Stories by Robert J. Smith
RSSDrive-By Shooting Reported
SPRINGDALE — Police are investigating a drive-by shooting reported on Braxton Drive on Friday night.
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PEOPLE & PLACES
Williams Marks 98th Birthday Continue reading...
August-like heat fueling algae blooms
Three of Oklahoma’s largest lakes affected; Beaver Lake OK for now
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Sunny August-like temperatures are fueling bluegreen algae blooms in three of Oklahoma’s largest lakes. Beaver Lake in Northwest Arkansas has not been impacted by this potential health risk despite suffocating heat. Continue reading...
Dams needing upgrades
3 in good shape, but hazard ratings up, agency says
PRAIRIE GROVE — Water plunged through Bob Kidd Lake’s principal spillway after persistent heavy rain over several days in April. Continue reading...
TRAVELERS’ CHECK: At end, travelers had voice
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — The last e-mail to hit The Guru’s inbox was supposed to read like this. Continue reading...
Drivers hit lights all night
People who go to work before sunrise deserve green lights all the time. Continue reading...
Trip policy won’t pay best refund
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Mike Ramsey’s annual trip with his daughter took them to Los Angeles this year, but getting there wasn’t so easy. Continue reading...
Crews clear Joplin’s tornado debris
JOPLIN, Mo. — From a tower high above the trucks, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employee Paul Gaudreau does the “load calls” that decide how much vegetative debris is packed onto arriving trailers. Continue reading...
Prudence urged for blue lights
Gravette’s David Stewart aims to make ticketed speeders happy by helping them recover fine money. Continue reading...
Resources chief: State water plan to cost $4 million
FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Natural Resources Commission is just starting to update the state’s two-decades-old water plan, legislators were told Tuesday. Continue reading...
Right city wrong call for airlines
LITTLE ROCK — When someone suggests Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport needs another runway or an airline should make six flights a day to their favorite city, it’s impossible to argue that those things oughta happen. Continue reading...
Attorney: Highway markers a big risk
Safety devices have hit 3 times since ’09
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Private attorneys say it’s a calculated risk if the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department doesn’t pay to remove so-called “plowable” pavement markers from highways. Continue reading...
Director worried by 4 drownings on Illinois River
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Four drownings in three weeks on the Illinois River have made the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission director wonder what more can be done to protect people while they are enjoying one of the state’s favorite recreation spots. Continue reading...
Citing cost, bridge out, ferry sails
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department could spend $27 million to build a bridge that eliminates the last government-sponsored ferry boat in the state. Continue reading...
Tips assist agency on XNA road
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Spurred by the suggestions of state employees, city leaders, Arkansas commuters and The Guru’s readers, the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department conducts 600 to 700 driving-related investigations a year.
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State looks into road markers
Highway Department determining cost of removing devices
The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department said Thursday it will come up with a cost estimate for removing the type of pavement markers that have come loose and struck vehicles four times since 2009. Continue reading...
Parolee jailed in shooting of town mayor
Official defended man in ’06
A Boone County mayor in 2006 asked the Arkansas State Parole Board to release a convicted murderer he’d known for years. Continue reading...
Road office: Markers stay unless loose
State to do yearly check, while others clear devices
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department hasn’t explored what it would cost to remove 75,000 to 80,000 steel pavement markers from state highways despite four of the markers coming loose and striking vehicles since 2009, a department spokesman said. Continue reading...
Drive? Fly? Franklin can decide
LITTLE ROCK — The great quandary of a family’s summer trip must be whether it’s better to fly or drive. Continue reading...
Builders find opportunities rise in Joplin
14 Arkansas businesses buy contractor’s licenses
Three of Northwest Arkansas’ largest home builders are headed to tornado-ravaged Joplin, Mo., where they aim to play a role in rebuilding the city. Continue reading...
Driver unhurt as marker smashes windshield
FORT SMITH — An Ozark woman was uninjured Thursday when a pavement marker from Interstate 40 slammed through her car’s windshield. Continue reading...
12-112 jam to continue for months
A $15.5 million project on Arkansas 12 west of Rainbow Curve in Bentonville is making traffic worse for now. Continue reading...
New wing spacious, with shops
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — It supposedly will take a little more than three minutes to walk from Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport’s security checkpoint to the far end of the terminal expansion, but the distractions will be too frequent to plow through without a few stops. Continue reading...
Joplin storm housing extends to Bella Vista
FEMA expands list to properties within 55 miles
BELLA VISTA — The Federal Emergency Management Agency has compiled a list of about 1,500 rental houses and apartments where people affected by the Joplin, Mo., tornado could go to live, including some in Bella Vista. Continue reading...
Area lawn-care firms inspected
The state agency charged with monitoring the use of fertilizer in certain watersheds has for the first time turned its attention to lawncare businesses. Continue reading...
