Cody Kees News Today

Superintendent contracts must now include performance targets because of the LEARNS Act passed by the Arkansas Legislature last year, attorney Cody Kees told the Beebe School Board at its December

Two lawsuits filed against the city of Pine Bluff have their roots in an allegation that the city, through the Urban Renewal Agency, is taking peoples properties in an improper manner.

A federal judge has ruled that documents sought by attorneys representing a woman in her lawsuit against the Cabot School District may not be obtained through the use of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, although the judge ruled his order does not extend beyond the active participants in the lawsuit.

T he city of Pine Bluff has been called on the carpet by the Arkansas Legislative Audit -- this coming Friday -- to explain why there has been a hash made of more than $1.3 million in city finances, all of which is a problem that can be laid at the feet of Mayor Shirley Washington.

Officials with the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency, which lost close to $700,000 in fraudulent payouts, will have to explain the negative audit findings associated with those transactions when their agency is called to a hearing on Oct. 13 with the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee.

The Arkansas Freedom of Information Act was front and center Wednesday in a federal court hearing called to determine if attorneys for a Cabot woman banned from public schools in the city will be allowed to access documents from the defendants by using the open-records law instead of going through the normal discovery process.

An appeals court panel has sided with the Pulaski County Special School District and vacated a judgment in favor of an assistant superintendent who sued the district after she was passed over for the superintendent position in 2018.

Leaders in the Pulaski County Special and Jacksonville/North Pulaski school districts sent notice to a federal judge that there are hitches in their effort to complete campus construction projects.

About 30 residents remain in the 151-unit complex; a receiver will not file to evict any of them, his attorney says.

Currently no plans to sell the property or evict tenants, according to mortgage holder and third-party receiver.