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Second wave of overnight winter weather covers Arkansas roadways early Sunday | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

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Second wave of overnight winter weather covers Arkansas roadways early Sunday | Arkansas Democrat Gazette


Check the Arkansas winter weather page for complete storm coverage.

Snow and ice continued to blanket roadways in Arkansas as a second wave of winter weather moved through the state Sunday, halting some of the road-clearing progress made on Saturday.

“We did lose a little bit of ground overnight,” Dave Parker, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Transportation, said in a text to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Sunday morning. “The second wave gave us another heavy amount of sleet and snow, almost ast much as the first round. So I think it is fair to say any progress we made yesterday has been slightly lost.”

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Winter weather layers were still active on the IDriveArkansas map as of 7 a.m. Sunday.

“Overnight, the temps dropped and we received more sleet and freezing rain across the state,” a Facebook post from the Arkansas Department of Transportation said Sunday morning. “Please be careful and stay home if you can.”

Parker said the department’s teams still had good morale and were pushing forward to make good progress Sunday.

“We are not going to see much sunshine until Wednesday, and that will be very little, so melting will be slow,” he said. “We are using mostly super brine today.”

Super brine is a combination of salt brine and beet juice, Parker told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette earlier this week. Salt brine lowers the freezing temperature to about 25 degrees, whereas beet juice can help bring the freezing temperature even lower. He said that they can adjust the ratio of beet juice so the brine works in single digit temperatures.

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“Our goal is to have a passable lane on the primary routes,” Parker said.

Accident numbers on state roads have been low, according to the Parker. Sunday morning there was an accident on Interstate 40 near West Memphis involving a tractor trailer, “but that’s been about it thus far,” Parker said.

Overnight accumulation

More snow, sleet and some freezing rain fell across most of the state overnight Saturday and early Sunday morning.

Colby Pope, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in North Little Rock, said that from midnight to 6 a.m. Sunday, an additional 1.8 inches of snow and sleet combination fell at the office. That brings the total amount of winter precipitation fallen at the office to 10.6 inches.

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“During round two of the winter storm, a lot of places experienced mostly sleet with some snow also falling in parts of Northwestern Arkansas,” Pope said Sunday morning. Some areas in northwestern parts of the state saw an additional inch of snowfall.

For Central Arkansas, forecasters are mostly looking into sleet accumulation, which cut into snowfall totals, he said.

“We’d rather have sleet than freezing rain,” the forecaster said. “it does a number on the roads but it doesn’t stick to powerlines like freezing rain does.”

While the weather office had yet to receive reports about overnight snow and sleet totals from Central Arkansas as of 7 a.m. Sunday, Pope said it was likely residents in the area saw another inch or two overnight.

“There might be slightly higher accumulations in areas a little farther south and east because of a small burst of snow that fell Saturday evening that missed most of the Metro area,” he said.

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Pope said they hadn’t received any reports yet Sunday morning from southern Arkansas but forecasts showed the area had mostly received freezing rain, with highest amounts from Saturday falling around a quarter of an inch.

As it gets closer to noon on Sunday, Central Arkansas is expected to see less than an inch more of sleet and snow accumulation.

“We will continue to see this second wave impacting Arkansas as more sleet falls. The winter precipitation is forecast to turn into snow briefly before the system moves out of the state, Pope said.

Pope said the system is forecast to end abruptly as it moves out of the state, especially in Central Arkansas, by early Sunday afternoon.

Temperatures are expected to remain below freezing, the forecaster said.

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“We are only getting temperatures up into the middle teens by noon. We’re going to be lucky to get to 19 degrees, almost 20 degrees today,” he said.

Pope said the state might not see temperatures above freezing until Tuesday, and even then it might be only for a few hours.

Over 4,400 customers in Arkansas were without power, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks over 1.6 million customers in the state.

Over 2,000 of the reported outages are in Miller County and just over 1,000 outages were reported in Little River County as of 7 a.m. Sunday.

Pulaski County was only reported to have 88 outages as of Sunday morning.

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Sax star Merlon Devine joins Lupus Foundation of Arkansas to jazz up awareness month

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Sax star Merlon Devine joins Lupus Foundation of Arkansas to jazz up awareness month


Purple is the color of the month in Arkansas, and Lupus Awareness Month is bringing a busy stretch of events, including a mayoral proclamation and a smooth jazz concert featuring acclaimed saxophonist Merlon Devine.

