At-a-Glance: Government shutdown effects in Arkansas

The effects of the federal government shutdown began to be felt across Arkansas on Tuesday, yet some agencies and services continued operating.

• INTERACTIVE: U.S. federal budget

Here’s a quick list of some affected events and agencies.

The Pine Bluff Arsenal is unaffected by the government’s budget impasse, said spokesman Cherly Avery. All 824 workers at the arsenal - administrators, engineers, industrial workers, craft and skill workers, and security and firefighting employees - remain at work, she said. The arsenal manufactures smoke, incendiary and pyrotechnic devices in addition to conducting tests on chemical defense clothing.

A panel discussion on “Building the Economy through Livable Communities” has been postponed because of the government shutdown, said Greg Steinsiek, director of communications at The Clinton School of Public Service. The event had been scheduled for noon today and was to have featured deputy secretaries of the departments of Housing and Urban Development and Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency.

All national parks, historic sites and developed recreation areas in national forests have been closed.

Five tours at the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site were cancelled this week as facilities managed by the National Park Service sent all but a handful of employees home on furlough.

The Pulaski County Head Start program will continue providing meals for children for the immediate future because it has funds available, executive director Dr. Charles Feild said through a University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences spokesman.

The early childhood education program serves about 930 preschoolers at more than a dozen centers in the county.

Federal courts in the Eastern District of Arkansas are open and handling criminal cases, but the shutdown has affected civil litigants in cases in which an assistant U.S. attorney represents the government, said U.S. District Clerk Jim McCormack.

The U.S. Attorney’s criminal division remains open, but the office’s civil division has closed, McCormack said.

A federal shutdown of a week or less should not affect most home loan applicants, according to Scott McElmurry, chief executive officer of Bank of Little Rock Mortgage. But because mortgages require tax transcripts from the IRS and, in some cases, appraisals by the Veterans Administration, a longer shutdown will result in a slowdown in mortgage processing, McElmurry predicted.

The permanent exhibits at the Clinton Library and Museum in downtown Little Rock will be closed because of the government shutdown, according to a press release. But previously scheduled group tours will be honored for the center’s temporary exhibit, “And Freedom for All: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.” Other facilities at the William J. Clinton Presidential Center campus - the restaurant Forty-Two, the Clinton School of Public Service, the Clinton Museum Store and the Clinton Foundation offices - remain open.