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UAMS will add 22 new residency slots in South Arkansas with $2.5M of state funds

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arkansasadvocate.com – Tess Vrbin – 2025-03-26 05:00:00

by Tess Vrbin, Arkansas Advocate
March 26, 2025

New residency slots at two South Arkansas hospitals will provide needed medical training and services in that part of the state, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences said last week.

The state’s primary medical school is adding 22 family medicine residency slots because of $2.5 million allocated by the Legislature in February, UAMS announced in a news release.

UAMS will use the money as “start-up funds” for the first three years of the residency programs in Crossett and El Dorado, which includes an obstetrics fellowship, Chancellor Dr. Cam Patterson wrote in the university’s funding request to the Joint Budget Committee’s PEER Review subcommittee. The panel approved the request Feb. 26 with no discussion or dissent, and the full committee approved it the following day.

The number of students graduating from Arkansas medical schools has outpaced the state’s number of residencies in recent years, but Arkansas leaders in medical education have been working to add more slots at hospitals throughout the state.

Most physicians practice in the same state where they complete their residencies, and UAMS sponsors roughly 85% of residencies statewide, said Dr. Molly Gathright, executive associate dean for Graduate Medical Education in UAMS’ College of Medicine.

Arkansas leaders work to close gap between medical school graduates and in-state residencies

The health system announced in May 2023 that it would train residents at the South Arkansas Regional Hospital in El Dorado in partnership with a local nonprofit. Last week’s news release said UAMS plans to obtain accreditation for the El Dorado facility this year and enroll its first residents in the summer of 2026. The Crossett facility enrolled its first residents last year.

“Expanding training opportunities in this region helps address health care needs and strengthens the local workforce,” Gathright said in a statement to the Advocate. “At the same time, every residency program plays a vital role in improving access to care across the state, and our goal is to support a broad distribution of training opportunities to meet diverse community needs.”

In addition to its main Little Rock campus and the Crossett campus, UAMS trains residents at six other regional campuses throughout the state: Batesville, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Jonesboro, Pine Bluff and Texarkana. A seventh residency program in Magnolia closed in 2022.

Adding medical residencies to a community boosts the local economy, according to a study released this month by Heartland Forward. The Bentonville-based research organization estimates that gradually adding 275 new medical residents over six years — about 46 per year — would create an additional $465 million in economic activity for Arkansas.

Republican U.S. Sen. John Boozman, an optometrist from Rogers, sponsored multiple bipartisan bills during the last session of Congress to create more residency slots nationwide and retain the doctors that train in those positions, particularly in rural areas. The legislation stalled in committee.

UAMS’ Fayetteville and Crossett locations specifically train family medicine specialists to practice in rural areas. Some of Arkansas’ rural counties do not have hospitals, according to the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care.

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Residents who train in El Dorado and Crossett will be “immersed in south Arkansas-based rural clinical settings,” though they will complete some of their training in Little Rock at both UAMS and Arkansas Children’s Hospital, according to the health system’s announcement last week.

“The current structure of our UAMS sponsored rural training programs — one year in an urban hospital followed by two years at a rural training site — ensures residents gain broad clinical experience while becoming fully immersed in rural practice,” Gathright said. “The hope is that this model increases the likelihood that they will stay and provide care in these communities, improving access for low-income patients and those who must travel long distances for medical services.”

Ashley County, where Crossett is the largest city, had fewer than five full-time primary care physicians per 10,000 people as of 2021, a slight decrease from 2020, according to data from the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement.

Additionally, Arkansas has a shortage of maternal health care providers, particularly in rural areas. Gathright said the obstetrics fellowship funded by the $2.5 million grant will be “crucial to improving access to care” in rural South Arkansas. The fellowship will open July 1 in El Dorado.

The Bradley County Medical Center closed its labor and delivery unit within the past 18 months due to staffing struggles. Bradley County borders both Ashley County and Union County, where El Dorado is the county seat.

