Two longtime members of the Hope City Board of Directors did not filed for re-election by the close of the filing period at noon Tuesday, and without opposition, have created two vacancies on the Nov. 2 municipal ballot.

 The head of the organization responsible for electrical power transmission across a large part of the South addressed several issues that affect Hempstead County and the need for growth in the electrical power industry Wednesday the Hempstead County Economic Development luncheon at the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope. 

A project that has been underway with the city for more than five years - the restoration of the old Martindale Clinic - still needs more than a quarter of a million dollars in grant money.
Hope City Manager Catherine Cook recently gave an update to the Kiwanis Club on what she calls two city projects that are not “your run of the mill projects.”

An Ozan man was killed Friday when the vehicle he was driving left the roadway in Hempstead county.

Hope Public Schools will be moving to an online system that will allow full video and high speed downloads to all systems on the campus.

He welded the first joist at then  SMI Joist ,that was ever welded, and the last one that will ever be welded in the company as it was known to be as CMC Joist and Deck, Arkansas, according to company employee, Laranda Clayton said.

Flash floods which swept through the Albert Pike Recreation Area near the confluence of the Caddo and Little Missouri rivers in Montgomery County on Friday, killing a reported 20 people and injuring scores of others, extended their terrible reach to three Hope-area families.

Over $3,000 was raised at the “Boots and Badges” fundraiser here this weekend.
Local law enforcement and fire fighters held up boots and buckets in front of local supermarkets to collect money that goes toward the training programs for the Special Olympics.

Rainbow of Challenges Executive Director and founder Patti Manus was overwhelmed Wednesday shortly after she received the news that U.S. Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor and U.S. Representative Mike Ross, D-Ar., announced ROC will receive a $100,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development grant and up to $2,549,000 in loans to make renovations to its day care center for children with special needs and its group home for developmentally disabled adults.

Arguing that continued construction of the John W. Turk, Jr., Power Plant at Fulton will irreparably harm not only the local, but state and worldwide environment, opponents of the $1.7 billion AEP/Southwestern Electric Power Co. project have asked a federal judge to stop its construction permanently.

Early voting in the June 8 runoff election from the May 18 preferential primary elections in Arkansas will begin June 1, Hempstead County Clerk Sandra Rodgers said this morning.

University of Arkansas Community College at Hope Chancellor Chris Thomason again addressed the issue of the overcrowding at the UACCH graduation ceremony with the Board of Visitors at the Thursday afternoon meeting.

In an election supposedly heated by the top of the ballot where an incumbent U. S. Senator and Lieutenant Governor slugged it out for a runoff in a three-way race, Hempstead and Nevada counties voters paid more attention to local races; but, the numbers in Tuesday's primary elections reflected less than 50 percent turnout among registered voters.

While an expected runoff developed in Tuesday's primary elections in the Eighth Judicial District-North Prosecuting Attorney's race, and in the statewide U. S. Senate race, voters in Hempstead and Nevada counties were more decisive in local elections.

Voters in Hope were trickling into the polls as balloting opened this morning in statewide preferential primary elections. Among the 10 precincts located at Hope Fair Park Coliseum, only 101 votes had been cast by 9 a.m.
In Spring Hill, among the largest rural precincts, only 90 votes had been cast at 10 a.m., according to Hempstead County Election Commissioner Scott Brown.
“Early votes take away a lot of those votes; but, it doesn't look like we are having the turnout we did two years ago,” Brown said.
Hempstead County Clerk Sandra Rodgers said that a total of 832 early and 234 absentee votes had been cast at the close of early voting on Monday. Rodgers said there are 10,884 registered voters in Hempstead County.
Polls will be open until 7:30 p.m.

The Hope Public School Board of Directors approved a change to the district's Reduction in Force policy which must also be looked at by the personnel policy committee and reviewed before coming back to the school board for the final change.

As both the Arkansas Public Service Commission and AEP/Southwestern Electric Power Co. assess the impact of Thursday's Arkansas Supreme Court ruling to overturn the PSC's approval of a certificate of need for the John W. Turk, Jr., Power Plant, no-one has indicated that construction of the plant is in jeopardy at this point.

The company responsible for the majority ownership of the John W. Turk, Jr., Power Plant under construction near Fulton has filed a petition in federal court to intervene in a civil lawsuit by the Sierra Club and others against the U.S. Corps of Engineers and its district engineer to prevent Sierra from stopping construction of the $1.6 billion power plant.

Last week at Yerger Middle school, a hard working and talented group of students recently acted out a school shooting as part of a play which is scheduled to go on tour next year. The title of the play is “Out of Hope” .