly-drawn district and had previously represented an almost entirely different part of the Delta.

Stiles is a farmer, and she said she supported McElroy for reelection because he is “a big supporter of farmers.”

Her occupation also made it important for her to vote for Issue 1, she said. The proposed constitutional amendment would allow state lottery proceeds to fund scholarships and grants to students in vocational-technical schools and institutions, and Stiles said she believes Arkansas needs more people trained in vo-tech fields.

Two other constitutional amendments are on Arkansans’ ballots, though the votes for Issue 3 will not be counted. The measure would have made changes to the state’s medical marijuana industry; Robbins said he supported it, while Bradshaw said he opposed it.

Teresa Ball said one of her priorities was Issue 2. She recently moved to Fairfield Bay but voted Thursday in Marianna because she is still registered there. 

Issue 2 would repeal a Pope County casino license and require countywide special elections for any new casinos built in Arkansas.

“That should be on the ballot, and it should not just be big money that buys [casinos],” Ball said.