Tag: riff raff

by Michael Tilley -

Shut up and pay up

Let’s consider this mysterious and allegedly absolute cover of confidentiality under which Fort Smith and federal officials discussed the settlement of the city’s Clean Water Act violations – a settlement…

by Michael Tilley -

7 Fort Smith government moves

Solely for the purpose of providing a window into how Fort Smith city staff and the Board of Directors conduct public business, let’s revisit the process to name the water…

by Michael Tilley -

Still on the SOB watch

It’s just another day, really. Another week. Another month. Another year, one hopes, above the daisies and dirt. But this calendar shift comes with an unavoidable remembrance that, honestly, best…

by Michael Tilley -

The big deal about TiFiber

Fort Smith business leaders and officials with the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce were challenged a few years ago to do a better job connecting with the commercialized technologies…

by The City Wire staff -

Names that are all wet

The submitted names for the water park being built by Sebastian County and the city of Fort Smith would be Exhibit A if you were to build a case that…

by Michael Tilley -

The veteran I remember

This week we are to remember the military men and women who served this country — especially those who saw combat and those for whom combat was the last thing…

by Michael Tilley -

Miss Ada said it could be like this

The discussion of how Arkansas Republicans swept the 2014 election cycle will be woefully incomplete if not wholly inaccurate if it does not include in the opening paragraph this name:…

by Michael Tilley -

Guess who’s coming to dinner

Some or all members of the Fort Smith Board of Directors often gather at a restaurant following their regularly scheduled voting meetings. The media has not received advanced notice of…

by Michael Tilley -

Analysis of the analysis

It was September 2013 when the Fort Smith Board of Directors encouraged city staff to do more to incorporate compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles into the city fleet. At the…

by Michael Tilley -

Do stuff

Comes now Kaitlin Stephens serving as a timely example to students returning to school: Do stuff. Do a lot of stuff. Do a lot of different stuff. Do a lot…

by The City Wire staff -

Mayor Corleone?

With Fort Smith city government looking like Petrino’s face the day after his skirt chasing motorcycle trek, some are calling for a new form of municipal governance. Fort Smith has…

by Michael Tilley -

Discouraged and disappointed

One may admire the perseverance of Fort Smith City Directors Kevin Settle and Mike Lorenz in their effort to quash any discussion of how the city handles its legal needs,…

by Michael Tilley -

Losing our faith

There are important issues facing America and Arkansas but our two candidates for United States Senate appear to be more concerned with throwing each other under the church bus. The…

by Michael Tilley -

Reflecting, already

The back and forth advertisements from Arkansas gubernatorial hopefuls Asa Hutchinson and Mike Ross often elicit an emotion a more disciplined journalist would not reveal. And that emotion is this:…

by Michael Tilley -

Economic stability. Now what?

The corpus of the Fort Smith regional economy is not a fully recovered patient but we should pause to take note of recent positive developments. The developments may offer even…

by Michael Tilley -

Just don’t call him a Savior

A simple and smart-alecky assessment could be that singer-songwriter Sturgill Simpson ran out of beer before he ran out of herb and converted an empty Bud can into a bong…

by Michael Tilley -

Isbell the AMP and You

He dang sure shouldn’t be, but Jason Isbell was an afterthought on the promo stuff announcing a July 7 concert at the AMP in Northwest Arkansas.  Isbell would probably be…

by Michael Tilley -

The upcoming other side of history

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The odds are that Arkansas legislators supporting an effort to reinforce…

by Michael Tilley -

A fortunate son

A lot has changed in Mom’s world. The world in 1949, the year of her birth, was a crazy place. Europe was rebuilding its continental economy, the Soviets were rattling…