Defense lawyers appeal ethics-violation ruling
Lyn Pruitt of Little Rock and two other defense lawyers have appealed a federal judge's ruling that they violated an ethics rule and abused the court system in…
Stories by Lisa Hammersly
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Arkansas center for disabled called lifesaver
BOONEVILLE -- Consultants told Arkansas legislators Monday that many states have closed public institutions for developmentally disabled adults and children be…
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Wounded Arkansas police chief recalls bullets whizzing
FORT SMITH -- Darrell Spells heard the first gunshot buzz by his head. The second struck his temple. Blood streamed down the Hackett police chief's face.
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Gunfire kills Sebastian County sheriff's deputy
A Sebastian County sheriff's deputy was killed and the Hackett police chief was injured Wednesday morning when they were met by gunfire while responding to a d…
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12 attorneys appeal ruling in ethics case
Texarkana-based attorney John Goodson and 11 lawyers who work with him on class-action lawsuits have appealed a federal judge's ruling that they broke ethics r…
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Judge reprimands 5 attorneys linked to forum shopping
A federal judge on Wednesday reprimanded Texarkana attorney and University of Arkansas System Trustee John Goodson, his law partner and three other lawyers for…
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Top UA solicitor of gifts resigns
The chief fundraiser for the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Chris Wyrick, has resigned his $310,000 job, one month after the school's new chancellor r…
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Judge: Will rethink finding in ethics case
A federal court judge who decided in April to penalize 16 lawyers from Arkansas and other states for ethics violations heard another round of arguments Friday …
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New suit names class action's 15 rebuked lawyers
More than a dozen lawyers who already face a federal judge's penalties tied to ethics violations in a class-action insurance lawsuit last year -- Adams v. USAA…
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State bar: Select, not elect, court
The Arkansas Bar Association on Friday endorsed choosing state Supreme Court justices, elected to their jobs since the 1800s, through appointment.
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State bar group vote ahead on ethics, choosing justices
The Arkansas Bar Association will recommend Friday whether the state should toughen ethics rules for judges, curtail the influence of "dark money" in judicial …
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Man in prison for killing girl escapes, flees
A Sebastian County man convicted in 2012 of murdering a teenage girl and stuffing her body into a barrel escaped Monday from a prison work detail in Lee County…
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Hearing on penalties for 16 put off
A hearing to determine penalties for 16 lawyers in an ethics violation has been postponed to 10 a.m. June 24 in federal court in Fort Smith, according to an or…
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Planning to punish 16 lawyers for ethics violations, Arkansas judge indicates
A federal judge in Fort Smith intends to penalize 16 lawyers, including the well-known attorney husband of an Arkansas Supreme Court justice, for violating fed…
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Rules on giving in judicial races create Catch-22
Dan Kemp says he doesn't know the identities of donors to his winning campaign for chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court.
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Goodson's bid got late cash; out-of-state lawyers put $40,675 into chief-justice race
Attorneys for three out-of-state law firms with ties to the lawyer husband of Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Courtney Goodson gave $40,675 in last-minute donat…
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Panel set to study selection of judges
Seventeen state judges, attorneys and law professors will study whether Arkansas should change the way it selects judges and examine ways to dampen the influen…
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Judge quizzes 17 lawyers on multimillion-dollar class action case
FORT SMITH — For about two hours Thursday, a federal judge asked the questions. And the lawyers — all 17 of them — were the ones pleading innocence.
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17 lawyers facing hearing on ethics
FORT SMITH -- As many as 17 lawyers -- plus their lawyers -- are scheduled to gather in a federal courtroom Thursday for an unusual hearing involving legal eth…
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State bar to study judges' impartiality
The Arkansas Bar Association voted Friday to study in depth how to maintain the independence and impartiality of state court judges, citing a series of news ar…
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Electing judges best, says justice
Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Courtney Goodson affirmed her support Wednesday for electing members of the state's highest court even as others, including Gov.…
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CASH & THE COURT PART III: Campaign money stirs debate over how judges picked
A national study of ethics rules, campaign donations and state judges gave Arkansas a grade of "F."
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State justices respond to donation questions
Five of the seven Arkansas Supreme Court justices answered questions or issued statements regarding their campaign donations and court decisions.
