Daniel Breen

A Democrat has announced his bid to serve as Arkansas' next Secretary of State. Former Pulaski County Election Commissioner Josh Price announced his bid to unseat one-term Republican incumbent John Thurston at an event in Little Rock on Wednesday.

Price touted his experience and accomplishments as a local elections official that he says would serve him well in the new position.

The highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 continues to grow in Arkansas, resulting in a new surge in coronavirus hospitalizations.

The state added another 270 cases of COVID-19 Tuesday while another six Arkansans died from the disease caused by the coronavirus. The state currently has 4,645 active cases of COVID-19.

The 4th of July holiday weekend is expected to be one of the largest on record for the number of cars on the country’s roads and highways.

AAA estimates nearly 48 million Americans will travel over the weekend, including just over 4 million in Arkansas and three neighboring states. AAA spokesperson Nick Chabarria says that’s following a trend of increased road travel since COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted.

Rock Region Metro is on track to become the first zero-emission public transit agency in the state thanks to a new grant from the federal government.

The Federal Transit Administration has awarded $4.9 million for the agency to purchase up to five 40-foot battery-powered electric buses.

City officials say a new sculpture in downtown Little Rock will serve as a symbol of the community moving past the COVID-19 pandemic.

Officials with the City of Little Rock and the Downtown Little Rock Partnership unveiled the new sculpture Friday at the corner of Capitol Avenue and Main Street.

Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences are studying ways to help protect the heart health of cancer patients from chemotherapy side effects. Dr. Hui-Ming Chang is leading the study, which will be the first Phase 1 cancer clinical trial done at UAMS.

The study aims to limit the heart damage caused by a commonly used chemotherapy drug known as doxorubicin. Chang says the negative effects of the drug sometimes aren’t felt until well after cancer treatment has ended.

A new television program is being launched by an Arkansas native who aims to educate short-term rental landlords on ways to make their properties more accessible to people with disabilities.

Conway-native Lorraine Berry Woodward is developing the show, called Becoming rentABLE, in partnership with the national Easterseals organization.

Arkansas’ Republican governor is voicing his support for federal legislation addressing the disparity in sentencing for crimes related to cocaine and crack cocaine.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson testified Tuesday in front of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, in support of a proposed bill known as the EQUAL Act, sponsored by Sen. Cory Booker, D-NJ.

Central Arkansas’ largest art museum is pushing back the grand opening of its brand-new facility in downtown Little Rock.

Officials with the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, formerly known as the Arkansas Arts Center, say the new facility in MacArthur Park will now open sometime in fall of 2022 instead of a planned opening next May.

More than one in five children in Arkansas continue to live in poverty according to analysis based on Census data from the year 2019.

The annual Kids Count Data Book released by the Annie E. Casey foundation examines data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau measuring several indicators, including economic wellbeing, health and education.

Another Democrat has officially entered the race for governor of Arkansas.

Chris Jones, a seventh-generation Arkansan who previously served as executive director of the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub, announced his bid for the 2022  election Tuesday. Speaking in his hometown of Pine Bluff, Jones said his experience in that job exposed him to many of the challenges facing Arkansans.

A new program aims to provide low-income Arkansans with financial support for broadband internet access.

State and local officials, including Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr., are partnering on a public awareness campaign for the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program from the Federal Communications Commission.

Ahead of an expected decision Monday, five artists who want the honor of making statues of civil rights leader Daisy Bates and music legend Johnny Cash that will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol presented models Wednesday of what they envision their works would look like.

Arkansas’ highest court has blocked a court order that prevented farmers from spraying a controversial weedkiller.

Cotton and soybean farmers in the state haven’t been allowed to spray dicamba for nearly two weeks since the 16th Division of the Pulaski County Circuit Court issued a temporary restraining order against the Arkansas’ rules allowing the herbicide to be sprayed until the end of June.

The Arkansas Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a stay of that restraining order, meaning growers can spray, with some restrictions, until the end of the month.

Arkansas' revenue has outpaced expectations for the month of May, while the state's budget surplus has risen to its highest level.

The state's net available general revenue for the month of May totaled just over $655 million, nearly an 80% jump over this time last year and about $263 million above forecast.

Arkansas’ current public health emergency will end in just over one week.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Thursday the state of emergency brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic more than a year ago is set to end on May 30. Arkansas has been under the emergency declaration since March 11, 2020, the day the state saw its first resident test positive for COVID-19.

The Arkansas Department of Transportation has fired a bridge inspector who failed to notice damage on at least two separate occasions on a now-closed bridge over the Mississippi River.

Department officials said they terminated the inspector Monday over his failure to notice damage to the Interstate 40 Mississippi River bridge during inspections one year apart, in Sept. of 2019 and 2020. This comes after the department identified a contractor's drone footage dating back to May 2019 showing significant damage.

Road and river travel continues to be affected as the closure of the Interstate 40 bridge over the Mississippi River stretches on.

Transportation officials said repairs could take months after the bridge was closed Tuesday following the discovery of a crack in a steel beam during an inspection.

The former head of Arkansas' Republican Party says he is running for lieutenant governor.

Doyle Webb said he will enter the race for lieutenant governor in an announcement Monday morning. Webb is a former state lawmaker from Benton and served as chair of the Republican Party of Arkansas from 2008 to 2020.

State agriculture regulators have once again shifted the rules governing a controversial herbicide that’s been blamed for widespread crop damage.

Members of the Arkansas State Plant Board on Monday voted to change the cutoff date for spraying dicamba, an herbicide used on genetically-modified cotton and soybeans.