A proclamation for Lupus Awareness Month is set for 6 p.m. in North Little Rock, with Mayor Hardwick expected to present it. Organizers encouraged lupus warriors and supporters to come out.

Anita Boone, President of the Lupus Foundation of Arkansas Inc. and a former lupus warrior, described the day-to-day reality of living with the disease: “One minute you’re feeling amazing, the next minute your body is saying we can’t do this.”

Lupus is an autoimmune disease, described during the interview as a condition where the immune system attacks the body “inside out.” It can affect organs throughout the body, including the brain, lungs, heart and kidneys. Boone also shared personal impacts, saying, “I am losing, actually, ear from hearing, just because of lupus.”

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The Lupus Foundation of Arkansas is also inviting the community to a Lupus Smooth Jazz Concert this Sunday, May 17, at 3:30 at The Space with Grace event venue, 2005 Main St., North Little Rock.

Gale Davis, committee chair for the Lupus Smooth Jazz Concert shared details about the concert.

Davis said guests are encouraged to “dress to impress,” though formalwear isn’t required. The event will include a photo backdrop, light hors d’oeuvres and beverages, and sponsored tables aimed at networking. It’s also a chance for people to meet other lupus warriors, learn more about the foundation’s work, and watch a video presentation highlighting events from the past year.

The featured artist, Merlon Devine, was described as an acclaimed saxophonist known for a soulful, smooth jazz sound, with a career spanning more than two decades and performances across the country and around the world. He’s also an Arkansas native who attended Little Rock Central High School. He now lives in Southern Maryland, outside Washington, D.C.

Davis said Devine’s connection to lupus is personal. She said his father had lupus and has since died, though he didn’t die from lupus. They also said Divine had a sister who died from lupus in 1981 and that he currently has two sisters living with lupus.

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She also shared that, according to his doctors, Devine was born with acute asthma and underdeveloped lungs. His latest single, released last year, is called “Mercy.”

Tickets must be purchased online and will not be sold at the door. They’re available online by clicking on the flyer. Prices are $40 for individual tickets, or $400 for a table of nine, with an option to sponsor a table.

Organizers also noted another proclamation is planned for the Little Rock side with Mayor Frank Scott tomorrow, and encouraged people to follow the Lupus Foundation of Arkansas on social media for updates.

The concert will take place this Sunday at the Space With Grace Venue in North Little Rock.



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A 21-year-old Arkansas man, formerly from Newaygo, died after crashing dirt bike into tree

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A 21-year-old Arkansas man, formerly from Newaygo, died after crashing dirt bike into tree


An Arkansas man died after crashing a dirt bike on Sunday.

The 21-year-old Arkansas man, formerly from Newaygo, crashed into a tree while riding a dirt bike on private property in Ashland Township near Grant on Sunday before 2:30 p.m., according to Michigan State Police (MSP) troopers.

Emergency responders tried to save his life but he died at the scene.

Troopers are still investigating but do not suspect drugs or alcohol as factors in the crash.

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MSP did not initially release any additional information.



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Arkansas softball heading to NCAA Tournament | Seed, opponent, regional info

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Arkansas softball heading to NCAA Tournament | Seed, opponent, regional info


FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas softball will once again host an NCAA Regional, this time as the No. 5 overall national seed.

The Razorbacks (42-11) will be the top seed in Fayetteville and open the tournament against fourth-seeded Fordham (27-26) at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, May 15.

Washington (36-18) is the two-seed and will face three-seed South Florida (42-15) that same day inside Bogle Park.

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Arkansas is paired with the Durham Regional hosted by Duke (39-14) for a potential super regional. Arizona (35-16), Marshall (37-17) and Howard (28-17) are joining the Blue Devils in the regional.

This is the sixth consecutive season the Razorbacks will host a regional. It is also the program’s eighth straight NCAA Tournament berth under coach Courtney Deifel. Arkansas has reached the NCAA tournament 14 times, and more than half of those appearances have come under Deifel.

Arkansas ended the season No. 1 in the RPI despite finishing seventh in the SEC standings. The Hogs were eliminated by Alabama in the conference tournament quarterfinals.

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Last year, Arkansas lost to SEC rival Ole Miss in the Super Regionals. The Hogs fell one win shy of reaching the Women’s College World Series for the first time in program history. They are hoping to take that elusive next step this summer and book a trip to Oklahoma City in two weeks time.

Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at jfuller@usatodayco.com or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter. 



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