LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is requesting rental assistance for residents forced from their homes due to recent floods, particularly in the northeastern portion of the state.
Hutchinson says in a Tuesday news release that he’s asking the Arkansas Development Finance Authority to secure up to $5 million through a program with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The program provides tenant-based rental assistance to people who meet certain income guidelines.
Severe weather in April that swept through the South and Midwest led to the deaths of at least nine people in Arkansas.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Slain Arkansas sheriff’s lieutenant is laid to rest
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (AP) — A 100-strong choir of uniformed officers and a 21-gun salute sounded farewell at a memorial service for an Arkansas sheriff’s lieutenant who was killed last week in the line of duty.
Law enforcement officers from across the state wearing their badges with black ribbons packed a Russellville church Monday to remember Lt. Kevin Mainhart, who was shot to death during a traffic stop Thursday.
“I would say that about 80 percent of the people here did not know him,” Maumelle police Sgt. Shannon Giompoletti said. “It’s just general respect for all our brothers in blue.”
Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin and Attorney General Leslie Rutledge were also in attendance.
Yell County Sheriff Bill Gilkey told the congregation that the fallen lieutenant stood out from the rest.
Mainhart, 46, had retired from the West Memphis Police Department after more than 20 years before he was hired by Yell County, where he supervised a team of deputies.
“He was more than just their leader,” Gilkey said. “He was their coach.”
Bagpipes led the way as Mainhart’s casket was taken from the church, and a police radio dispatch signed off Mainhart’s badge No. 7.
“We will never forget your ultimate sacrifice,” the dispatcher said over the radio. “You are clear to go 10-7.”
A 42-year-old man has been arrested in Mainhart’s death and two other killings.
Arkansas Supreme Court seeking 11 percent pay raise
By ANDREW DeMILLO/Associated Press
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas’ highest court on Tuesday asked a state panel for an 11 percent pay raise for its justices, with the court’s chief saying the boost would put them more in line with what other states pay and citing the flurry of appeals that justices handled last month over efforts to resume the executions of death row inmates.
Chief Justice Dan Kemp asked the Independent Citizens Commission, which sets salaries for the state’s top elected officials, to increase the court’s six associate justices’ pay rates from $166,500 a year to $184,815. Kemp’s salary as chief justice would increase from $180,000 a year to $199,800 under his proposal. Other state judges, including members of the Arkansas Court of Appeals, would receive a 2 percent pay increase.
Kemp cited a survey of judicial salaries from the National Center for State Courts that showed Arkansas’ Supreme Court salaries rank 29th among the states.
“We think it’s necessary to have this pyramid, or tiered system,” Kemp said.
A handout detailing Kemp’s proposal also mentioned the number of appeals the court handled last month over Arkansas’ initial plan to execute eight inmates over an 11-day period. Arkansas put four inmates to death last month after the court halted three of the executions and a federal court stopped a fourth.
“You expect to have one appeal every once in a while, probably a couple a year is what you figure going in, but to have seven or eight within a two-week period is unprecedented. … I just wanted to make the commission aware of that,” Kemp told reporters after speaking to the commission.
A lawmaker who had criticized the court over the executions being halted called the salary proposal a poor message to send to the public.
“I would not know how to defend that in the aisle at Wal-Mart talking to a single mom with three kids,” Republican Sen. Bart Hester said. “How do you defend that?”
The commission, which was formed as part of a constitutional amendment that voters approved in 2014, did not take any action on Kemp’s proposal. A competing proposal from the Arkansas Judicial Council called for a 2 percent pay raise across the board for all judges, including the high court. The state Supreme Court received an 11 percent pay raise two years ago when the panel first began setting salaries for elected officials.
Before the 2014 amendment, the salaries had been set in the state constitution, which allowed the Legislature to make cost-of-living adjustments.
Ark. judge backs order finding city set highway speed traps
DAMASCUS, Arkansas (AP) — A circuit judge has kept in place an order that officers in Damascus stop patrolling highways after the city was found to have violated a state law against setting speed traps for motorists.
Judge Chris Carnahan’s ruling in support of an earlier order means Arkansas State Police and sheriff’s deputies in Faulkner and Van Buren counties will be responsible for traffic enforcement along U.S. 65 and other highways.
A prosecuting attorney previously found that Damascus generated significant revenue through traffic fines paid by motorists caught in highway speed traps in the city about 45 miles north of Little Rock.
Damascus officers face a misdemeanor charge if they make highway stops.
Carnahan’s ruling came Friday and the courts still must determine if the order will be temporary or longer lasting.