News

This week, a subcommittee of Arkansas Legislative Council that provides oversight for Arkansas Game and Fish and Arkansas State Police heard from Arkansas State Police Director Col. Bill Bryant regarding recent successes and challenges facing state troopers. His testimony alerted us to some startling statistics regarding an increase in aggressive driving and fatal accidents in […]

This week, we want to remind you about the upcoming Arkansas Sales Tax holiday. This year, the event will begin at 12:01 am on Saturday, August 7, and end at 11:59 pm on Sunday, August 8.This is now the 10th year that Arkansans can take advantage of this break from state and local sales tax […]

Arkansans know that no summer barbecue is complete without fresh watermelon. Our state may not be the largest producer of watermelon, but Arkansas communities lay claim to being the home of the world’s largest and the world’s sweetest. The month of July is known as National Watermelon Month. July is typically the largest shipping month […]

Arkansas started a new fiscal year this week, and final reports for the previous year give us an optimistic outlook about the future of our economy. Fiscal Year 2021 ended on June 30. We began Fiscal Year 2022 on July 1. Results from collections and distributions for FY2021 reached $6.845 billion. This is $1.09 billion […]

The State Capitol Offices and all State Buildings will be closed on Sunday, July 4, 2021, and Monday, July 5, 2021, to observe Independence Day. The State Capitol will be open to the public from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. A legal holiday by authority of Act 304 of 2001 and amended by Act 561 […]

There are currently 58,000 Arkansans who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. It is estimated that 67,000 will be diagnosed by 2025.June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month, an opportunity to hold a conversation about the brain, and share the fact that Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are a major public health issue.In 2019, there were […]

This week, the Arkansas Legislative Council Highway Commission Review and Advisory Subcommittee reviewed a presentation regarding Arkansas’ inland waterways. This year marks 50 years of service from the McClellan‐Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. The system serves a 12 state region and provides a cost-effective form of transportation to Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and surrounding states. The […]

This week, we would like to remind families of an upcoming scholarship deadline. July 1 is the deadline to apply for the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship. The scholarship provides tuition assistance to traditional and non-traditional students attending universities and two-year colleges – both public and private – in the state. Freshman students at four-year colleges […]

Tourism in Arkansas is making a big comeback.  While the pandemic severely impacted the industry in 2020, there are signs that tourism is rebounding and doing better than before the health emergency began. The tourism tax collections for March 2021 exceeded collections from March 2019 by 14.6%From mountain biking adventures to world-class art museums, Arkansas […]

Directly behind the Capitol stands a monument honoring those Arkansas families who sacrificed more than most. The Gold Star Family Memorial Monument reminds us daily here at the Capitol that without those sacrifices, our freedom could not and would not have been preserved. Arkansas has citizens in nearly every community willing to make such sacrifices. […]

This week, we want to direct your attention to a program that could help Arkansans struggling to pay rent and utilities due to the pandemic. The Arkansas Rent Relief Program offers financial help to pay overdue and upcoming rent and utilities for eligible Arkansas renters. Landlords who have tenants unable to pay their rent because […]

When an officer is killed, it is not only a loss to the agency, it’s a loss to our entire state. National Police Week is May 9-May 15. May 15 has also been designated as Peace Officers Memorial Day to honor the service and sacrifice of those law enforcement officers killed in the line of […]