LITTLE ROCK — State Senate seat to be filled Dec. 8
Gov. Mike Beebe has moved up the date of an election to fill a vacant state Senate seat.
The governor announced Monday that the election to fill Republican Sen. Sharon Trusty's position will be held Dec. 8 rather than Jan.
12, as originally planned.
Trusty stepped down last month, citing family reasons.
The governor moved up the election because only two candidates - one Republican and one Democrat - filed for the position, making a primary election unnecessary.
Former state Rep. Michael Lamoureux of Russellville filed as a Republican candidate and John Burnett, an Atkins attorney, filed to run as a Democrat.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
School president faces faculty's ire
JOPLIN, Mo. - Faculty members at Missouri Southern State University are pledging to move forward with a no-confidence vote in their president's leadership after he retained his job.
On Friday, the board of governors for the Joplin school completed a new contract with university President Bruce Speck. But The Joplin Globe reported that the board also said he needed to "renew efforts to improve relations with the faculty and to address faculty concerns in terms of leadership, management and judgment without retaliation."
Specific details as to what action Speck must take to accomplish those efforts were not outlined in a news release.
The board also acknowledged in the statement that it is "fully aware of the dissatisfaction of the faculty." - THE ASSOCIATED PRESSPlea is 'not guilty' to murder charge
HARRISONVILLE, Mo.
- A west Missouri man has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the fatal shooting of his children's mother.
Michael Adams Jr. of Belton appeared at his arraignment Monday at Cass County Circuit Court wearing a baby-blue jumpsuit, shoulder-length hair and makeup.
Police say he shot Amber Hartwig, 36, in the head on July 14 before shooting himself, causing a superficial wound. Hartwig was the mother of Adams' two children.
Relatives say Adams and Hartwig argued the day of the killing about his crossdressing. The couple's 18-year-old daughter found her mother dead on the kitchen floor while her father, wearing women's clothing, sat on the floor smoking a cigarette.
Adams is scheduled to appear in court again Oct.
19.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Trucker negligent, prosecutor claims
OKLAHOMA CITY - A truck driver faces 10 counts of negligent homicide resulting from his rig slamming into a line of stopped cars on a turnpike in northeast Oklahoma this summer, killing 10 people.
Ottawa County District Attorney Eddie Wyant said he filed the misdemeanor charges against Donald L. Creed, 76, of Willard, Mo. Each charge carries a maximum of one year in a county jail.
Police have said Creed's inattention caused the June 26 wreck on the Will Rogers Turnpike near Miami, Okla., about 90 miles northeast of Tulsa. Investigators found no evidence that he tried to brake or take evasive action. The line of cars was stopped because of an earlier crash.
Rob Coffey, Creed's attorney, did not immediately return a call for comment.
Nor did representatives for Kansas City, Kan.-based Associated Wholesale Grocers, for which Creed was driving.
There was no indication that Creed was under the influence of an intoxicant at the time of the accidents, Wyant said. Authorities said earlier that Creed had worked 10 hours straight delivering groceries in sweltering heat before the crash but that he did not exceed the federal daily driving limit.
The crash killed Shelby Hayes, 35, of Frisco, Texas;
her husband, Randall Hayes, 38; their son, Ethan Hayes, 7; and Shelby Hayes' mother, Cynthia Olson, 55, of Crossroads, Texas.
Other victims were Oral Hooks, 69, Earlene Hooks, 63, Antonio Hooks, 42, and Dione Hooks, 41, all of Oklahoma City; and Ricardo Reyes, 39, and Ernestia Reyes, both of Phoenix.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 8 on 09/22/2009