News

The State of Arkansas will observe Independence Day as an official state holiday on Friday, July 3, and Saturday, July 4, 2020.   State Capitol Offices and all State Buildings will be closed. The State Capitol Building will, however, be open to visitors on those days from 9:00 AM until 3:00 PM. To download a […]

The head of the state’s prison system, Arkansas Department of Correction Secretary Wendy Kelley, has stated that she will be retiring at the end of July. Governor Asa Hutchinson said there will be an announcement sometime next week about her replacement. Governor Asa Hutchinson has authorized a merit pay increase of 2.2% for state employees. […]

There were 439 new COVID-19 cases announced today in Arkansas. There has been in a decline in new cases for the last five days. Governor Hutchinson said the state is working to expand the number of contact tracers, particularly those that have a medical background and strong language skills.  2020 Covid-19_infographic.pdf

There were 678 new cases reported today of which 669 are in the community. This is the largest number of active community cases reported in a single day. Of the reported activity from active cases in the last 14 days, 2% say they visited a restaurant, .6% visited a barbershop, 2% went to church, .3% […]

To date, only 56.5% of Arkansans have responded to the 2020 United States Census.Nationally, the response rate is 61.7%. It is not too late to respond. Arkansans are encouraged to respond online at 2020census.gov. If you have not responded, you may soon be receiving a reminder in the mail. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the start […]

There were 687 new cases reported today. Of those, 96 were from Washington County, 45 were from Benton County, 44 were from Pulaski County, 26 were from Lonoke County, and 26 were from Sebastian County.In the last 24 hours, there are 17 more hospitalizations and 2 more deaths as a result of COVID-19.The Department of […]

There were 697 new cases of COVID-19 and 3 additional deaths reported in the last 24 hours. Of the new cases, 168 were from Hot Spring County. ADH believes many of those from Hot Spring County are from the Ouachita River Correctional Unit in Malvern.There were 79 cases from Washington County, 67 cases from Benton […]

This afternoon, the Department of Health reported 595 additional cases of COVID-19 and an additional 10 deaths attributed to the virus.Health Secretary Dr. Nate Smith said there are now128 positive cases from the Ouachita River Correctional Unit. There are also 188 cases from Benton County Jail.In reference to today’s report, the Governor said, “These are […]

There were 522 new cases of COVID-19 and two additional deaths reported in the state today. Of the new cases, 124 were from Washington County, 78 were from Benton County, and 85 from Hot Spring County.The Department of Health says the rise in cases in Hot Spring County is due to an outbreak at the […]

The Arkansas unemployment rate for May declined by 1.3%. Unemployment in Arkansas is now at 9.5%, which is lower than the national average. The CARES Act Steering Committee approved $12, 127,200 for EMS Direct Care Worker Payments. This will impact over 5,000 Direct Care Workers in Arkansas. The overall COVID-19 positivity rate in Arkansas is […]

A few weeks ago, we reminded Arkansans of the upcoming deadline for the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship. This week, we received word that the deadline has been extended to August 1. Unlike in prior years, students who are already receiving the scholarship, have a sufficient number of hours and have earned satisfactory academic progress before […]

There were 322 additional cases of COVID-19 reported in Arkansas today. Of those, 46 were in Washington County, 33 were in Benton County, and 23 were in Pulaski County. There were 11 additional deaths. Of those, 10 were Arkansans over the age of 65. The Governor announced today he is extending the Health Emergency order […]