Keisha McKinney with Governor Asa Huthinson at the awards banquet of the Governor's Conference on Tourism tonight in Ft Smith. The Sevier County Tourism Committee has been nominated for the Bootstrap Award.
Keisha McKinney talks about the Importance of the Sevier County Tourism Committee's nomination for a statewide award.
By law, Fiscal Sessions can only last 30 days (45 days with a ¾ vote to extend), so members work weeks in advance drafting appropriation measures in order to ensure our sessions are brief.
That preparation begins in budget hearings. Beginning Wednesday, March 4, 2020, the Joint Budget Committee will hold a series of meetings designed to begin the process of outlining a budget for the next fiscal year. The Fiscal Session begins Wednesday, April 8, 2020, at 12:00 noon.
Budget hearings will begin with the Department of Finance and Administration presenting its annual forecast and recommendations for a balanced budget by the Governor.
Over the course of the next several days, the committee will hear budget requests for Higher Education Institutions, Department of Education, the Department of Human Services, Department of Health, Department of Corrections and the Department of Public Safety, commonly referred to as the “Big 6”.
In the following weeks, members will review budgets for all state boards, commissions, and agencies.
Seven months into this fiscal year, general revenue is now $149.7 million or 4.4% above this time last year. The most recent general revenue report showed net available revenue is above forecast by $94.2 million or 2.7 percent. This report and revenue forecast from economists will help us guide our decision making process in the months ahead.
Although legislation during the Regular Sessions typically attracts more attention, it is important to remember the impact our budget making process has on our day to day lives.
The decisions we will be making show the priorities we make as a state. Appropriations fund everything from classrooms to health care.
Members can begin filing appropriation bills and identical resolutions on Monday, March 9, 2020. As a reminder, the legislature cannot take up any non-appropriation bills during the Fiscal Session unless 2/3 of the body votes in favor of a resolution.
You can watch the meetings live at www.arkansashouse.org.
WHAT: 52nd Annual Jonquil Festival
WHERE: Historic Washington State Park –Washington, AR
WHEN: March 20-22, 2020
ADMISSION: Festival is Free, $5 Parking Fee, Tours as regular prices.
Sheila Little, Sales & Promotions Director
Office Phone: 870-983-2660
Email: sheila.little@arkansas.gov
Jonquils are in bloom at Historic Washington State Park and a tremendous line-up of Entertainment and fun await those who will be visiting the park on March 20th through 22nd for the 52nd Annual Jonquil Festival.
In addition to our crafters and food concessions, festivities will include the Four States Iron Munchers, 5K run, and singing competition.
The Washington Volunteer Fire Department will be having a Burger Fundraiser Saturday beginning at 11:30am under the Farmer’s Market pavilion. There will also be a free concert featuring Dillan Cate, a country/rock artist from Northeast Arkansas beginning at 11:30am under large green and yellow entertainment tent.
If I could mention only one thing that makes our festival stand out from all other festivals it would be the "Atmosphere". Strolling the board walks, watching children play in the jonquils, picnicking on festival food or enjoying music under the entertainment tent, there is something for every family member to enjoy. After shopping and enjoying a great meal, you will want to experience history in the 19th century by touring locations such as the Weapons Museum, the Print Museum, and the Blacksmith Shop, famed home of the Bowie Knife!
Williams Tavern Restaurant will be open serving its delectable buffet all three days from 11am – 3pm.
Fiesta Fest will be held on Saturday, May 2, 2020, on North 3rd Street of the courthouse in Downtown De Queen from 11:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. The festival’s focus is bringing the community together to celebrate all the cultures of Southwest Arkansas while raising scholarship money for UA Cossatot students.
Festivities will include food, vendors, live music, a DJ, folkloric dancing, carnival rides, games, face painting, shopping, a petting zoo, and a mariachi.
The UA Cossatot Student Ambassadors will host the De Kolores 5k run before the festival at 8:00 A.M. in the same location. The entry fee is $20 and t-shirts are guaranteed to pre-registration participants. Registration forms can be found at www.cccua.edu/ff5k. Completed forms can be mailed to Ben Renfrow C/O UA Cossatot 183 College Drive De Queen, AR 71832.
Sponsors and vendors are wanted for Fiesta Fest. Sponsorship and vendor forms can be found online at www.cccua.edu/ff or by contacting Dustin Roberts at droberts@cccua.edu or 870-584-1172.
