In the latest Issues That Matter, a series of presentations by KUAR, the Central Arkansas Library System, and the League of Women Voters of Pulaski County, a discussion about statewide proposals to be decided by Arkansas voters in the November election. We also talked about Election Day concerns about voting amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

This forum was streamed live online on Sept. 17, focusing on the three remaining proposals to be considered by Arkansas voters:

The Little Rock teachers union says its members won't show up for in-person classes due to concerns about the spread of coronavirus in schools.

The Little Rock Education Association said Sunday its members are willing to teach classes virtually, but accused district administrators of not doing enough to prevent the virus's spread.

The superintendent of the state-controlled district said it was taking additional steps to ensure schools stay open for in-person instruction.

For the second day in a row, new COVID-19 cases totaled more than 1,100, with the cumulative number of confirmed and probable cases approaching 80,000, according to Friday’s report from the Arkansas Department of Health.

The state reported 796 traditional PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 338 positives from antigen tests for a total of 1,134. The state reported 1,193 total cases on Thursday. The number of total cases as of Friday from PCR and antigen tests was 79,946, with the number of confirmed and probable deaths totaling 1,266.

The group tasked with disbursing the $1.25 billion Arkansas received from the CARES Act has approved new funds to go toward stabilizing the state’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund.

Members of the state CARES Act steering committee on Friday voted to approve the infusion of $165 million from the federal coronavirus bailout to the fund at a meeting held virtually. This comes as the panel faced a deadline of Sept. 30 to stabilize the fund, otherwise employers would have to pay an extra $10 per employee per year in taxes.

The number of new coronavirus cases reported in Arkansas Thursday was 1,193, with 1,030 of those being from the traditional PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test and 163 were positives from antigen tests, according to the Arkansas Department of Health.

Thursday’s report also included a rise in deaths, active cases and ventilator use. The number of people hospitalized fell.

As he did with Wednesday’s report of increased cases, Gov. Asa Hutchinson followed Thursday’s report by encouraging Arkansans to do more to contain the spread of the virus.

Some doctors and hospitals have adopted new practices to encourage women in Arkansas to get breast cancer screenings. Dr. Ronda S. Henry-Tillman, a breast cancer surgeon at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, says fewer women are getting checked since Gov. Asa Hutchinson issued a directive on April 3 banning elective medical procedures amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The state’s CARES Act Steering committee has approved an additional list of items that that would be pre-approved for Arkansas’ cities and counties to use CARES funding for.

This approval comes after a meeting earlier in the month that authorized $150 million to be split evenly among the Arkansas Municipal League and the Association of Arkansas Counties.

A researcher with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences will use a $1.7 million grant to find new ways to treat a deadly blood disorder.

The grant from the National Cancer Institute is going to Dr. Jesus Delgado-Calle, assistant professor of physiology and biophysics at UAMS, who is studying ways to improve bone health to prevent or delay relapses in patients with multiple myeloma.