News from the South - Arkansas News Feed

Serial storms in Arkansas ramp up residents’ anxiety, create flooding and danger

Published

4 months ago

April 6, 2025

arkansasadvocate.com – Kenneth Heard, Contributing Writer – 2025-04-06 15:53:00

by Kenneth Heard, Contributing Writer, Arkansas Advocate
April 6, 2025

JONESBORO — Willadean Hergott of Jonesboro clutched a stuffed toy monkey while sitting in the Craighead County safe room in Jonesboro Friday evening and waited for the next round of storms.

“I don’t like tornadoes. I don’t like seeing what happened in Lake City,” she said, referring to a twister that smashed the western edge of the Craighead County town Wednesday evening with winds of 150 mph.

“You never know anymore where one will come up,” she said.

Hergott sat in a chair inside the shelter, which has a capacity for 600 people. She said she had the monkey for her grandchildren who would show up shortly.

At 5 p.m. Friday, there were already 60 people inside the shelter, which can withstand 250 mph winds. Storms did not reach Jonesboro until around 9 p.m. Friday. Large television screens inside the shelter showed live weather coverage from the local ABC television affiliate.

On Wednesday, more than 800 packed into the shelter. Deputies had to turn back another 200 people because it was overcrowded.

Rachael Townsend also went to the shelter Friday, hours before the inclement weather hit.

She moved to Jonesboro about a week before a tornado hit the town on March 28, 2020, and is still shaken by the memory.

“I have PTSD,” Townsend said. “I have really bad storm anxiety. I can’t sleep at night anymore because of these storms.”

Townsend stayed in a friend’s storm shelter when the Lake City tornado struck. Lake City is about 15 miles east of Jonesboro. This time, she said, she sought safety early.

Storm anxieties have ramped up since early March when the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, forecast an extremely high potential for tornadoes in Arkansas on March 14. Twisters hit Cave City, Cushman and Diaz that evening, validating people’s fears. Three died in Cushman and 32 were injured in those storms, the Arkansas Public Safety Department reported.

Then, the March 28 tornado hit Bay, Lake City and Monette, injuring four people and damaging 25 structures. Another storm hammered Cross County Friday evening, and on Saturday, the National Weather Service issued tornado warnings for Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Mississippi, Poinsett and St. Francis counties.

Torrential rains hindered cleanup efforts in the tornado-ravaged areas Saturday, but it also created record level river-flooding, adding to the mounting fears.

The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management reported Sunday that there have been 13 injuries and one fatality related to Friday’s and Saturday’s storms. The fatality was a 5-year-old child at a home in Pulaski County.

Some parts of central and northeast Arkansas received between 10 and 15 inches of rain in the five days preceding April 6, 2025, according to this map from the National Weather Service.(Source: National Weather Service Little Rock)

In Hardy, the Spring River rose to 23.5 feet by late Saturday afternoon. Flood stage there is 10 feet. Water covered a riverside park and lapped against railroad tracks that cut through the town.

“It’s the worst I’ve ever seen,” Hardy Fire Chief Joshua Moore said of the flooding. ‘”We had advanced warning this was coming since Tuesday, and we warned people that they needed to evacuate.”

Emergency officials did rescue two people trapped by high waters Saturday morning, he said. Rapids also washed out a train trestle in Mammoth Springs, he said.

“This has been a lot,” he said. “Four weeks ago, we had wildfires. Then we had the tornadoes on March 14, more wildfires and now flooding.

“As best as I can tell, people here are staying home and out of all the weather,” Moore added. “My guys are tired, but we’re not quitting.”

The White River in Newport, where the flood stage is 26 feet, is expected to crest at 33 feet Tuesday. The record stage there is 35.9 feet.

The Buffalo River in St. Joe is forecast to crest at 48 feet Sunday. Flood stage is 27 feet.

