Tess Vrbin / Arkansas Advocate
ReporterTess Vrbin is a reporter for the nonprofit news organization Arkansas Advocate. She previously worked for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette where she reported on low-income housing and tenants' rights, and won awards for her coverage of 2021 flooding and tornado damage in rural Arkansas. She previously covered local government for The Commercial Dispatch in Mississippi and state government for the Columbia Daily Tribune in Missouri. A Midwesterner by birth, she graduated from the University of Missouri's journalism school in 2019.
Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit supported by grants and a coalition of donors and readers. The Advocate retains full editorial independence.
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Dumas School District stayed afloat due to layoffs and closing a school building, leading to public frustration -
Underpayments from PBMs hurt rural independent pharmacies, owners say. -
A former Jefferson County DHS employee points to flaws within the agency. -
High demand for attendance led the debate’s host organization to change venues. -
The county's chief executive says a decision will come later in the week. -
A judge issued a default judgment Wednesday against the former owners of a troubled Little Rock apartment complex after they did not appear in court. -
Supporters filed 108 valid signatures from registered voters in favor of the measure. -
Arkansas officials on Tuesday ordered four nationwide pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to stop paying Arkansas pharmacies below the legally required amount for prescription drugs. -
Garland County residents await a decision from county officials on whether they’ll get to vote in November to reduce the property tax that funds the local library, a supporter of the measure said Monday. -
Thurston and the ballot question committee will each file briefs with the state Supreme Court this week and next week.
