Stories from Wednesday, April 3, 2013

The Automotive Service Technology Department of ASU-Newport Marked Tree campus hosted its thirteenth annual High School Automotive Service Skills Preparation Seminar on March 27...

Building Communities is the name of the program Manila recently participated in. The program is serving 12 counties and is part of the renew East Arkansas. The East Arkansas Planning and Development District launched the project last year through a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development...

Mary Alice Ketchum, librarian of the Manila Public Library, helps a group of students with their homework. Ketchum said there is always 10-12 students at the library taking advantage of the free wifi and computer use to do homework, watch videos and talk to their friends...

Recent reports from the Blytheville Police Department:

Linda Faye Thomas, 53, of Blytheville, died Saturday, March 30, 2013, at St. Bernard's Regional Medical Center in Jonesboro.

Jat Reed Freeman, 75, died Friday, March 22, 2013, in Jonesboro.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe vetoed the Republican photo ID bill. This photo ID bill was a bad bill. Gov. Beebe did the right thing. In some of our states, the photo ID bill has been blocked by the court, because it was designed to disenfranchise the black and Hispanic vote. ...

I am no expert on the steel industry. When it comes to knowing what will work and what won't work, I defer to those who have been in the business for years -- companies like Nucor Steel, or individuals like John Correnti.

Members of the Gosnell Planning Commission held a public hearing Tuesday night on the issue of allowing a zoning ordinance to be changed so that a church could have a day care, in a neighborhood not currently zoned for that particular type of business.

This weekend, several hundred participants in the "Ghosts of Highway 61" Antique Bus Tour, and possibly more groups of antique bus enthusiasts, will be coming in to Blytheville's historic downtown area.

An Arkansas House committee is to consider a Senate-passed proposal today (Wednesday) to provide a company with $125 million in state financing to help build a new steel mill in northeastern Arkansas.

The Arkansas Senate on Tuesday approved Gov. Mike Beebe's proposal to provide Big River Steel with $125 million in state financing to help build a new steel mill in northeastern Arkansas.

JONESBORO --The Blytheville Chickasaws dropped to 0-3 in the 5A-East after a 10-0 loss to the Nettleton Raiders in five innings Tuesday afternoon. Nettleton led, 5-0, heading into the fifth before scoring five more runs ending the game. Alex Turner picked up the Chicks only hit...

Gosnell's baseball game with Cave City, orginally scheduled for Tuesday, has been moved to Friday. The Pirates will host their 3-4A conference foe at 4 p.m. Friday.

ARMOREL -- After three innings Tuesday night, the Armorel Tigers found themselves in unfamiliar territory holding just a 1-0 lead in a 1A-3 East conference game against Crowley's Ridge Academy. Armorel, which has become accustomed to winning most conference games over the past three years by more than 10 runs, needed all seven innings to dispose of the pesky Falcons in a 7-1 win on a frigid afternoon at Armorel...

A House committee has given its approval to a plan that would provide state funding to a new steel mill in northeastern Arkansas.