Author: Michael Tilley

Michael Tilley

Home sales down 3.3% in Fort Smith metro through April

Largely because of home sales declines in Sebastian County, sales in the Fort Smith metro were down 3.3% between January and April, but the value of the sales was up…

Sisters confirm demo plans for St. Scholastic Monastery; demo could begin in three weeks

The Benedictine Sisters have rejected a flurry of requests and pleadings from state and local individuals and organizations and are moving ahead with demolishing the historic St. Scholastica Monastery in…

Arkansas’ electric co-ops to spend $1.66 billion on broadband expansion

Diamond State Networks, a coalition of 13 Arkansas Electric Cooperatives, is the newest wholesale broadband provider in the state with the goal of providing high-speed internet access to 1.25 million…

Preserve Arkansas acting to delay demolition of St. Scholastica

Little Rock-based Preserve Arkansas has received preliminary grant approval from a national trust to conduct an assessment of historic St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith, which is set for demolition…

Efforts announced to expedite truck driver licensing in Arkansas

Hiring more examiners, using the Saline County Fairgrounds for skills testing, and approving overtime pay for examiners are some of the ways the Arkansas State Police and Arkansas Trucking Association…

Bass Reeves streaming series in the works; no word on film location sites

Paramount+ has plans to produce a Bass Reeves limited series as part of its “Yellowstone” spinoff “1883.” State and local officials are mum about any chance all or parts of…

Medical marijuana product sales up 1.1% in April

Medical marijuana patients spent $24 million in April at the state’s 38 dispensaries to obtain 4,213 pounds, up from the 4,166 pounds sold in March. Hot Springs is home to…

Several Fort Smith school board candidates miss financial report deadline

Only four of the 13 Fort Smith Public School Board candidates filed their required “campaign contribution and expenditure report” by the May 17 deadline, according to documents provided by the…

Arkansas River tonnage up 1.9% through April; internal shipments up almost 46%

Commercial tonnage shipped on the Arkansas River in the first four months of 2022 was 3.515 million tons, up 1.9% thanks to a 45.8% rise in shipments between ports on…

State official hopes for more time to ‘explore’ options to save St. Scholastica

Stacy Hurst and Ken Kupchick want more time to explore options in an effort to save the historic St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith from a June 1 demolition date….

Arkansas Tourism Ticker: Early 2022 numbers show broad recovery in Arkansas’ tourism sector

Hospitality tax collections and tourism job numbers in the first two months of 2022 show a post-COVID-19 recovery, with double-digit percentage gains in tax revenue compared to the pre-pandemic months…

Riff Raff: A note about David

A specific item is why most attend a voting or study meeting of the Fort Smith Board of Directors. A zoning change. Proposed policy opposition. Or support. A not-in-my-back-yard issue….

Fast 15: Derek Stout

It was not a giant leap for Derek Stout to enter construction. Even at a young age, he said he appreciated how things are built. Before he was 10 years…

Fast 15: Jasmine Smith

Jasmine Smith was connected to the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith before graduating high school. A Mansfield native, she participated in the Western Arkansas Technical Center program through UAFS…

Denny Altes charged with abuse of public trust

Former Arkansas legislator Denny Altes, who is a Republican candidate for Sebastian County Judge, has been charged with one count of abuse of public trust, a class C felony. A…

FCRA to consider ideas making property offers more transparent

Members of the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority (FCRA) may in the near future consider ideas that alter the process by which property offers are known to the authority even if…

Zoning approval allows construction to begin on $50 million Fort Smith residential project

The Fort Smith Board of Directors on Tuesday (May 3) approved zoning for an estimated $50 million residential development that developer Mark Rouse said will be unique to the city…

Arkansas’ available tax revenue surplus just under $1 billion

Arkansas’ net available fiscal year-to-date revenue surplus is $987.9 million thanks in large part to record business and individual income tax payments in April. The fiscal year (July 2021 to…

Roe reversal would trigger Arkansas’ anti-abortion law; Biden says all privacy rights now in jeopardy

Arkansas Republican political leaders praised a likely U.S. Supreme Court decision ending abortion rights while decrying the leak of the court’s draft opinion. The state’s Democratic Party chair said taking…