Obama tours Joplin, vows to help rebuild
JOPLIN, Mo. — President Barack Obama made an impassioned promise Sunday to the homeless and bereaved in Joplin, Mo., that the federal government will remain in support of the city devastated by a killer tornado only a week ago. Continue reading...
Time feels faster at area stops
Kimma Harper, who owns Driving Academy of Northwest Arkansas in Springdale, wonders if yellow lights in Arkansas are on for less time than in Kansas City, Mo. Continue reading...
Joplin residents shocked at ruins
JOPLIN, Mo. — A tornado on the ground for six miles destroyed the city’s largest hospital, its only public high school, a Catholic church and school, a Wal-Mart Supercenter and dozens of nearby businesses. Continue reading...
TRAVELERS’ CHECK: XNA best for airport at ’98 open
LITTLE ROCK — Only a few airports can claim a catchy three-letter identifier. Continue reading...
Animal abuse classes seen to aid new law
The state director for the Humane Society of the United States said Arkansas prosecutors are doing well in their pursuit of felony charges against animal abusers despite what she views as a shortage of law enforcement training on how to investigate the cases. Continue reading...
Family’s fourth finishes at UA
Youngest continues tradition
FAYETTEVILLE — Caleb Lowery talked about jumping out of an airplane in his cap and gown to celebrate his graduation from the University of Arkansas, but that’ll wait. Continue reading...
GRIDLOCK GURU Stop signs slow traffic at new trail
Mike Charleton’s commute across Bentonville was going pretty good until some wise guy put up a stop sign right in the middle of it. Continue reading...
1,412 devices cleared in state
Loose markers mainly on I-40
LITTLE ROCK — A maintenance engineer expressed surprise Monday at how many steel pavement markers had to be removed from Arkansas highways since last fall because they weren’t secure. Continue reading...
TRAVELERS’ CHECK: Air fares fuel ire of readers
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Nothing fuels conversation about Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport more than high fares and potential new air service. Continue reading...
Focus groups impressed with Crystal Bridges
A measure of out-ofstate residents’ interest in visiting Arkansas showed they’ve never heard of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art under construction in Bentonville, but they expressed a strong interest after seeing an artist’s rendering of it. Continue reading...
GRIDLOCK GURU State will replace reflectors
Snow plows knocked off hundreds of plastic reflectors meant to make roads easier to see at night or when it’s raining. Continue reading...
Woman freed after investigation of 16 horses
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — An Ozone woman charged with two felony counts of aggravated animal cruelty turned herself in to the Johnson County sheriff ’s office Wednesday. Continue reading...
TRAVELERS’ CHECK: XNA sells to airlines with stats
Smart business decisions are based on statistics rather than hunches and whims about what soothsayers predict will happen. Continue reading...
Risk driving in water surprises motorists
Officials ‘mad’ when barriers are evaded
Rebekah Valentine picked up her children from school Monday and headed for the house. Continue reading...
GRIDLOCK GURU: Black tags of disabled old news
Blue is the color of license plates for people who are disabled, but that’s not the case these days in Arkansas. Continue reading...
Homeowners reliving grief of 2008 flood
Corps policy is flawed, say 2 men below Beaver Dam
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — The dramatic surge of rainfall runoff Monday and Tuesday into Beaver Lake caused the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to open spillway gates wider, flooding a couple’s home along the White River. Continue reading...
TRAVELERS’ CHECK: Lost bag? Rule sets fee refund
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — It was always dumb for the airlines to balk at giving refunds to people whose bags were lost. Continue reading...
Jones Center looks to raise endowment
SPRINGDALE — Jones Center for Families executives and board members are working with the Jones Trust to set up a new endowment to support the 16-year-old recreation and education center. Continue reading...
Manure master charges denied
Agency, firm cite self-policing
Scott Stoodley painted a worrisome picture for the Tulsa Metropolitan Utility Authority about the sneaky ways farmers go about spreading poultry manure on fields in the Eucha-Spavinaw watershed. Continue reading...
GRIDLOCK GURU Find bright spot to stop if necessary
Good drivers prepare for what rarely happens but what might occur. Continue reading...
TRAVELERS’ CHECK: XNA, not Carolina in the mornin’
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — First, they did it to the San Diego Chicken. Continue reading...
Lawyer: State’s morals are unlike ’81
Defense attorneys are touting two juries’ recent verdicts in obscenity cases as indications of Arkansans’ new, more accepting view of the sale of pornography. Continue reading...
GRIDLOCK GURU Projects move, fall with taxes
It’s hard to believe the pennies spent on sales taxes at a store can pay for roads that cost millions of dollars, but that’s how the world works. Continue reading...
TRAVELERS’ CHECK: Flier looks for candor by airline
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Jim Watson can handle the truth, but Allegiant Air wouldn’t give it to him. Continue reading...
UA measuring slippery slopes under highways
CHESTER — A University of Arkansas professor and one of his graduate students set out Saturday to capture new data to determine whether a slope that holds up a part of Interstate 540 is moving. Continue reading...
