The state/region in brief

Plan would raise tax on natural gas

Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said Tuesday that he’s rejected a proposal by former gubernatorial candidate Sheffield Nelson for a ballot initiative to raise the severance tax on natural gas.

Nelson’s proposal was turned down “due to an ambiguity in the text of the measure,” according to Mc-Daniel’s office.

All proposed ballot initiatives must be approved for proper legal form by the attorney general’s office before supporters may circulate petitions to get them on the 2012 general election ballot.

Nelson has said the money collected from the severance tax isn’t keeping pace with damage done on state roads from use by natural-gas drilling trucks.

The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department has said it expects to receive less than $30 million from the gas-severance tax this year. The department has identified $450 million in damage from heavy truck traffic related to natural-gas drilling from 2007 through 2010.

Nelson said he’s considering reworking the proposal and resubmitting it to the attorney general’s office.

- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Quakes continue

near Greenbrier

GREENBRIER - At least seven more earthquakes shook Faulkner County on Wednesday, including an early-evening quake registering 3.4 in magnitude that rattled an area near Greenbrier.

The U.S. Geological Survey also recorded other temblors earlier in the day ranging from 2.0 to 2.8 that residents didn’t report noticing, said Scott Ausbrooks, geohazards supervisor for the Arkansas Geological Survey.

Amy Priddy, a Greenbrier Police Department dispatcher, said she felt the 3.4-magnitude earthquake that was centered about four miles northwest of Greenbrier when it rumbled at 6:24 p.m.

“People are getting used to these things,” she said.

“They don’t think it’s that big of a deal anymore.”

Quakes shook the area frequently this month, including a 4.1 temblor on Friday that was the largest of the more than 800 quakes recorded in Faulkner County since September.

Scientists are studying to determine whether the earthquakes are caused by natural faults or by deep-well saltwater injections by gas and oil companies near Guy and Greenbrier.

- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTERemains are those

of Paron woman

Human remains found on a west Pulaski County hilltop last week are those of Margo Lynn Jordan, 28, of Paron, who disappeared in April.

Dr. Charles Kokes, chief medical examiner for the state, used dental records to identify the partial skeleton Wednesday.

The Pulaski County coroner’s office recovered a skull and several other bones a week ago from a hilltop behind a home at 15209 Burlingame Road. A 12-year-old boy discovered the bones while playing in the woods near his home.

Jordan’s father, Charles Horn, reported his daughter missing in May. She was a mother of two.

Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Carl Minden said several people were questioned about Jordan’s disappearance. Minden said in a Wednesday news release that the medical examiner listed the cause of death as “undetermined.”

Investigators have not named a suspect.

- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Falling tree kills

Camden logger

MAGNOLIA - A wayward falling tree killed a logger early Wednesday in Columbia County.

Sheriff’s investigators were called to a logging site on Arkansas 371 about 7:30 a.m. and found that a falling tree had struck another tree, changing the direction it fell.

The victim was Donnie Moss, 51, of Camden, an employee of Rogers Lumber Co., which is based in East Camden.

Sheriff’s investigator Todd Scott said detectives are working with the Occupational Safety and Health Hazard Administration to learn more details.

- BANNER-NEWSMarch events

mark Civil War

A dozen events in March marking the coming 150th anniversary of the 1861-65 Civil War have been sanctioned by the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission, chairman Tom Dupree announced.

More information on the March events and a complete list of scheduled sesquicentennial activities are listed online at arkansascivilwar150.com/events/.

Activities include an original two-act play, The Hanging of David O. Dodd, about the 17-year-old from Little Rock who was hanged as a spy by Union troops. The play will run March 11-26 at The Weekend Theater at Seventh and Chester streets in Little Rock.

Among other events will be “Conflict at Historic Washington,” a lecture on archaeological discoveries in the Arkansas Confederate capital, on March 25 at Historic Washington State Park in Hempstead County.

“Lost and Found: Objects from the Civil War,” an exhibit of Civil War artifacts found in the Rogers area, will be on display throughout March in the Rogers Public Library at 711 S. Dixieland Road in Rogers.

- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 8 on 02/25/2011

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