Post's Woodward planning UA visit
FAYETTEVILLE -- Pulitzer Prize-winning author Bob Woodward will visit the University of Arkansas April 9-10, the university announced Tuesday. Woodward's appearance will be part of the Journalism Days 60th anniversary celebration, hosted by the Walter J. Lemke department of journalism.
Woodward will be keynote speaker for the event, offering a talk at 7 p.m. April 9 at Hillside Auditorium on the UA campus in Fayetteville. He will speak April 10 at 7 p.m. at the Fayetteville Public Library as part of the FPL Author Series, the news release said.
Both talks are free and open to the public.
Woodward has worked for The Washington Post since 1971 and is currently an associate editor for the paper. He and Carl Bernstein were the reporters credited with breaking the Watergate scandal for the newspaper, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for their coverage.
Woodward was lead reporter for The Post's coverage of the terrorist attacks in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, which garnered a National Affairs Pulitzer Prize in 2002. His books include All the President's Men, The Final Days, Bush at War, The Price of Politics, Obama's Wars and Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate.
-- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Corps alters hours at visitor center
BRANSON -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced changes to the operation hours at the Dewey Short Visitor Center on Table Rock Lake on Tuesday.
The visitor center will be closed Dec. 22 through Jan. 2, reopening Jan. 3. The center will be open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday through Feb. 27.
Spring and summer hours -- 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily -- begin March 1. The Dewey Short Visitor Center is located 6 miles west of U.S. 65 on Missouri 165 at the south end of Table Rock Dam.
The center hosts exhibits about the White River Watershed, local habitats, Table Rock Dam and the Army Corps of Engineers and serves as an overlook to Table Rock Lake, the dam and Lake Taneycomo.
-- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
U.S. judge amends ruling on hog farm
U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. issued an amended order Monday evening in a lawsuit involving loan guarantees to C&H Hog Farms in the Buffalo National River watershed.
Marshall said in the amended judgment that the Farm Service Agency and the U.S. Small Business Administration violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act in guaranteeing Farm Credit Services of Western Arkansas' loans to C&H Hog Farms Inc.
The federal agencies had agreed to back $3.4 million in private loans made to C&H Hog Farms in Mount Judea after the farm was found to have insufficient collateral. Marshall previously ruled that the environmental assessment used by the agencies in determining whether to provide the loan guarantees was faulty.
The judge had ordered the Small Business Administration and the Farm Services Agency last week to comply with two federal environmental acts within a year, noting that their loan guarantees to C&H Hog Farms would be on hold in the meantime.
Other claims were dismissed with prejudice Monday, including that the federal agencies violated the Buffalo National River Enabling Act.
-- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Ex-mayor to fill in as county judge
The Little River County Quorum Court voted last week in a special meeting to appoint Hoyt Johnson as county judge to fill the vacancy created by the death of County Judge Clayton Castleman.
Castleman died Nov. 22 after working in his yard.
Johnson was mayor of Ashdown from 1994 to 2002 and served on the Ashdown City Council from 1988 to 1994.
Justice of the Peace Ricky Bowman nominated Johnson. The justices of the peace conducted an executive session to discuss the nomination and returned to vote 5-3 on Wednesday to select Johnson.
The vote included justices of the peace Bowman, Chuck Davis, Gene Smithson, Bobby Furlow, and Scotty Smith voting in favor of Johnson. Justices of the peace voting against Johnson were Larry Crow, Phillip Penney and Keith Pullen.
Justice of the Peace Charles Henderson was chairman of the selection committee and wasn't required to vote.
Johnson will serve through Dec. 31, which is the remainder of the term of Castleman was serving, Sivley said.
"I'm surprised and honored the Quorum Court selected me to finish out the term. It's an honor to sit behind the desk. I'm humbled by the experience. I'm not going to make any big decisions. That will be made by the Quorum Court," Johnson said.
Mike Cranford of Foreman was elected county judge and will start serving his term Jan. 1, 2015, when he is to be sworn in.
-- TEXARKANA GAZETTE
Jonesboro woman held in stabbing
JONESBORO -- A Jonesboro woman has been arrested after police say she cut her ex-girlfriend with a box cutter in a Kmart parking lot.
Rokoiya Smith, 21, was being held at the Craighead County jail Tuesday morning on a domestic battery charge. Police arrested her Sunday after the other woman called 911.
The victim said she gave Smith a ride to work at the store. She said Smith became upset after the victim's cellphone rang and she wouldn't tell Smith who was calling.
Police said Smith stabbed the woman repeatedly with car keys to no affect before using the box cutter. They said Smith told the victim that stabbing her was worth the criminal charge.
It's unclear whether the victim was hospitalized.
Online jail records didn't indicate an attorney for Smith.
-- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NW News on 12/10/2014