Baby dies, mom hurt in shooting
NEWPORT - Authorities are investigating after a 1-year-old child was found fatally shot in Newport in Jackson County.
According to Jonesboro television station KAIT, the shooting was reported about 3 a.m. Wednesday in Newport.
Brant Tosh with the Arkansas State Police said the 1-year-old was shot and killed, and a woman was critically injured.
Authorities said the woman told police that she was shot multiple times through the door of her home. The baby was pronounced dead at a local hospital, and the woman was airlifted to another hospital in critical condition.
Tosh said detectives are conducting interviews and that a suspect has been detained.
-THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Student arrested in school threat
HARRISBURG - Authorities have arrested a student at Harrisburg High School in a threat to “shoot up” the school.
Poinsett County Sheriff Larry Mills said the 18-yearold student was arrested last week on suspicion of first-degree terroristic threatening.
Mills told the Jonesboro Sun that a witness heard the student make the threat against the school. The school’s superintendent and principal then contacted police.
The sheriff said the student was not at school Friday, and authorities arrested him at his home.
The student has not been formally charged. He’s being held in lieu of $100,000 bond in the Poinsett County jail and is due in court today.
Harrisburg Superintendent Danny Sample said the school has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to threats.
-THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Police hunt man in Branson death
BRANSON - Law enforcement officers are searching for a man who has been charged with murder in the shooting death of his wife at a Branson hotel.
Taney County Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Merrell said 68-year-old Thomas P.
Brown was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. He was not in custody Wednesday morning.
His wife, 63-year-old Marilyn Brown, was found dead Monday at a Ramada Resort and Conference Center in Branson. Police said she apparently had been dead for more than two days.
Police said the couple moved to Branson from Palm Springs, Calif. They were living in motels after being displaced from the home they had planned to live in.
Police are reportedly looking for a blue Dodge Durango with California license plate 5WRF678.
-THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ex-clinic chief gets prison in drug case
CARTHAGE, Mo. - Theformer director of a southwest Missouri clinic has been sentenced to one year and a day in prison for the illegal distribution of prescription drugs and laundering the proceeds.
Tammy Neil, 43, of Carthage was sentenced Monday in a $1.5 million drug distribution scheme run through Complete Quick Care Clinic, which she operated with her husband from January 2005 to March 2008. She pleaded guilty last July to 24 counts.
Neil was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and forfeit $200,000, along with a Piper airplane, a Jaguar and $10,000 in cash.
The Joplin Globe reported that Neil and her husband divorced in 2007, and he committed suicide in 2010.
The clinic became the largest purchaser of hydrocodone in Missouri during its second year of operation.
-THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Club where two slain loses license
LAWTON, Okla. - A judge has revoked the beverage license for a Lawton nightclub where two people were shot to death last month.
Comanche County prosecutors sought the revocation of the Platinum Gentlemen’s Club’s license to serve beer, arguing that the club wasn’t a properly licensed corporation when it applied for its beverage permit.
Prosecutors also argued that the club listed the incorrect address on its beer license application.
Defense attorney Art Mata, who represents the corporation that owns the nightclub, told the Lawton Constitution that the district attorney’s office was looking for a reason to revoke the club’s beer license after the double killing.
Mata said he’ll appeal the decision.
Pfc. Jamar Mitchell and 28-year-old George Whitney II were shot to death Jan. 20.
-THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hearing set for 3 ex-prison guards
McALESTER, Okla. - A preliminary hearing is set for June 3 to determine whether three former Oklahoma State Penitentiary guards should be bound over for trial on manslaughter charges.
The three are charged in last year’s death of inmate Julius Parker, who died of smoke inhalation after starting a fire in his cell.
Prosecutors charged David Anderson, David Willis and Jay Nair on Feb. 1 with second-degree manslaughter and one count of willful neglect to perform duty.
Attorney Michael Parks, who represents Willis, told the McAlester News-Capital that he believes his client will be exonerated if the case goes to trial. Nair’s attorney, Michael Contreras, said his client performed his duties as ordered and did nothing wrong.
Anderson’s attorney did not return a call seeking comment. Prison officials declined to comment.
-THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 10 on 02/28/2013