Stories from Wednesday, January 18, 2023

By Marcus McClain NEA Town Courier With the announcement of the cancer center’s closing on March 3, discussions have flooded the community on the next steps to take. Great River Medical Center CEO and board chairman John Logan described the difficult decision and the factors surrounding it...

The 21st annual Delta Awards, recognizing tourism achievement in Eastern Arkansas, will be presented during festivities Friday evening, Jan. 27, at the Hendrix Fine Arts Center on the campus of Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas, 1000 Campus Road in Helena-West Helena...

By Marcus McClain NEA Town Courier Blytheville’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. walk held an extra piece of importance this year by renaming the bypass in King’s honor. The city council approved the renaming in a special meeting last year, and on Jan. 16, the official unveiling came to pass...

By REVIS BLAYLOCK NEA Town Courier Mackenzie Thomas, Riverside senior softball standout, signed a letter of intent to play softball for the Williams Baptist University Lady Eagles. The signing ceremony took place on Tuesday, Jan. 10. Coaches, family and teammates were on hand at the Riverside gym to congratulate Mackenzie...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced that she is reversing the official position of the governor on the constitutionality of Arkansas’ ban on mask mandates by public entities.  “Yesterday, I reversed the official position of the governor on the constitutionality of Arkansas’ ban on mask mandates by public entities,” Sanders said. ...

Juanita Earline Berry Blevins, 99, of Manila, widow of Robert Blevins, passed from this life Monday, Jan. 16, 2023, at the Ridgecrest Nursing Center in Jonesboro. Born in Manila, she was the daughter of the late Balyous and Ida Scott Berry and was a 1941 graduate of Manila High School. ...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Following Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ remarks to the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Association Winter Conference, Sanders’ spokeswoman Alexa Henning released the following readout: “Today, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivered remarks to sheriffs across the state at the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Association Winter Conference in Little Rock and thanked them for their service. ...