President Donald Trump issued a federal disaster declaration for much of Arkansas Saturday, releasing funds for cleanup and rebuilding. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders made the request in a 12-page letter earlier in the week, saying damage from the storms exceeded $11.6 million and estimated debris removal costs $3.7 million.

Sanders also released $250,000 from the state’s emergency fund for cleanup efforts.

In addition to the rains Saturday, the National Weather Service issued several tornado warnings in Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Mississippi, Poinsett and St. Francis counties. For the fourth time since the safe room first opened in the new Craighead County Courthouse Annex building in early March, people crowded into the shelter.

“There’s always a lot of hype with storms,” Craighead County Office of Emergency Management Director Anthony Coy said. “People post pictures all over Facebook and social media. There is massive community storm anxiety.”

He said storm chasers flood YouTube with videos of storms and the seeming constant live reports on local television add to the fear.

On Friday, scores of chasers swarmed into Arkansas in expectation of severe weather, increasing the already heightened fears of Arkansans. One storm chaser, while live streaming his trip on YouTube, called out, “Here, ’nado, ’nado, ’nado,” as he drove through Newport.

“Fears and anxieties can be caused by a lot of variables,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Hood in North Little Rock. “Everybody reacts to trauma differently. They see the media pictures of all the damage from tornadoes every day lately. The media conveys how dangerous it is.”

He said it’s rare that meteorologists deal with the constant weather events like they’ve had this time.

“We were talking about that,” Hood said. “It’s been 10 or 20 years since we’ve had something like this. It’s not typical that we have something day after day after day.

“It’s unfortunate that we’re seeing all these ingredients line up like they’re doing,” he said. “Arkansas is in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Advocate Editor Sonny Albarado contributed to this story.

YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.

SUPPORT

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 Serial storms in Arkansas ramp up residents’ anxiety, create flooding and danger appeared first on arkansasadvocate.com

Up Next

Bill to dissolve Arkansas library board in House

Don't Miss

Most of Arkansas dealing with flooding issues | What we know

News from the South - Arkansas News Feed

Police: McGann admitted to killing the couple, DNA match found at the scene

Published

2 days ago

July 31, 2025

Staff Editor

www.youtube.com – 40/29 News – 2025-07-31 22:42:45

SUMMARY: Andrew McGann admitted to killing Clinton and Cristen Brink in a random, brutal attack while they protected their young daughters. DNA from the crime scene matched McGann, who acted alone. Police described the case as one of the most heinous in their 27 years, emphasizing the couple’s efforts to shield their 7- and 9-year-old daughters, who were not targeted. Investigators narrowed the search using over 500 tips, identifying McGann through a black Kia Stinger and witness photos. Knives and clothing linked to the suspect were recovered. Authorities are still investigating McGann’s motives and any possible crimes in other states.

Police: McGann admitted to killing the couple, DNA match found at the scene

Subscribe to 40/29 on YouTube now for more: http://bit.ly/PTElbK

Get more Northwest Arkansas news: http://www.4029tv.com
Like us: http://facebook.com/4029news
Follow us: http://twitter.com/4029news
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/4029news/

Source

News from the South - Arkansas News Feed

Trump’s big proposed cuts to health and education spending rebuffed by US Senate panel

Published

2 days ago

July 31, 2025

Staff Editor

arkansasadvocate.com – Ariana Figueroa, Shauneen Miranda – 2025-07-31 15:42:00

by Ariana Figueroa and Shauneen Miranda, Arkansas Advocate
July 31, 2025

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations Thursday largely rejected Trump administration proposals to slash funding for education programs, medical research grants, health initiatives and Ukraine security assistance.

Instead, senators from both parties agreed to increase spending in the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education spending bill for fiscal year 2026, as well as the Defense bill, and rebuked the White House’s move to dismantle the Department of Education.

The pushback against President Donald Trump was significant as Congress heads toward a possible standoff and partial government shutdown when the fiscal year expires on Sept. 30.

