Some of our Record staff spent the weekend in Little Rock at the Arkansas Press Association’s 150th anniversary celebration and convention celebrating each paper’s hard work throughout the year. The Record was the winner of 27 awards, including 10 first-place awards, as part of the press association’s general excellence’s competition.

Oh my, CBS has announced that it will air episodes of “Yellowstone” this fall. Network censors better be ready. They will be busy. If you’ve followed the family drama you know what I mean.

According to a 2022 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) report, 17 veterans take their own life each day, on average. While the number has decreased for the past two years, even one suicide is too many. There is a lot of work to do to ensure our veterans get connected with resources to treat their mental health struggles and save lives.

The governor announced that the state would provide about $11 million to local school districts to help them pay the steeply rising costs of property insurance premiums.

When we lived in south Arkansas, one of the coolest things my wife and I did took place at Moro Bay State Park, along the Ouachita River. We spent an evening gazing at stars and planets through wonderful telescopes that had been assembled and perfectly placed in an open field. Experts on astronomy were on hand to field any questions.

Arkansas celebrated Independence Day this year the same way it always does, by closing out the state fiscal year with a balanced budget and beginning a new fiscal year with a balanced budget in place.

On Monday, the Huntsville School Board along with Huntsville City Council members approved a contract for the city to provide school resource officers for the district. The school will fund the majority of the cost, approximately 75% of the nearly $330,000 over a two-year period.  See our full story beginning on page 1A. 

Word came from my hometown over the July Fourth holiday that a longtime friend of mine had passed away.

A few weeks ago we received a letter about an alternative sentencing facility opened in the county three weeks ago.

I covered a trial last week in which an Elkins man was convicted of raping his adopted daughter.

In 2021 the legislature approved Act 626, making Arkansas the first state in the nation to prohibit physicians from performing gender transition procedures on minors.

As Huntsville City Councilman Scott Thomas pointed out in last week’s Wage and Salary Commission meeting, Madison County is the fastest growing county in the state. 

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about David Preston Jr. being hired as the new athletic director for the Huntsville School District. Preston and his family moved from Smackover in south Arkansas. His wife, the former Heather Van Brunt, is a native of Huntsville.

The secretary of Human Services told lawmakers that the Arkansas Medicaid program would continue to reimburse assisted living facilities at the higher rate they were getting during the Covid-19 pandemic, at least until November.

We started looking for a rental house last week for a friend moving to Huntsville. Someone told us it would be easier to find a unicorn. 

These are tough times at the Madison County Sheriff’s Office. Dispatchers have left, deputies have taken jobs elsewhere. Sheriff Ronnie Boyd announced last week that the sheriff’s office will no longer provide deputies as School Resource Officers to the Huntsville School District.

We recently commemorated the 79th anniversary of D-Day and honored the bravery and courage of the Allied troops who helped bring an end to World War II.

The Arkansas Human Services Department has officially petitioned the federal government for authority to make changes in the Medicaid expansion program.

Father’s Day is this Sunday. Like many men, I’d love to be able to speak with my pop again.

Students are clearing out their lockers and signing yearbooks as teachers grade final exams and close the classroom door for the final time this school year. While their attention is turning to summer, my staff is already preparing for fall and getting ready for our next Congressional Youth Cabinet (CYC).