Opinion

Fear not

I’m confused. Isn’t the economy supposed to be hurting, limping along without much hope for the future? That seems to be the theme of conversation with many the people with…

Some folks have been rolling their eyes at the presumptiveness the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission supposedly displayed March 20 when it unanimously elected to rename the state’s largest airport…

Something Else

There is this thing with the Fort Smith Board of Directors about money and television and Something Else. Coincidentally, Political satirist P.J. O’Rourke once noted that the three branches of…

Davy’s Daunting Task

Davy Carter, the Republican Arkansas Representative from Cabot, has undertaken a daunting task that may have a pretty predictable end result. As chairman of the House Revenue and Tax Committee,…

Newt’s last stand

Newt Gingrich’s emotional speech following a rare 2012 primary victory in Georgia was imaginative, policy driven, boastful, and enthusiastic — that last once being especially impressive given the relentless campaigning…

The Chinese farm lesson

Back in January, I was driving home, listening to NPR to avoid the advertisements played around 6 o’clock by commercial radio stations. The program, Fresh Air, was about how China’s…

TCW Editorial: Mostly ‘For,’ a little ‘Against’

On March 13, Fort Smith voters will consider the extended use of a 1% sales tax that will refinance bonds, pay for the issuance of new bonds and support operations…

Cool water religion

The realization hit me in the face like cool water spray from a canoe bow plowing through fast-moving sections of the Mulberry or Buffalo rivers. But I was firmly butt-planted…

Real estate consolidation

Over the past few years, consolidation has been somewhat common among real estate offices. We’ve seen that regularly in Arkansas. For example, Rector Philips Morse bought Coldwell Banker Advantage Realty…

Uncomfortable awareness

This week begins an effort by The City Wire to focus on the wholly unpleasant topic of child abuse. We do not do this because it is an engaging topic…

Winning — by Roby Brock

The budget battle at the state capitol had some of the fireworks that several of us thought it would. After Gov. Mike Beebe (D) introduced his $4.72 billion balanced budget…

Bailout politics

All things considered, Republican presidential frontrunner and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will likely win the Feb. 28 Michigan primary, thereby creating a sizeable gulf between himself and his competitors….

Distracted observations

The scattered commentary is posted with apologies to Kind Readers not afflicted with short attention spans.

Opinion — Equality evolution

America – the way I grew up thinking of America – is supposed to be a continually unfolding story.

Cold truth

Tuesday was enlightening; refreshing in the way a pleasant memory reminds us of who we are and from where we come.

General thoughts

And now for a few notes on the news about the 188th Fighter Wing in Fort Smith losing its A-10 planes and mission by mid-2013, and instead receiving what may…

Press on

This particular website real estate is rarely reserved for anything seasoned or respected or smelling of conventional wisdom.

Here we go

Dear Kind Readers: We’re doing this new thing with The City Wire. New look. New people. Not all new people. You’ll continue to have to put up with me. For…

Mostly off target

Riff Raff, by Michael Tilley [email protected] There is this thing called The Arkansas Report that gets e-mailed to a group of subscribers around the state. It is produced by Roby…

Labeling the unlabled

Riff Raff, by Michael Tilley [email protected] An acquaintance recently asked for a review of this “No Labels” group. Here it is. On the first visit to the website, up…