Documents show UCA President Lu Hardin asked the university board for early payment of a $300,000 bonus that Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has says likely violated state law. Hardin and other university officials advised the board in advance it did not have to make a public disclosure.

The Family Council has 30 days to get the 4,000 additional signatures needed to certify its measure on the November election.  That act would prohibit adoptions and foster parenting in homes with unmarried couples.

There is a federal court hearing today for a Pulaski County couple seeking to overturn the state’s policy on adopting forster children. The couple, which has been serving as foster parents, has been rejected because both persons are over 40. She is 53. He. Is 44.

The National Conference of State Legislatures’ state budget update has ominous news for many other states facing severe economic downtown. Arkansas is not among the states in deep trouble, however, thanks to the growing surplus and the natural gas industry.

Gov. Mike Beebe says the extra programs in Pulaski County school districts funded by the state as a result of long-running desegregation cases have largely failed to increase diversity. Beebe’s comment came during a taping of the ArkansansAsk show on the Arkansas Educational Telecommunications Network.

The state House will meet next month to consider a new rule that would keep a former member from regaining the seat he resigned in a plea agreement on a felony sexual assault charge.

Ron Duncan, the Springdale teacher who pioneered the "Hooked on Fishing, Not on Drugs" program is the newest member of the Game and Fish Commission.

A development group exploring the purchase of the Fayetteville High School campus has apparently changed its mind. That leaves the U. of A. offer of $50 million unmatched.

Kelly Honeycutt, the mother of a 1-year-old boy who had been dead for at least 24 hours prior to police being called, is facing a manslaughter charge.