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LITTLE ROCK The Arkansas Scholarship Lottery's revenue and the amount raised for college scholarships slipped in July compared to the record-setting haul of a year ago.
The Arkansas Scholarship Lottery's revenue and the amount raised for college scholarships slipped in July compared to the record-setting haul of a year ago.
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Fairness goal, redistricting coordinator says
Panel hears Arkansans’ suggestions, complaints about Senate districts
by
Stephen Simpson
|
Today at 3:21 a.m.
Representatives of the Arkansas Board of Apportionment, in their second redistricting hearing, heard Tuesday evening from several audience members who sought changes to area Senate districts.
Betty Dickey, coordinator of the Board of Apportionment and former Arkansas Supreme Court chief justice, told those who attended the hearing held at Arkansas State University in Mountain Home the goal of the committee is to avoid gerrymandering, targeting and preferential treatment of one party or the other. Our goal is to follow the criteria that we are operating under, she said after a comment about redrawing state legislative districts into more sensible shapes. The board s job is to redraw legislative districts every 10 years, using federal census data to ensure each district has roughly the same population.
Hutchinson spokeswoman Shealyn Sowers said afterward that the specifics of the proposed change are still being developed.
LAW PASSED THIS YEAR
Act 1002 of 2021, sponsored by Sen. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado, bars state and local governments, including public schools, and their officials from mandating the wearing of masks, face shields or other face covering. The law doesn t apply apply to a face-covering requirement imposed by a private business; state-owned or state-controlled health care facility; or a facility operated by the Department of Corrections or by the Division of Youth Services of the Department of Human Services.
On March 30, Hutchinson announced that he was lifting the mask mandate, which was imposed in 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic.