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Proposed maximum reading level for citizen-led ballot measures stumbles but passes Arkansas House

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arkansasadvocate.com – Tess Vrbin – 2025-03-20 00:15:00

Proposed maximum reading level for citizen-led ballot measures stumbles but passes Arkansas House

by Tess Vrbin, Arkansas Advocate
March 20, 2025

A proposal mandating citizen-led ballot measures be written at an 8th-grade or lower reading level cleared the Arkansas House of Representatives Wednesday after three attempts to pass its emergency clause.

House Bill 1713 passed the House on Tuesday with 60 votes; a separate vote on the emergency clause received 63 votes. Emergency clauses require a two-thirds vote in each chamber, meaning at least 67 House votes, and allow laws to go into effect immediately upon the governor’s signature. HB 1713’s emergency clause received 70 votes Wednesday and will next be heard in the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs.

HB 1713 narrowly passed the equivalent House committee on March 12 after lawmakers and members of the public raised concerns that proposed ballot measures are too complex by default to be written at or below an 8th-grade reading level.

Bill sponsor Rep. Ryan Rose, R-Van Buren, said the bill should help Arkansans “make informed decisions when asked to sign a petition, without confusion, without legalese, without any deceptive wording.”

Republican lawmakers this year have introduced a wide range of bills that would add regulations to Arkansas’ direct democracy process. The 2024 election cycle saw a wide range of proposed citizen-led ballot measures, only one of which qualified for the November ballot, and supporters of the direct democracy regulations have made allegations of deceptive practices by supporters of last year’s measures.

Many of the bills have had emergency clauses, and some have required multiple votes in either chamber before meeting the two-thirds threshold. Several of those bills have been signed into law, and most were sponsored by Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton.

Two bills to change citizen-led petition process pass Arkansas House, but without emergency clauses

Hammer will run next year for Secretary of State, the office that oversees elections. He is a co-sponsor of HB 1713.

Rep. Nicole Clowney, D-Fayetteville, voted against HB 1713 in committee and on the House floor. She said Wednesday that she supported “a readability standard of some sort” for ballot measures but did not believe HB 1713 was the right mechanism for creating one.

The bill mandates the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level readability test as the determinant of compliance with the policy.

“It’s just an algorithm that spits out a readability level based on sentence length and word length,” Clowney said. “If a word has five syllables, a word like ‘constitutional,’ you are automatically penalized by the parameters of this test.”

Committee chairman Rep. Jimmy Gazaway, R-Paragould, said the bill does not acknowledge that “it can be difficult to convey complex ideas or concepts with small words.” His vote to pass the bill out of the committee was the deciding vote, but he voted present on the bill and the emergency clause Tuesday. He voted for the emergency clause Wednesday.

HB 1713 would not apply the same readability standards to legislatively proposed constitutional amendments, which drew concerns from lawmakers and members of the public March 12. Voters approved an amendment last year that the Legislature placed on the ballot, allowing trade-school students to benefit from scholarship lottery funds.

Rep. Nicole Clowney, D-Fayetteville (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate)

Clowney pointed out Wednesday that this amendment had a college graduate-level reading level, according to the Flesch-Kincaid readability test.

Proposed amendments are required to begin with “an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution.” House Minority Leader Andrew Collins, D-Little Rock, told the committee last week that this phrase is also deemed college-graduate level by the reading test.

So is the title of HB 1713 itself, said Gail Choate, a political scientist and civics educator who spoke against the bill March 12.

“What I’m concerned [about] with this bill is that it does nothing to address civic education,” Choate said. “It does nothing to address the ability of people to understand even what a ballot initiative is or what it works… It dumbs down the process, it lowers the standard under which we’re presenting information under the guise that people aren’t able to understand.”

Jerry Cox, president of the conservative Family Council, spoke in favor of the bill before the committee, while attorney and direct democracy advocate J.P. Tribell spoke against it.

HB 1713 is likely to be considered by senators after the Legislature’s spring break next week.

Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com.