In response to the Trump administration’s separate cancellation of grants and freezing of funds approved by Congress, senators also included language in the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill to create deadlines for formula grants to be released to states on time.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, said the bill to fund the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education “prioritizes funding to make Americans healthier and supports life-saving medical research through targeted funding.”

The measure provides $116.6 billion for HHS, an increase of $446 million in discretionary funding over the previous fiscal year. Included is a $150 million increase for cancer research and a $100 million increase for Alzheimer’s disease research, as well as a ban on an administration cap on indirect costs at the National Institutes of Health, according to a summary from Democrats. The cap on how much NIH pays research universities and medical schools for indirect costs is the subject of a permanent injunction in an ongoing lawsuit.

Trump’s budget proposal also cut funding for the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to $4.2 billion, but senators voted to instead allocate $9.1 billion for the agency.

Also included is $8.8 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant and nearly $12.4 billion for Head Start.

The top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, said that while the bill rejects many of the funding cuts from the Trump administration, it’s “only half of the equation.”

“We have an administration right now that is intent on ignoring Congress, breaking the law, and doing everything it can without any transparency, to dismantle programs and agencies that help families,” she said. “There is no magic bullet that will change that unfortunate reality.”

Murray also expressed her disappointment that the bill did not fund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Trump sent what is known as a rescissions request to Congress, approved by both chambers, that yanked $1.1 billion in previously approved funding over the next two years for the agency, which funds NPR and PBS.

The Labor-HHS-Education spending bill for fiscal year 2026 passed out of the Senate committee with a bipartisan 26-3 vote.

Senators also passed the Defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2026 on a 26-3 vote.

Dismantling of Education Department spurned

The bill text tightens requirements so that Education Department staffing levels must be sufficient to carry out the agency’s missions, and its work cannot be outsourced to other agencies or departments to fulfill statutory responsibilities, according to Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, the top Democrat on the spending panel dealing with Labor-HHS-Education spending.

The agency saw a reduction in force, or RIF, earlier this year that gutted more than 1,300 employees and hit wide swaths of the department. The Supreme Court cleared the way earlier in July for the agency to temporarily proceed with those mass layoffs.

The bill also provides $5.78 billion for School Improvement Programs — which support before- and after-school programs, rural education, STEM education and college and career counseling, among other initiatives.

Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget request had called for $12 billion in spending cuts at the Education Department but the committee allocated $79 billion in discretionary funding.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon defended Trump’s sweeping proposals while appearing in June before the Senate Labor-HHS-Education subcommittee.

During Thursday’s markup, Murray called the president’s proposal to defund the Department of Education “absurd.”

“I still hope we can do more when it comes to demanding accountability, transparency, and that this administration actually follows our laws,” Murray said. “We all know President Trump cannot dismantle the Department of Education or ship education programs to other agencies. Authorizing laws prevent that.”

The agency has witnessed a dizzying array of cuts and changes since Trump took office, as he and his administration look to dramatically overhaul the federal role in education and dismantle the department.

The bill maintains the same maximum annual award for the Pell Grant from the previous award year at $7,395. The government subsidy helps low-income students pay for college.

Trump’s budget request had called for cutting nearly $1,700 from the maximum award.

Health spending

Baldwin said the overall bill is a “compromise.” She pointed to how Republicans and Democrats agreed to increase funds for the 988 Suicide hotline by $2 million and by another $20 million for substance abuse recovery.

The spending bill will also provide $1.6 billion for State Opioid Response grants, which is a formula-based grant for states to address the opioid crisis.

Senators rejected the Trump administration’s request to cut National Institutes of Health research by 40% and instead included a more than $400 million bump in funding for a total of $48.7 billion.

Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff said that he was grateful that the committee worked on a bipartisan basis to reject major Trump cuts for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in his home state.

“I made (it) very clear that I would not accept the destruction of the CDC,” Ossoff said. “I am grateful that Republicans and Democrats on this committee are coming together to defend this vital institution based in the state of Georgia.”

