Next time you check out your local Texas Eagle Amtrak train schedule, look for Hope worked in between the Arkadelphia and Texarkana stops.

After spending the last two years deep in the adoption process, an Arkansas couple were rocked to the core last week after the Haiti earthquake.

Details were not forthcoming at press time, but the U.S. Navy and the office of local physician Dr. Jean Wise have confirmed that former U.S. Navy Seal Jeremy Wise was among seven individuals confirmed killed Dec. 30 in an insurgent attack upon a forward operating base in Afghanistan.

Never mind the healthcare debate; forget the federal deficit; isolate the immigration issues; there are bigger things to do in Washington, and Fourth District U.S. Representative Mike Ross, D-Ar., is in the middle of the effort.

The idea that common-sense legislation in agriculture and common-sense thinking when many challenges are being faced in agriculture today was the presentation given at the Kiwanis Club Farm City Day here Tuesday by Southwest Research and Extension Center Director Vic Ford.

Sahara was on a 50-mile training toss when she became lost. She had been missing for seven days.

Harvest pushed back even further for local farmers as the rain is steady. Most hope to get back in the fields to finish up Monday.

During the first two weeks of operations for the Arkansas Scholarhip Lottery, a total of --- Southwest Arkansas retailers participated in the rollout of more than half-a-million in ticket sales, making some $25,650 in commissions on those sales across the eight-county region.

Reports from key participants for how things progressed in the first ever school flu shot clinic were good.

Lotto lovers in Southwest Arkansas accounted for more than half-a-million dollars of the $19 million generated by the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery in its first two weeks of operations.
Gamers from the eight counties in Southwest Arkansas spent $513,000 on lottery tickets during that two week period, or roughly $36,000 per day, seven days a week.

Nobody really liked it, but everybody wanted it, as more than a dozen attorneys, businessmen, mayors, and area residents told the chairman, and a native son of Hope who now serves as a public utilities commissioner for the state Thursday night that AEP/Southwestern Electric Power Co. needs a proposed general rate increase.

Eleven of 13 members of the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission sided with AEP/Southwestern Electric Power Co. on Friday in keeping more than 900 workers on the job at the John W. Turk, Jr., Power Plant under construction near Fulton.

About two dozen people stood in line at Haile's Exxon in Heber Springs, Ark., just after 12 a.m. Monday, Sept. 28, 2009, in order to take part in the state's first lottery. The first person in line, Karen Hargis of Heber Springs bought $5 worth of instant tickets, but did not win.

As with any gambling activity, whether it be horse races, dog races, casinos, or the lottery, players are encouraged to be wise about their spending and to play responsibly.

Arkansas will launch its state-run lottery Monday, with $50 million dollars worth of scratch-off tickets going on sale around the state. Those who buy tickets could win as much as $100,000, and part of the proceeds from ticket sales will fund college scholarships.