Tag: riff raff

Riff Raff: It’ll never work

The City Wire launched Nov. 1, 2008. 10 years ago. A few folks like Fred Williams and then homebuilders association president Dave Hughes were supportive of the concept of an…

FOIA in Fort Smith is almost DOA, Part II

We noted a few days ago in Part I of this essay the city of Fort Smith’s regard – or disregard – for the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)….

Riff Raff: FOIA in Fort Smith is almost DOA, Part I

One may need a healthy dose of that still unavailable medical marijuana if hoping for a timely, cooperative and convenient response from Fort Smith city government to a Freedom of…

Riff Raff: Comets and Cash and Guthrie and conscience

Halley’s Comet came around in 1986 and is estimated to make another Earthly pass in 2061. There is a 50% chance Arkansas officials will have by then made progress on…

Riff Raff: What kind of monsters are we?

A new Pew Research Center survey suggests that 68% of us have “news fatigue.” It’s 77% with Republicans and 61% with Democrats. The survey results are great news for Republicans,…

Riff Raff: Shawshank shareholders soiree

Folks in Bentonville are prepping for the June 1 Walmart shareholders meeting. We at Talk Business & Politics may or may not have acquired a draft agenda of the big…

Riff Raff: Pelican state pot, monument madness, and identification politics

One of the grow sites for medical marijuana in Louisiana is LSU. No joke. Won’t be ready this year, but 2019 tailgating in Baton Rouge could be a gold and…

Riff Raff: A fortunate son

Editor’s note: This essay was first posted May 10, 2009. Happy Mother’s Day! –––––––––––––––– A lot has changed in Mom’s world. The world in 1949, the year of her birth,…

Riff Raff: A marijuana farm, a clown show, and a phrase factory

Golden Living has placed on the market its 318.000-square-foot Class A office building in Fort Smith. Would be an economic blow to Fort Smith and the state if the jobs…

Riff Raff: A burning bush, Jan and Andy, and the United States of Acquisitions

Much paperwork has been involved in this ongoing Charlie Foxtrot to implement medical marijuana use in Arkansas. Unfortunately, none of the paper is of the rolling variety. Not sure if…

Riff Raff: Federal idiots, Oprah, slippery slopes, and channel changes

Encouraging more STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education is great, but should it result in less education in communication skills? The best engineer in the world is no good…

Riff Raff: Haw Creek Falls, Wall Street wonks, and critter petting

Learned a lot from the news shows in recent weeks about what it takes to get a security clearance. Them federal girls and boys are thorough. Former live-and-let-live rednecks need…

Riff Raff: Alabama stickers, hippies and negroes, and the Sam’s Flub

Recently held back to allow a vehicle to exit a restaurant and merge into a busy and long line of traffic. The SUV sported on the back window a University…

Riff Raff: ‘Watch out for guys like us’

Editor’s note: This essay first appeared Dec. 28, 2008, on The City Wire, now Talk Business & Politics. It continues to be an appropriate note to begin a new year. …

Riff Raff: Gay hymns, advice from the Georgia Satellites, Star Wars shareholders meeting

Back in 1986 the Georgia Satellites provided advice to news anchors, members of Congress, media moguls and future presidents when they sang, “Don’t hand me no lines and keep your…

Riff Raff: Bad habits, predictive journalism, and getting it good and hard

Damn bunch of heathens we are, according to state tax collections. Arkansans are drinking more, smoking more and gambling more. Y’all need baby Jesus. Or Buddha. Or a better football…

Riff Raff: Still the lucky ones

Editor’s note: It’s been a year since Patricia Brown, a co-owner of Talk Business & Politics (originally The City Wire), died following a second bout with breast cancer. This essay…

Riff Raff: And then there was karma

Probably shouldn’t. But here goes. It was karma that caught up with Jeff Long. Not the good kind. The kind that comes around when your britches get bigger than your…

Riff Raff: All thanked up, again

Editor’s note: This essay was first posted in November 2012. Few things have changed. ––––––––––––––––––– In this month containing the Thanksgiving holiday, folks on Facebook have taken to listing something…

Riff Raff: Amber waves of weed, a ‘Heavenly Palace,’ and we don’t need no due process

In addition to supplying the U.S. with ugly Donald Trump ties, the Chinese could soon drop on our country tis of thee a 9.3-ton space station. Insult, meet injury. But,…