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CASH & THE COURT PART II: Top donors net big wins
On June 27, 2013, the Arkansas Supreme Court handed down welcome news to a certain group of class-action law firms. The state's highest court unanimously reve…
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CASH & THE COURT PART I: 6 law firms top donations list
First in a series - High-profile class-action lawyer John Goodson, his Texarkana law firm and five law firms headquartered outside Arkansas rank among the bigg…
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Attorneys say acted 'properly' in lawsuit
Texarkana attorney John Goodson and a dozen more plaintiffs' lawyers say they acted "properly and ethically at all times" in a class-action lawsuit in which a …
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Attorneys ordered to hearing on court-shopping concerns
Texarkana attorney John Goodson and more than a dozen other lawyers have been ordered to appear before a federal judge in Fort Smith to answer allegations that…
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Nonprofit loses immunity ruling in patient death
An Arkansas Court of Appeals panel on Wednesday sent a wrongful-death lawsuit against a Pine Bluff nursing home back to Circuit Court for trial, saying the low…
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Nonprofit loses immunity ruling in patient death
An Arkansas Court of Appeals panel on Wednesday sent a wrongful-death lawsuit against a Pine Bluff nursing home back to Circuit Court for trial, saying the low…
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UA trustee to open D.C. lobbying firm
University of Arkansas trustee and high-profile class-action lawyer John Goodson of Texarkana plans to open a lobbying firm in Washington, D.C., within the nex…
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Marriage forms get 'Mr., Ms.' revisions
"Bride" and "Groom" would be out. So would "Mr." and "Ms."
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Internet filing of campaign reports stalls
LITTLE ROCK -- A proposed law that would have made it easier for Arkansans to see who's giving campaign money to the state's highest elected officials appears …
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'Dark money' bill fails in voice vote
A proposed bill to reveal the names of individual donors to so-called "dark-money" political campaign ads -- like those that drew criticism in the final weeks …
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More than 24 bills seek to limit open-records law
Arkansas legislators are considering more than two dozen proposed laws that would limit the state's traditionally strong Freedom of Information Act, which open…
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Campaign e-filing bill falls short in 1st vote
A bill to make it easier for the public to see who's bankrolling Arkansas' most high-profile political campaigns failed in its first committee vote Wednesday.
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State settles high-priced drug suit
State health officials have settled a federal lawsuit that demanded Arkansas' Medicaid program provide a high-priced drug to cystic fibrosis patients afflicted…
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Bill would require filing campaign finances online in Arkansas
Arkansas voters and researchers would no longer be forced to leaf through stacks of paper reports to learn who's bankrolling candidates for the state's highest…
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State donor's cash in several war chests
In the past 15 years, more than $1.2 million in campaign gifts to candidates for Arkansas' most powerful political offices have originated with one man: Fort S…
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Electronic finance filings by candidates gain favor
Gov.-elect Asa Hutchinson and two Arkansas legislators say they'll push for new state laws in January to make it easier for the public to learn who is bankroll…
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Issue 3 already leaving a mark
Arkansas voters surprised almost everyone Nov. 4 when they endorsed a constitutional amendment that bars state political candidates from accepting campaign mon…
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Outsiders funding Senate contest
More than $2 of every $3 donated directly to the campaigns of Arkansas' U.S. Senate candidates have come from people and interests outside the state, according…
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Political gifts filed on paper shrouded
More than $7 million in campaign donations flowed into Arkansas' U.S. Senate contest between incumbent Democrat Mark Pryor and Republican Tom Cotton over the p…
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Governor's race sees big donors
A Tennessee-based housing and resort developer -- along with his companies, executives and family -- is the largest donor so far to Arkansas' gubernatorial rac…
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2 state families at top of donors to Pryor, Cotton
Members of two of Arkansas' wealthiest families -- Stephens in Little Rock and Murphy in El Dorado -- are among the largest contributors so far to the state's …
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Campaign-finance files onerous
Arkansas ranks as one of the most difficult states for the public to learn who's donating campaign money to candidates for state office -- especially in the bi…
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States offer options for switch from paper to online
In 2006, Louisiana's system for disclosing candidates' campaign contributions to the public looked a lot like Arkansas'.
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What U.S. experts, state officials say
Here's what other state officials and national experts say about Arkansas' hard-to-access campaign contribution and spending reports: "Most people involved in …
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State grade low on finance reports
For at least a decade, national studies have awarded Arkansas low marks for its campaign-finance reporting practices.
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Hogs foundation's gifts, grants fall off
Contributions and grants to the Razorback Foundation -- the money raising arm for University of Arkansas sports -- dropped by more than $10 million last fiscal…
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Testimony on UA files to yield no prosecution
Conflicting testimony under oath to legislators last September by the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville's chancellor and the school's former spokesman doe…
