The state/region in brief

Victim slain, then fire set, police say

A Little Rock woman died before a fire was set at her East Little Rock home last week, and her death has been ruled a homicide, a police spokesman said Tuesday.

Little Rock firefighters found Gloria Summage, 50, dead on the kitchen floor of her home at 1909 E. Eighth St. after it caught fire about 11:50 p.m. on June 19, spokesman Sgt.

Cassandra Davis said.

Summage had injuries to her upper torso, but Davis said she did not know what caused her death and would not disclose what type of injuries Summage sustained.

When firefighters arrived at the scene, the home was fully consumed, but heavy smoke near the attic kept them from battling the blaze indoors, fire officials have said. They snuffed out the blazes from the outside and went back in the home, where they found Summage, fire officials said.

Little Rock police detectives spotted injuries to Summage’s body, which was taken to the state Crime Laboratory for an autopsy, Davis said. The death was ruled a homicide, marking the city’s 16th this year.

Police have neither identified a suspect nor a motive for the fire, Davis said.

The blaze was an act of arson, Fire Capt. Edwin Woolf said, but he wouldn’t disclose how the fire was set or where it began. He said the fire, which was “completely out” within 1 1/2 hours, destroyed the 600-square-foot home.

• ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE2 swimming holes closed over E. coli

Ozark-St. Francis National Forests officials have temporarily closed Spring Lake and Cove Lake swimming areas to the public, a Tuesday news release said.

Weekly water testing found high concentrations of E. coli, which is usually caused by heavy rainfall carrying a variety of contaminants into the water, including animal waste, the release said.

Forest officials are testing the water daily and will reopen both swim areas once tests show E. coli levels have dropped to a safe level.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Arkansas Department of Health have each closed several swimming beaches in the state in the past two weeks because of high E. coli levels. A Health Department spokesman has previously said the bacteria can cause upset stomachs and diarrhea, and fatalities are uncommon.

• ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTEMan gets 80 years in child-porn case

PARAGOULD- A Greene County man pleaded guilty to multiple felony counts of child pornography Monday and was sentenced to 80 years in prison, Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said in a news release.

Jeffery Webb, 38, entered his plea in Greene County Circuit Court to eight counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison on each count. The sentences will be served consecutively, McDaniel said in the release.

Webb also pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree sexual assault and was sentenced to 20 years in prison for each count.

Those sentences will be served concurrently with Webb’s other prison sentence.

Agents with the attorney general’s Cyber Crimes Unit arrested Webb in June 2012 after authorities suspected him of possessing child pornography at his Royal Street home in Paragould.

Webb admitted to investigators that he possessed several images of child pornography on his laptop computer, McDaniel said in the release.

“This prison sentence demonstrates that the state has no tolerance for criminals who prey on our children,” McDaniel said in the release.

• ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTECouple used baby in theft, police say

JONESBORO - Police in Jonesboro said a couple used a newborn baby to distract an elderly woman and steal jewelry from her home.

Authorities said Tuesday that the victim was suspicious of the visitors but visited with them outside while they smoked. The Jonesboro Sun reported that the man said he needed to get water for the baby and went inside. The victim followed him in and placed her $5,000 wedding rings in a jewelry box on her dresser.

Moments later, the man said he had to go inside again to use the restroom but the victim wasn’t able to follow him quickly enough.

The rings were gone when the couple left.

Police said the couple visited to show the victim the baby only as a ruse to steal from her.

• THE ASSOCIATED PRESSWashington papers set for LR exhibit

LITTLE ROCK - President George Washington’s personal copy of the U.S.

Constitution and other of his documents are to be on exhibit in Little Rock.

Washington’s copy of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and legislation passed by the first Session of Congress will be displayed at the William J.

Clinton Presidential Library and Museum for two weeks starting Friday.

The documents are being exhibited at presidential libraries across the country and will eventually be placed at The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington.

• THE ASSOCIATED PRESS