December 2022

The Marion County Quorum Court met Thursday, December 15, to discuss or correct ordinances that could not be completed on Tuesday, December 13, in the regular session. Rick White, Talon Vancuren, Marty Nickels, Wesley Shipman, James Underwood, Claudia Brigham, Joyce McCalla, and Brady Madden were in attendance, along with John Massey to conduct the meeting.

LITTLE ROCK – Legislators finished the calendar year with a final round of recommendations for spending federal relief funds and reserve funds. The recommendations include using another $93.8 million for broadband projects and $20 million to upgrade computerized case management for the state court system.

This week, the Arkansas Legislative Council received a report regarding the state of mental and behavioral health in Arkansas. This report was months in the making.

This week, my colleagues and I on the the House Intelligence Committee released a report on the origins of COVID-19. The report indicates that COVID-19 could be connected to China’s biological weapons research program and may have leaked into the human population during an accident at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology.

It’s common to hear from Arkansans all over the state about their friends and family members in need of help regarding a problem with a federal government agency. Issues such as securing emergency passports for a family to attend an overseas wedding, obtaining a grave marker to honor a WWII veteran or ensuring a small business gets paid for its government contracted work all represent the type of outreach my office receives over the course of a year.

Average gasoline prices in Arkansas have fallen 10.1 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $2.65/g today, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 1,826 stations in Arkansas. Prices in Arkansas are 44.9 cents per gallon lower than a month ago and stand 25.1 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has fallen 14.1 cents in the last week and stands at $4.77 per gallon.