Advocates for medical research praised the legislation.

“Chair Collins and Vice Chair Murray deserve special recognition for their leadership in making this a priority. Thousands of ACS CAN volunteers from across the country have been writing to their lawmakers on this issue and it’s deeply encouraging to see their voices have been heard loud and clear,” Lisa Lacasse, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, said in a statement.

AmeriCorps, Job Corps funding sustained

Trump’s budget request also proposed $4.6 billion in spending cuts at the Department of Labor.

The spending bill also maintains funding for Job Corps, a residential career training program for young adults, at $1.76 billion.

Trump’s budget request sought to eliminate the program entirely.

The administration says the program is “financially unsustainable, has an exorbitant perparticipant cost, risks the safety of young adults, and has often made participants worse off,” according to a summary of the budget request.

The spending bill also includes $15 billion for the Social Security Administration, an increase of $100 million from the president’s budget request, to address staffing shortages.

The administration also proposed the elimination of AmeriCorps.

However, senators kept funding for AmeriCorps for fiscal year 2026 at $1.25 billion.

Defense spending also increased

The Defense appropriations spending bill for fiscal year 2026 that senators worked on represented an increase from the president’s budget request.

“I think not only the prior administration, but this administration as well, have underestimated the level of challenge that we have,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell, chairman of the Defense appropriations panel.

The Kentucky Republican said the bill provides $851.9 billion for fiscal year 2026.

He said the topline is higher than the president’s budget request because “we cannot seriously address these challenges while artificially constraining our resources” — challenges such as the war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East.

The bill also rejects the Trump administration’s effort to slash funding to aid Ukraine in its war against Russia.

“Shutting off engagement with Ukraine would undermine our military’s efforts to prepare for the modern battlefield,” McConnell said.

During the markup of the defense spending bill, Sen. Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, introduced an amendment to require the Department of Homeland Security to reimburse costs to the Department of Defense for immigration enforcement.

As the Trump administration aims to carry out its plans for mass deportation of people without permanent legal status, it’s intertwined the U.S. military and immigration enforcement, ranging from deploying the National Guard to quell immigration protests in Los Angeles to housing immigrants on the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba military base.

Durbin said that so far, DHS has cost the Defense Department $900 million, from personnel costs to housing immigrants on military bases.

Durbin said the cost to house 180 people on Guantanamo Bay cost the Department of Defense $40 million over three months.

His amendment failed on a 14-15 vote.

The post Trump’s big proposed cuts to health and education spending rebuffed by US Senate panel 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: Center-Left

The article presents a mostly factual report focused on bipartisan Senate actions rejecting proposed Trump administration budget cuts, emphasizing increased funding for education, health research, and defense. While it maintains balance by including quotes from Republican and Democratic senators, the framing highlights opposition to Trump’s spending cuts and dismantling of agencies like the Department of Education. The language subtly favors the bipartisan coalition resisting the administration’s austerity measures, underscoring the benefits of preserving social programs and research funding. Overall, the tone leans slightly left by stressing protection of government services against conservative budget reductions.

News from the South - Arkansas News Feed

Camden officials react to murder of small town teenager

Published

3 days ago

July 30, 2025

Staff Editor

www.youtube.com – THV11 – 2025-07-30 10:08:31

SUMMARY: Eighteen-year-old Braden Robersonson was found dead near Camden, Arkansas, after disappearing last Thursday. The community is deeply shaken by the tragedy, especially since Camden is a small town of about 10,000 people where everyone’s lives intersect. Three individuals—Bryson Vaughn, Melanie Pipkin, and Cameron Hildebrand—have been arrested and charged with capital murder and tampering with evidence. Local officials and residents are mourning the loss and emphasizing respect for the family’s privacy while coming together to support each other. A candlelight vigil is planned at Timothy Methodist Park to honor Braden’s memory.