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News from the South - Arkansas News Feed

New prison would exacerbate Fort Smith’s current water transmission challenges

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www.youtube.com – 40/29 News – 2025-07-17 20:29:48

SUMMARY: Fort Smith has declined to provide water for a proposed 3,000-bed prison in Franklin County due to existing water transmission limitations. A recent engineering report revealed that the city’s current maximum water production of 50 million gallons per day is sometimes exceeded, and adding the prison would worsen supply issues. While alternatives like sourcing water from Ozark or the Arkansas River are being considered, Fort Smith’s infrastructure—built in the 1930s—is only partially upgraded. A new 48-inch pipeline is planned, but only the first phase is complete. Full completion may take over a decade, even with unlimited funding, officials say.

New prison would exacerbate Fort Smith’s current water transmission challenges

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Trump, 79, has ‘benign’ vein condition; bruised hand blamed on handshaking, aspirin

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arkansasadvocate.com – Shauneen Miranda – 2025-07-17 16:32:00


President Donald Trump, 79, has been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a common and benign condition in older adults where leg veins struggle to return blood to the heart, the White House announced. After noticing mild leg swelling, Trump underwent thorough examinations including vascular studies and an echocardiogram, showing no deep vein thrombosis, arterial disease, heart failure, or systemic illness. Minor bruising on his hand was attributed to frequent handshaking and aspirin use. His physician stated Trump remains in excellent health with no discomfort, and no specific treatment was mentioned. White House press secretary confirmed he continues working actively.

by Shauneen Miranda, Arkansas Advocate
July 17, 2025

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, the White House announced Thursday.

The condition is “benign and common” for people above age 70, U.S. Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, the president’s physician, wrote in a memo regarding the president’s health.

The 79-year-old president underwent a “comprehensive examination, including diagnostic vascular studies,” after he noticed mild swelling in his lower legs, the memo said.

The condition happens when veins in the leg struggle to get blood to flow back to the heart, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

In the memo, Barbabella specified that “there was no evidence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or arterial disease,” and results from lab testing “were within normal limits.” Trump also underwent an echocardiogram, in which “no signs of heart failure, renal impairment, or systemic illness were identified.”

The White House Office of Communications released a letter from President Donald Trump’s physician on July 17, 2025. 

Barbabella also elaborated on recent photographs depicting minor bruising on the back of the president’s hand, saying “this is consistent with minor soft tissue irritation from frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin, which is taken as part of a standard cardiovascular prevention regimen.”

The physician noted that “President Trump remains in excellent health.” The memo did not detail any methods for treatment.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who read aloud the physician’s note at a Thursday briefing, said the mild swelling in Trump’s legs is not causing him any discomfort.

“No discomfort from the president at all, and you probably all see that on a day-to-day basis, he’s working around the clock,” she said. 

Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com.

The post Trump, 79, has ‘benign’ vein condition; bruised hand blamed on handshaking, aspirin appeared first on arkansasadvocate.com



Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Centrist

This content presents straightforward health information about President Donald Trump, primarily quoting official statements from his physician and the White House. It avoids editorializing or injecting opinion, focusing instead on medical facts and direct quotes. The neutral tone and reliance on official sources contribute to a balanced perspective without clear political bias toward either the left or right.

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The Dessert Lab | Eat It Up

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www.youtube.com – THV11 – 2025-07-17 08:58:52

SUMMARY: The Dessert Lab in Midtown Little Rock offers delicious mini pancakes with various flavors, including the popular Churro Delight—cinnamon sugar-coated pancakes drizzled with liche sauce and topped with sweet cream. Dana, a local, shares how her 9-year-old son Jed loves their kid-friendly “dirty sodas,” a mix of soda, creams, syrups, and boba popular in Utah. They enjoy the sweet treats and fun atmosphere, with pancakes featuring fruits like bananas and strawberries and toppings like Nutella. The Dessert Lab food truck is conveniently located near the Cantrell and Mississippi intersection, perfect for a quick, tasty summer snack.

This week on Eat It Up, Hayden Balgavy visits The Dessert Lab, a food truck in Little Rock where you can customize sweets like mini pancakes and “dirty sodas”.

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