Arkansas State Police have identified a sheriff's deputy killed in a shooting in northern Arkansas as Sergeant Mike Stephen.

State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said Stephen responded to a domestic welfare check at a house in Leslie, about 77 miles from Little Rock, around 8:40 Thursday morning. Shortly after talking with a woman outside the house, gunfire erupted. Stephen was killed at the scene.

Sadler said police are working to identify the suspect, who also died.

The state of Arkansas is using an almost $1 million Department of Justice grant to create a statewide database for opioid abuse and deaths, but the system will depend on the voluntary compliance of 75 county coroners.

Storms associated with Hurricane Barry are posing problems for Arkansas farmers. Agricultural officials had concerns that heavy rain and winds would damage rice crops, but are now more concerned about damage to soybean crops. Jarrod Hardke, extension rice agronomist with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, says weather over the weekend was not as damaging to rice crops as originally feared.

The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas is retiring after nearly three decades heading the group.

The ACLU of Arkansas on Monday announced the retirement of Rita Sklar, who has served as the organization's executive director since 1992. The group said Holly Dickson, its legal director, will serve as interim director and a national search will be announced soon.

The remnants of Hurricane Barry are forecast to move into Arkansas on Sunday. Agriculture officials are concerned the heavy rainfall could be detrimental to the state’s rice crop, which has already been hampered by a wet spring and recent hot weather.

Jarrod Hardke, extension rice agronomist for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, says the crop is extremely vulnerable at this point and that rain could disrupt pollination. 

A candidate for state representative who has filed a lawsuit against the Little Rock Police Department has been arrested after filming a traffic stop in southwest Arkansas.

KATV reports that Roderick Talley was charged by Arkansas State Police on June 8 in Hope for impeding traffic, driving with a suspended license and obstructing governmental operations.

Talley had previously filed a lawsuit against Little Rock's police department for its use of no-knock warrants after police blew open his apartment door in a raid.

An Arkansas judge who participated in an anti-death penalty demonstration the same day he blocked the state from using a lethal injection drug wants state Supreme Court justices to disqualify themselves from hearing his request to handle execution-related cases again.

Planned Parenthood says it's stopped providing medication-induced abortions at its facility in northwest Arkansas while it seeks a new location, leaving the state with two abortion providers.

The chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood Great Plains said in a court filing over the weekend that the organization stopped providing abortions at its health center in Fayetteville, located 140 miles (226 kilometers) northwest of Little Rock, while it looks for a new site. Planned Parenthood says it's not renewing its lease in Fayetteville, which expires at the end of the month.