100 years ago
July 9, 1920
• Residents of Little Rock enjoyed an unusually cool day yesterday, with a temperature three degrees below normal. The maximum for the 24 hours ending at 7 o'clock last night, was 84 degrees. The minimum was 70 degrees, and the mean was 77 degrees.
50 years ago
July 9, 1970
JONESBORO -- The City Council has passed an ordinance placing a 10 percent tax on the gross water bill of each customer of the City Water and Light Plant here. Officials of the City of Jonesboro said the new tax revenues would amount to about $40,000 annually. Earlier, when ordinances were proposed to bring additional revenues to the city, tax increases were voted for gas meters and telephones here, but no action was taken on the water tax.
25 years ago
July 9, 1995
• Several Little Rock neighborhood leaders Saturday indicated their support for the River Project, a plan to link a new arena with an expanded convention center and downtown redevelopment proposal. Although few of the individual neighborhood associations have formally voted, the groups' representatives said they personally support the project and expect their members to do so as well. Leaders of seven of the eight associations formally represented at Saturday's meeting of the Coalition of Little Rock Neighborhoods said they support the project. Pulaski County voters will be asked August 1 to approve a one-year, 1-cent sales tax to raise $45 million to build an arena and expand the convention center.
10 years ago
July 9, 2010
• A 22-year-old Little Rock man accepted a 100-year prison sentence Thursday for a series of armed robberies in which four men were shot -- three fatally -- including a university instructor gunned down in front of his mother. Brandon Dewayne Johnson initially faced the death penalty over the slayings of Joseph Bittengle, a University of Arkansas for Medical Services associate professor, Eric German, 24, and Akshaya Nandam, 26. Rather than face trials that could send him to prison with multiple life sentences, Johnson's plea deal means he'll have to serve at least 55½ years before becoming eligible for parole. During Thursday's hearing, Johnson admitted committing the crimes.