The state/region in brief

Toddler drowns in family pool

JONESBORO - Authorities say an 18-month-old girl has died after falling into her family’s swimming pool.

Jonesboro police say the drowning happened Tuesday night. Authorities say the mother was preparing dinner when she realized her daughter, Kinley Crews, was missing. The girl was found floating in the family’s swimming pool.

The Jonesboro Sun reports that a downstairs door used to let family dogs in and out of the home may have been unsecured, allowing the girl to get to the backyard.

Police say they don’t suspect foul play and that the case is being treated as an accidental drowning.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Man shot, killed after fistfight

HOT SPRINGS - Authorities in Garland County are investigating after a man was shot to death during an argument.

The Garland County Sheriff’s Office says the shooting happened Wednesday night at a home in eastern Garland County. Authorities say 25-year-old David Halpin was pronounced dead at the scene Wednesday night.

Authorities say two people reportedly followed Halpin and a 29-year-old woman to a home, where an argument and fistfight ensued.

The sheriff’s office says one of the suspects shot Halpin at the home, while the woman suffered minor injuries when she was struck in the face during the fistfight.

The sheriff’s office says two suspects have been detained, but their names have not yet been released.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Cherokee leader

dies in car crash

TULSA - The Cherokee Nation’s secretary of state has died in a traffic accident after a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer.

Cherokee Nation spokesman Amanda Clinton confirmed that 63-year-old Charles Head had died in the accident in Chouteau on Wednesday.

Chouteau Assistant Police Chief Michael Reese says Head was traveling northbound on U.S. 69 and veered suddenly into the southbound lane, colliding with the tractor-trailer.

Reese said he had no further details on the accident but was expecting to finish a report on the wreck by Monday.

Before taking office, Head worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs for more than a decade, most recently as the interim regional director for the eastern Oklahoma office in Muskogee.

Head had served as secretary of state since January 2012. - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

New home given

to Joplin family

JOPLIN, Mo. - Another family who survived the deadly Joplin tornado in May 2011 has received a new home from a Springfield, Mo.-based nonprofit.

Convoy of Hope handed the keys this week to its seventh new home. The charity says work on the homebuilding project began in February 2012, and construction costs are approaching $1 million.

The charity expects to hand over the keys to theeighth home in the project next week, with others to follow in coming months.

The new high-tech, lowenergy houses are specially designed with reinforced concrete walls. They include other features to make them sturdier and more sustainable than traditional houses.

Convoy of Hope President Hal Donaldson thanked its partners. They include Adam Brady Construction, Alpha Title LLC, Project Safe Home, T.F. Concrete Forming Systems and Joyce Meyer Ministries.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Tax credits OK’d for Tulsa complex

TULSA - The Oklahoma Housing Finance Authority has approved tax credits as part of a $43 million deal by investors to revamp a Tulsa apartment complex where four women were shot to death earlier this year.

The Tulsa World reports the panel approved the taxexempt financing Wednesday for the Fairmont Terrace apartment complex.

Midwest Development Partners LLC plans to buy the 336-unit complex from its current owners. The housing authority approved up to $15 million in tax credits as part of the deal and gave initial approval to $27 million in taxexempt multifamily bonds.

Pete Marrone, a consultant for Midwest Development Partners, says the company hopes to “promote large-scale change” in the neighborhood.

Police have made no arrests in the women’s deaths.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DA: Shooting by

officers justified

STILLWATER, Okla.

  • Payne County District Attorney Tom Lee says two Cushing police officers were justified when they shot and killed a Tulsa man.

Lee said in a news release Thursday that Rabih Ozeir, 18, refused the officer’s orders to drop a handgun he was carrying and that he was shot when he pointed the gun at the officers on Jan. 10. Ozeir died the next day at a Tulsa hospital.

Authorities have declined to release the names of the officers involved but say they had been on paid administrative leave.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Missouri tuition to increase 1.7%

COLUMBIA, Mo. - University of Missouri undergraduates who are state residents will pay 1.7 percent more in tuition next year as the four-campus system holds its annual hike to the rate of inflation.

The board of curators approved the tuition increase Thursday while meeting at the Kansas City campus.

Room and board will also rise.

The increase for the 2013-14 academic year is slightly less than earlier estimates of a 2 percent boost. State law limits annual tuition increases to the federal Consumer Price Index. Larger increases require approval by Missouri’s higher education department.

Annual in-state tuition at the flagship Columbia campus will rise to $9,343, an increase of $158.

Out-of-state undergraduates will see similar increases in Columbia and Kansas City but will pay 4.4 percent more at the Rolla campus and 6.8 percent in St. Louis.

-THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 10 on 02/01/2013

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