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

Hackett student arrested after shooting threat

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www.youtube.com – 40/29 News – 2025-09-02 17:15:16

SUMMARY: A Hackett student was arrested after an anonymous shooting threat targeting the high school was posted in a student group chat. The threat, reported Monday morning, prompted Sebastian County deputies to station officers at Hackett schools for safety as classes resumed. Deputies, aided by Homeland Security, traced the post back to the teenager within ten hours. Investigators say there is no credible evidence the student intended to carry out the threat. The situation escalated through social media, complicating tracing efforts. The investigation remains active, with possible additional arrests, and deputies will continue a visible presence at the schools.

Deputies increased security at Hackett schools in response.

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Every fall there’s a government shutdown warning. This time it could happen.

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arkansasadvocate.com – Jennifer Shutt – 2025-09-02 07:40:00


Congress returns from an unproductive August recess with only weeks before an October 1 government funding deadline, raising the risk of a shutdown. Lawmakers must pass a stopgap spending bill as full-year appropriations remain incomplete, a routine yet increasingly contentious process amid frustrations over the Trump administration’s unilateral spending decisions. Several watchdog reports and lawsuits allege illegal impoundment of funds by the administration. Senate Majority Leader John Thune warns of a “big fight” ahead. Past shutdown effects were mitigated by some pre-approved bills; this time, no full-year bills have been sent to the president, risking wider federal furloughs. A short-term continuing resolution is likely to extend funding until December, buying time for final negotiations amid heightened political tensions.

by Jennifer Shutt, Arkansas Advocate
September 2, 2025

WASHINGTON — Congress returns to Washington, D.C., this week following an uneventful August recess where little to no progress was made on government funding, even though lawmakers have just weeks left until their shutdown deadline.

Republican leaders will need the support of several Democratic senators to approve a stopgap spending bill before Oct. 1, since lawmakers have once again failed to complete the dozen full-year bills on time. 

But what was once a routine bipartisan exercise has taken on heightened stakes, with Democrats and some Republicans increasingly frustrated by the Trump administration’s unilateral spending decisions.

The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office has issued several reports faulting the Trump administration for impounding, or refusing to spend funds approved by Congress, in violation of the law. And dozens of lawsuits have been filed, alleging the administration has acted to supersede Congress’ power of the purse. 

The ongoing tension, combined with party leaders’ increasing focus on next year’s midterm elections, makes the possibility of a shutdown higher than it has been for years. 

President Donald Trump said in mid-August he was open to meeting with Democratic leaders once they were back in town to negotiate a government funding deal but minimized the importance of talks. 

“Well, I will, I guess, but it’s almost a waste of time to meet because they never approve anything,” Trump said.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries released a letter last week urging Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune to quickly begin negotiating a bipartisan stopgap bill. 

“The government funding issue must be resolved in a bipartisan way,” they wrote. “That is the only viable path forward.”

Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, said last week that she wants to keep advancing the full-year spending bills, but that a short-term stopgap would be necessary to give lawmakers enough time. 

“We need to avoid a government shutdown, which would be horrendous if that were to occur on October 1,” Collins said, according to remarks provided by her office. “And we also need to avoid having a continuing resolution, by that I mean a stopgap bill that just puts government on automatic pilot for the whole year. 

“We’re going to have to have a short-term continuing resolution, but we’re making really good progress with overwhelming bipartisan support, and I hope that will continue.”

Another failure

Congress is supposed to complete work on the dozen annual appropriations bills before the start of the new fiscal year but has failed to do so for decades. This year is no different. 

The House and Senate are nowhere near finishing their work on the bills, which provide funding for dozens of departments, including Agriculture, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, State, Transportation and Veterans Affairs.

The bills, which make up about one-third of federal spending, also fund smaller agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Science Foundation and the National Weather Service.

The House has approved two of the dozen bills — Defense and Military Construction-VA. The Senate has passed its Agriculture, Legislative Branch and Military Construction-VA bills.

The House bills have only been supported by GOP lawmakers, while the Senate’s bills are broadly bipartisan, giving that chamber an upper hand if the two chambers begin conferencing full-year bills later this year. 

