Author: Michael Tilley

Gulfside makes new Pope County casino pitch

The Gulfside Casino Partnership is hoping its broad $405 million plan for a Pope County casino will be enough to get a resolution of support from the county’s Quorum Court….

Arkansas Waterways Commission officials say the agency ‘needs to be recognized’

Arkansas Waterways Commission officials are concerned about the “small staff of two” getting lost in an organizational shuffle, but are optimistic that state leaders understand the need to protect a…

U.S. House bill includes $70 million for pilot training center in Fort Smith

Funding efforts for the next U.S. fiscal year are already underway. At least $70 million could be used to build an academic training base at Ebbing Air National Guard Base…

Arkansas Tourism Ticker: 2% tourism tax up, other data moderates

Arkansas’ 2% tourism tax revenue between January and February was $3.4 million, up 8.7% compared with $3.129 million in the same period of 2023. Revenue in each of the first…

Group forms to oppose effort to block Pope County casino license

Investing in Arkansas has formed to oppose a possible constitutional amendment to repeal a controversial Pope County casino license. The latest move is part of ongoing legal actions by the…

Year-over-year March jobless rate increases in most Arkansas metro areas

Job numbers were down in four of Arkansas’ eight metro areas in March, with the Northwest Arkansas metro having the highest percentage year-over-year growth at 2.1%. All but one area…

Fast 15: Jackson Mendenhall

Fort Smith native Jackson Mendenhall is one of the rare people who know what they want to do before graduating college and where they will do it. He graduated from…

Fast 15: Leilani Ocasio

Leilani Ocasio isn’t discouraged by rejection. It just means there is another path to a “yes.” Ocasio graduated from Northside High School in Fort Smith and earned a bachelor’s degree…

Funding, construction pace at foreign pilot training center in Fort Smith ‘real unusual’

Richard Deaner said the planned pace of work at the Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith is “real unusual in today’s environment,” but is needed to ensure the…

Number of foreign military jets at Fort Smith could rise; basing cost up to $850 million

The foreign military pilot training center in Fort Smith has yet to become operational or even see its first jet find a home in a hangar, but the number of…

Riff Raff: It’s more than just a medical school

More than 11 years ago this fella told me about a new Fort Smith-based organization of which he was certain would do great and transformative things. One of the few…

Fort Smith sales tax revenue posts small gain through March

Fort Smith sales tax rebounded some in March, allowing city officials to breathe a little. The March sales tax report shows the city’s share of the 1% Sebastian County sales…

Work approved on new $1.7 million warehouse at the Port of Fort Smith

The Fort Smith Port Authority Commission on Wednesday (April 24) approved construction of a new bulk storage warehouse estimated to cost $1.7 million. The warehouse helps make up for storage…

Downtown Fort Smith parking meters could be history

Anyone in the market for used parking meters may want to contact the City of Fort Smith. But don’t get the checkbook out too soon. The city isn’t expected to…

Fort Smith airport traffic up 7% in first two months of 2024

Fort Smith Regional Airport traffic is up in the first two months of 2024, reversing a traffic trend that saw enplanements dip almost 2% in 2023. It’s a trend improvement…

Riff Raff: Seeking a responsible dissolution solution

It is now time, if not yesterday, for the responsible persons in our local governments and authorities to be responsible and take responsible actions toward the responsible dissolution of the…

Rep. Womack named chair of key U.S. House Appropriations subcommittee

Departures in the U.S. House of Representatives have resulted in U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, being elevated to chair of the House Transportation and Housing & Urban Development (THUD) subcommittee…

Riff Raff: A strange report

“This seems strange …” That’s how a rep with Turn Key construction began a sentence about his thoughts on a report attempting to reveal the causes of flooding at the…

Fort Smith metro home sales down 5.6% in first two months of 2024

An almost 14% gain in Sebastian County home sales was not enough to lift Fort Smith metro home sales numbers in January and February over the same period in 2023….

Lockheed Martin plans to open facility in Fort Smith, employ up to 90

Defense industry giant Lockheed Martin is the first known company with plans to locate a facility in Fort Smith to support the foreign pilot training center being established at Ebbing…