YELL COUNTY QUORUM COURT MEMBERS, AFTER A SHORT DEBATE, APPROVED THE COUNTY'S BUDGET FOR 2015. TOTAL PROJECTED REVENUES FOR 2015 AMOUNTED TO APPROXIMATELY 4.3-MILLION DOLLARS, WITH SOME 4.1-MILLION DOLLARS IN APPROPRIATIONS. THE COUNTY ROAD FUND WAS ESTABLISHED AT APPROXIMATELY 3.068-MILLION DOLLARS IN REVENUES AND EXPENDATURES. COUNTY JUDGE MARK THONE CALLED IT A "GOOD BUDGET. THONE COMMENDED MEMBERS OF THE QUORUM COURT BUDGET COMMITTEE FOR THEIR HARD WORK ON EVALUATING COUNTY FINANCES FOR 2015.
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BOND HAS BEEN SET FOR TWO DOVER MEN, ARRESTED BY POPE COUNTY SHERIFF'S AUTHORITIES ON SUSPICION OF FIRST DEGREE MURDER, IN THE 2009 SHOOTING DEATH OF CLINT BROWN. THE SUSPECTS, IDENTIFIED BY AUTHORITIES AS 25-YEAR OLD MICHAEL HALL AND 24-YEAR OLD NATHAN HULL, APPEARED MONDAY MORNING BEFORE POPE COUNTY DISTRICT JUDGE DON BOURNE. JUDGE BOURNE FOUND PROBABLE CAUSE TO HOLD BOTH SUSPECTS OVER FOR A FEBRUARY 2ND PLEA AND ARRAIGNMENT HEARING IN POPE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT. BOND WAS SET AT 300-THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR HULL AND 100-THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR HALL. AUTHORITIES CONFIRMED THEY ARE LOOKING FOR A THIRD SUSPECT IN THE INCIDENT, BUT, DECLINED TO NAME THAT INDIVIDUAL AT THIS TIME. BOTH SUSPECTS REMAIN IN THE POPE COUNTY DENTENTION CENTER.
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MARCH 2015 COURT DATES HAVE BEEN SCHEDULED FOR A 26-YEAR OLD SUSPECT, IN A YELL COUNTY MURDER THAT OCCURRED IN JULY. A PRE-TRIAL HEARING FOR SAMUEL WARD HAD BEEN SCHEDULED FOR LAST WEEK, BUT, A CHANGE OF LEGAL COUNCIL FOR THE SUSPECT, RESULTED IN ITS POSTPONMENT. WARD IS CHARGED WITH FIRST-DEGREE MURDER, IN THE DEATH OF HIS CHILD. DURING A JULY 31st INCIDENT BETWEEN THE SUSPECT AND HIS PREGNANT WIFE, AUTHORITIES SAY WARD'S WIFE WAS SHOT. HIS WIFE, IDENTIFIED AS SHAUNA WARD, GAVE BIRTH TO THE CHILD, WHICH LATER DIED. WARD IS HAS ALSO BEEN CHARGED WITH WITNESS TAMPERING, IN CONNECTION WITH ALLIGATIONS HE PLANNED TO ASK HIS ESTRANGED WIFE TO CHANGE HER TESTIMONY, IN EXCHANGE FOR MONEY. THE SUSPECT REMAINS IN THE YELL COUNTY DETENTION CENTER ON 500-THOUSAND DOLLARS BOND.
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Governor-elect Asa Hutchinson will replace the director of the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services. Director Artee Williams says he's been informed Hutchinson will make a change in leadership at the state agency. Williams was first appointed ADWS director by Governor Mike Huckabee in March 2004.
JONESBORO, Ark. (AP) - A Jonesboro woman has been arrested after police say she cut her ex-girlfriend with a box cutter in a Kmart parking lot. Twenty-one-year-old Rokoiya Smith is being held at the Craighead County jail on a domestic battery charge. Police arrested her Sunday after the other woman called 911.
BAUXITE, Ark. (AP) - A 9-year-old Bauxite boy does not want Christmas gifts this year, instead he wants gifts sent to Arkansas Children's Hospital. Gabriel Yates tells KTHV that when he was 5 his home burned on Christmas and he had to rely on others for presents. Now, he says he'll give his presents and any that he can collect to children in need. Gabriel says he's collected 12 grocery bags of toys so far.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A new study by two Arkansas professors says special needs children with medical complexity who see multiple specialists for more than one chronic condition are more likely to have a health care need go unmet. The study appears in the December issue of the journal Health Affairs. The paper compares inequities of children with special needs to those of children with special needs who also have medical complexity.
