Other days

100 YEARS AGO Sept. 6, 1913 HOT SPRINGS - Glowing embers, twisted masses of iron and steel, smoking ruins interspersed with an occasional patch where the flames are still throwing up a white light to dispel the shadowy gloom that has fallen, cover an area one and one-quarter miles east and west and at least half a mile north and south, the result of a fire that originated in the rear of a negro shanty a few hours ago. Hot Springs, the mecca of the Southwest, sustained a loss placed at $10,000,000 with the burned territory covering 50 blocks, 25 of which contained the palatial residences of the city. Five thousand persons were made homeless.

50 YEARS AGO Sept. 6, 1963

Public school pupils in thousands of classrooms began the first days of school this year with a Bible reading or a prayer, despite the U.S. Supreme Court ban against required religious devotions. Open defiance was rare. But a spot check across the nation indicated that religious devotions have continued in many schools. Public schools in Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina and Arkansas were reported continuing traditional prayer or Bible reading in the absence of any orders from state school officials.

25 YEARS AGO Sept. 6, 1988

If the Legislature goes along with Gov. Bill Clinton’s suggestion to create a new 8 percent income tax rate for the state’s richest citizens, Arkansas’ tax on wages could become the highest in the South. Arkansas’ income tax currently ranges from a 1 percent levy on earned income above $3,000 to 7 percent on an annual income of $25,000 or more for individuals or families. Only two Southern states collect as high a tax on the upper brackets of income and none of the states bordering Arkansas charges as much, based on tables dated Jan. 1 that were published in a publication of The Council of State Governments.

10 YEARS AGO Sept. 6, 2003

Officials at the State Hospital hope to shorten the facility’s waiting list by guaranteeing spots for inpatient treatment to community mental health centers. The hospital will divide 52 of its 74 acute-care beds among the state’s 15 community mental health centers, said Dr. Larry Miller, the State Hospital’s medical director. Most centers will receive two or four designated beds on the basis of their population. Little Rock Mental Health Center will receive six beds, he said.

Arkansas, Pages 14 on 09/06/2013

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