100 years ago
July 31, 1916
PINE BLUFF -- Francis Witt, charged with aiding the 18 prisoners to escape from the state farm at Tucker on June 26, has confessed his part, according to Deputy Sheriff J. L. McBurnett, who returned today from Greenville, Mo., with the prisoner. Witt denies he was paid any money by Yates Standridge. Witt's brother, James Witt, who was a prisoner at the farm, persuaded him to smuggle two revolvers into the farm, according to the story obtained by the deputy sheriff.
50 years ago
July 31, 1966
• The Arkansas Teachers Association, a professional organization representing Negro teachers, announced Saturday that it would turn to the Federal courts to desegregate the Rison School District teaching staff. The ATA brought a similar suit at Morrilton last summer. T. E. Patterson of Little Rock, ATA executive secretary, said the Rison District had flagrantly violated the new guidelines for school desegregation under the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
25 years ago
July 31, 1991
HOT SPRINGS -- A Hot Springs man who says he was once a close friend of confessed mass murderer Jeffrey Dahmer said Tuesday he "just couldn't believe" the news of Dahmer's crimes. "It was unreal," said Billy Joe Capshaw, presently serving a one-year sentence for negligent homicide in the Garland County Detention Center. "He (Dahmer) was not the type of guy you would expect to see on the news."
10 years ago
July 31, 2006
• Children can be powerful agents of change in the fight against childhood obesity if they're given the information and tools needed to combat the problem, speakers told educators from across the country Sunday. "We've seen that when kids get the information, they can be little mini-catalysts," said Marva Smalls, executive vice president of public affairs for Nickelodeon, a cable television channel for children viewed in millions of American homes. Smalls spoke to the Healthy Schools Forum, hosted by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a joint initiative of the William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association to reach children through their schools. The objective of the alliance is to reverse the upward trend of childhood obesity by 2015.
Metro on 07/31/2016