Talk Politics

Covering Arkansas Politics

Nominations open for NEA Women in Business awards

Each year, the number of women involved in the business and civic sectors continue to grow, and Talk Business & Politics is set to honor the best of them in…

Governor: ‘Reality is the best incentive’ to improve vaccination rates

Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Tuesday (June 29) in his weekly press conference at the state capitol that financial gimmicks have “not been effective in incentivizing people to get the vaccine,”…

Rep. Love to run for State Senate

State Rep. Fred Love, D-Little Rock, announced his candidacy Monday (June 28) for the Arkansas State Senate District 31 seat currently held by Sen. Joyce Elliott, who is term-limited. No…

Rock Region Metro awarded $4.9 million for electric buses

Rock Region Metro in central Arkansas was awarded $4,900,000 – its largest competitive grant award to date – in Federal Transit Administration funds to purchase up to five 40-foot battery…

Jonesboro, ASU and other entities apply for $20 million infrastructure grant

For several years, civic leaders in Jonesboro have been pushing efforts to improve the quality of living in Northeast Arkansas’s hub city. Several entities are coming together to massively upgrade…

Immortalizing two Arkansas icons

First, the Arkansas General Assembly had the tough task of choosing the two people who would represent Arkansas in Statuary Hall in our nation’s capital, and then we had a…

Governor, legislative leaders discuss fall session expectations, future bipartisanship

Gov. Asa Hutchinson and State Senators Jonathan Dismang, R-Beebe, and Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, participated in a KATV-Talk Business & Politics town hall in late May to discuss recent session…

Arkansas Humanities Council offering American Rescue Plan grants

The Arkansas Humanities Council has received $759,297 from the National Endowment of the Humanities to implement the America Rescue Plan grant program aimed at helping the survival of Arkansas’ critical…

Candidates for Arkansas governor respond to children’s health report

A new study that shows a 26% rise in Arkansas children without health insurance garnered responses from the seven candidates running for governor in 2022. Earlier this week, the KIDS…

Fort Smith city administrator cites family reasons for seeking job in Florida

The mayor and city council in the gulf coast town of Clearwater, Fla., may have reopened the search for a new city manager, but Fort Smith City Administrator Carl Geffken…

Report: 26% surge in Arkansas children without health insurance (UPDATED)

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include comments from Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Despite decades of effort and an expansion of Medicaid, Arkansas saw a dramatic surge in the…

First public trucking academy launched in Arkansas

Arkansas didn’t have a public trucking academy – until today. The Arkansas Trucking Academy (ArkTA) is a consortium of ASU Three Rivers, UA Cossatot, UA Rich Mountain, and UA Hope/Texarkana….

Dr. Anthony Bland becomes 4th Democrat to enter governor’s race

Dr. Anthony Bland fell short in his 2018 attempt to win the lieutenant governor’s race in Arkansas, but that did not deter the Democrat from Little Rock from setting his…

Floods in early June cause more than $200 million in crop damages; number could rise

Major floods in the southern Arkansas Delta in early June caused more than $200 million in direct losses to major crops, according to a preliminary estimate by experts with the…

UA Little Rock awarded $453,000 contract from state to study prison culture and climate

The Arkansas Department of Corrections has awarded the University of Arkansas at Little Rock a multi-year contract of more than $453,000 to study and assess the prison culture and climate…

Building Black Communities Fund distributes 40 grants

Arkansas Community Foundation and the Arkansas Black Philanthropy Collaborative announced Tuesday (June 22) that 40 grants from the Building Black Communities Fund have been awarded to Black-led and Black-serving nonprofit…

Baptist Health celebrates 100th anniversary

Baptist Health was born on Feb. 16, 1921 just as the nation was coming out of a global pandemic known as the Spanish Flu. One hundred years later, Arkansas and…

I-40 bridge closure complicating West Memphis traffic, tourists and taxes

There is one place in the western hemisphere where north meets south and east meets west from a goods distribution perspective. Interstate 55, which connects Canada to Mexico, and Interstate…

Arkansas medical marijuana sales top 50,000 pounds

Roughly two years after the first medical marijuana dispensary opened in Arkansas, the market has seen the sale of more than 50,000 pounds valued at $338.5 million, according to the…