Without a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on how much to spend on all of the bills, it’s highly unlikely Congress will be able to complete its work before the Oct. 1 deadline.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, speaks at a Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce Inside Washington luncheon on Aug. 12, 2025. (Photo by Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

Leaders will instead need to reach agreement on a stopgap spending bill that essentially keeps government funding on autopilot until lawmakers can work out a final deal on the full-year bills. 

The calendar doesn’t give Speaker Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader Thune, R-S.D., much time to find compromise with their Democratic counterparts. 

Both chambers are in session for three weeks at the beginning of September before breaking for Rosh Hashanah. They’ll return to Capitol Hill on Sept. 29 with less than two days to fund the government or begin a partial shutdown.

Thune said in mid-August at the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce Inside Washington luncheon that he expects lawmakers will “have a big fight at the end of September.”

Last shutdown stretched 35 days

It’s been almost seven years since some federal departments and agencies had to navigate a shutdown, when Congress and the first Trump administration were unable to broker a funding deal before a deadline.

A shutdown this year would have substantially more impact than that 35-day debacle since, when that funding lapse began, Congress had approved the Defense, Energy-Water, Labor-HHS-Education, Legislative Branch and Military Construction-VA spending bills.

The departments and agencies funded by those laws, including Congress, weren’t affected by the shutdown.

Lawmakers have failed to send any of the full-year bills to Trump so far this year, so every department and agency would need to implement a shutdown plan if Congress doesn’t approve a stopgap spending bill before Oct. 1.

Federal employees who deal with the preservation of life and property as well as national security will likely be deemed exempt and work without pay until the shutdown ends.

Workers who are not considered essential to the federal government’s operations would be furloughed until Congress and the president broker some sort of funding deal.

Both categories of employees receive back pay once the lapse ends, though that doesn’t extend to federal contractors.

On to the stopgap

Congress regularly approves a stopgap spending bill in September to gain more time to complete negotiations on the full-year appropriations bills.

That continuing resolution, as it’s sometimes called, usually lasts until the last Friday in December when both chambers of Congress are scheduled to be in Washington, D.C.

So a September stopgap would likely last until Friday, Dec. 19, assuming the House and Senate can reach an agreement and hold floor votes in the weeks ahead.

Last year, in the lead-up to the presidential election, lawmakers approved a stopgap bill in September that funded the government through mid-December.

Following the Republican sweep of the November elections, GOP leaders opted not to negotiate the full-year bills and used a second stopgap bill to fund the government until March after a raucous 48 hours on Capitol Hill.

Speaker Johnson took a go-it-alone approach on a third stopgap spending bill, leaving Democrats completely out of the negotiations and jamming the Senate with the legislation.

Schumer and several Democrats ultimately helped Republicans get past the 60-vote legislative filibuster, but most voted against actually passing the stopgap.

The dilemma over forcing a shutdown or helping Republicans pass a stopgap bill will resurface for Schumer in the weeks ahead as he tries to navigate another shutdown deadline amid unified GOP control of Washington.

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 Every fall there’s a government shutdown warning. This time it could happen. 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 a balanced overview of the government shutdown situation, highlighting perspectives and actions from both Republican and Democratic leaders without overtly favoring either side. It includes factual reporting on legislative processes, quotes from key political figures across the aisle, and references to nonpartisan sources, maintaining a neutral tone throughout. The article focuses on the procedural and political challenges without editorializing, reflecting a centrist approach to the topic.

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Arkansas Fall forecast: Warmer temperatures and drier conditions expected as drought persists

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www.youtube.com – 40/29 News – 2025-09-01 11:27:47

SUMMARY: Arkansas is expected to experience a cooler and more fall-like September, starting meteorological fall on September 1st. The last week of August was among the coolest on record, and early September will continue with below-average temperatures. A cold front later next week will bring further cooling, making the second weekend of football season comfortable. Mid-September temperatures will remain fairly mild, with highs dropping from mid-80s to mid-70s in Northwest Arkansas and from low 90s to low 80s in the River Valley by month’s end. Fall colors should appear earlier than last year, likely peaking from late October to early November.

The Climate Prediction Center released its outlook for Fall, which shows above-average temperatures continuing through November.

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