Stories from Saturday, January 2, 2010

The staff, board of directors and volunteers of the Great River Charitable Clinic have been overwhelmed by the strides made in the first year of the clinic's operation. Formed to help provide health care to persons who "fall through the cracks," the clinic provides health care to persons who have no health insurance or government-provided health programs...

Local officials are soliciting diverse opinions from the community to create a poverty-reduction plan in Blytheville. Through a project called "Emerging Communities Initiative," which is funded by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, local officials are teaming up with Little Rock-based Ken Hubbell Associates to gather community input that will shape the plan...

Four Officers with the Blytheville Police Department successfully completed the 2009 B session of the Arkansas Police Academy held at Black River Technical School in Pocahontas Nov. 13. The class is 13 weeks long and is only held twice a year. The Basic Police Training program is a course of study consisting of more than 600 hours of classroom and lab experience, and is accredited by the Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training (CLEST). ...

Two Blytheville residents were arrested by police early Thursday, after officers were called to a domestic disturbance, according to Officers with the Second Judicial District Drug Task Force, Mississippi County Unit. Davey Rainey, 22, was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of a firearm by certain persons...

EDITOR'S NOTE: Michael I. Niman is a journalism professor at Buffalo State College who has written about the Heather Ellis case in Kennett for "The Progressive Populist," a twice-monthly half-tabloid out of Storm City, Iowa. The following is a news analysis...