HSU trustees raise bar for admission
Henderson State University students will have a higher bar to meet for admission in 2014.
The HSU board of trustees voted to raise admission standards Wednesday, requiring incoming students for the 2014 fall semester to earn at least a 19 on their ACT college entrance exam for unconditional admission.
Currently to be admitted, students must either earn an 18 or more on their ACT, earn a 17 on the ACT and place in the upper half of their high school graduating class, or be in the upper half of their high school graduating class and have completed college preparatory courses.
The change comes at a time when colleges and universities have started implementing a new state performance funding formula, which bases part of an institution’s state funding on factors such as growth in bachelor’s degrees awarded and growth in graduates in high-demand fields. Students who score below 19 on a given subject of the ACT must take a noncredit remedial class in that subject. Campus leaders across the state have said students who require remediation are less likely to graduate.
In its proposal to the trustees, the HSU administration said “higher standards for admission should result in better retention/ graduation rates, as well as presenting a more scholarly, quality image to our target audience.”
Students who earn a 16, 17 or 18 on the ACT will be admitted in 2014 on a conditional basis, meaning they will be required to take remedial courses, undergo academic advising or be limited in extracurricular activities, according to board documents.
The seven-member board voted unanimously for the change.
-ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Deaths suspected as murder-suicide
A Lafayette County man shot his wife and then killed himself, Sheriff Victor Rose said Friday.
Rose said the Lafayette County sheriff ’s office received a call at 6:22 a.m.
Thursday stating there had been “an incident” at 478 County Road 69.
Officers arrived and found Tonuia Duck, 51, and Steve Duck, 55, both dead.
Rose said an investigation revealed that Steve Duck shot his wife and killed himself.
Police said the two were in the process of divorcing, but a motive for the shooting had not been confirmed.
Additional information on the apparent murder-suicide was not immediately available.
-TEXARKANA GAZETTE
Police: 2 die in fire from firecrackers
DOVER - Authorities said two people killed near Dover earlier this month died after fireworks exploded and caught a building on fire.
Pope County Coroner Leonard Krout identified the victims as Vickie Branch, 49, and Jason Holderer, 33.
Krout told The Courier that the pair was identified through DNA tests and fingerprints.
Branch and Holderer died July 6 in a fire north of Dover.
Krout said the pair was handling large firecracker mortars at the time of the accident.
He said the fireworks may have been left in the building by a previous owner and that they should have been disposed of properly.
The deaths are under investigation by Arkansas State Police and the Pope County sheriff’s office.
-THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
$1 million bail set in killing of 3
MURFREESBORO - A judge set a $1 million bail for a man accused in the Pike County slayings of his wife, mother-in-law and his 9-year-old niece.
Timothy Allen Hill made his first court appearance Monday after his arrest in the Saturday slayings at a home near Delight.
State police said Dana Hill, 33, and Julie Hartsfield, 54, were dead at the scene and Autumn Hartsfield, 9, was found mortally wounded. She died at a Hot Springs hospital.
Shreveport television station KSLA reported police found Julie Hartsfield shot to death in a car, with her granddaughter in the back seat, fatally wounded.
Dana Hill was found dead inside the house.
Prosecutors alleged at the hearing that Timothy Hill used an SKS rifle in the Saturday night attack.
-THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Firefighter critical after Niagua blaze
NIAGUA, Mo. - A southwest Missouri firefighter was hospitalized in critical condition after sustaining severe burns.
A Springfield Fire Department spokesman said the firefighter with the Marshfield Fire Department was one of three who was injured Saturday night battling a blaze in Niagua.
A second Marshfield firefighter was treated and released from an emergency room, while a third from Niagua was admitted to a hospital for observation.
No names had been released.
The Missouri fire marshal’s office is investigating.
-THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 8 on 07/16/2013