Early voting for the Arkansas Preferential Primary and Nonpartisan General Election began this week. It will continue up until the date of the election, Tuesday, March 3.
Although many of the headlines focus on the Presidential race, it’s important to remember the other significant elections on your March ballot including legislators and judges.
Non-partisan elections for judicial candidates and prosecutors are held at the same time as Democratic and Republican primaries. If no candidate wins a majority in the non-partisan races, the two candidates with the most votes participate in a runoff. If a runoff is required, it takes place on the same day as the general election for partisan races, and runoff candidates appear on the general election ballot.
Arkansas is one of thirteen states that choose their state supreme court justices in entirely nonpartisan elections and one of eighteen states that select judges through nonpartisan elections at all trial court levels.
The polls are open between the hours of 8:00 am and 6:00 pm, Monday through Friday, and 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on Saturday. Early voting ends at 5:00 pm on the Monday before the election. The polls on Election Day will be open from 7:30 am until 7:30 pm. Once at the polls, you will be asked to show a photo ID issued by either the United States, the State of Arkansas, or an accredited postsecondary educational institution in the State of Arkansas.
In most counties, early voting is conducted at the county clerk’s office. In counties with off-site early voting (a location other than the county clerk’s office), local newspapers will publish the designated sites. You can also find your polling location and a sample ballot at www.voterview.org.
Remember, every vote counts!
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The Colts Classic FFA competition at UA Cossatot - De Queen was last Friday.
Results from the contest are:
Ag Mechanics
1. Fouke
2. Acorn
3. Hackett
Electricity
1. Bradley
2. Harmony Grove
3. Hermitage
Farm Business Management
1. Taylor
2. Mount Ida
3. Lake Hamilton
Floriculture
1. Dover
2. Bradley
3. Hackett
Forestry
1. Harmony Grove
2. Taylor
3. Hermitage
Horse
1. Foreman
2. Rosebud
3. Mount Ida
Land Judging
1. Dierks
2. Taylor
3. Foreman
Milk Quality & Products
1. Ouachita
2. Taylor
3. Waldron
Nursery & Landscape
1. Dover
2. Mena
3. Bradley
Poultry
1. Murfreesboro
2. Siloam Springs
3. De Queen
Veterinary Science
1. Cedar Ridge
2. Siloam Springs
3. Genoa Central
Early voting for March 3 Primary begins today
For the complete story visit:
https://www.dequeenbee.com/…/article_7bd3329c-5267-11ea-8b0…
dequeenbee.com | The primary source of local news for De Queen and Sevier County
While admittedly not the most exciting member of the De Queen/Sevier County Chamber of Commerce. CTS Services of Benton - with a location in Lockesburg - provides a service that while seemingly mundane to ordinary folks, is vital and sometimes critical to the business that they service.
The ninth annual Colts Classic Career Development Event took place at UA Cossatot in De Queen on Friday, February 14, 2020, where over 700 high school students traveled to the college to compete in agricultural competitions. Thirty-four schools across Arkansas and one from Missouri participated in this event to promote the study of careers in agriculture.
At 8:30 A.M., schools began checking-in and then made way to the UA Cossatot Amphitheater. UA Cossatot Chancellor, Dr. Steve Cole, and UA Cossatot Agriculture Instructor, Kelli Harris, welcomed the students before they dispersed into different locations for the contests.
Students competed in many different contest areas, including agricultural mechanics, dairy foods, electricity, farm business management, floriculture, forestry, land, horse judging, poultry judging, vet science, and nursery and landscape.
The UA Cossatot Colts Classic is an annual event organized and hosted by the UA Cossatot Collegiate FFA and the students competing in the contests are high school FFA members. This event gives high school students the chance to learn about careers in agriculture and develop skills to be successful in these careers
Suicide is a serious national public health issue that affects communities everywhere. When looking at the data on veteran suicide, however, we see that veterans are 1.5 times more likely to die by suicide than non-veterans. In 2017, Arkansas had the 9th worst veteran suicide rate in the country, with 20.8 suicides per 100,000 people.
There is currently an extensive study being conducted to address the issue of veteran suicide in Arkansas called the Arkansas Legislative Study on Veteran Affairs. The study came about as a result of the passage of Act 551, which requires the House Committee on Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs and the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs to examine risk factors for suicide in veterans, options for preventing or reducing the occurrence of suicide among the veteran population, and mental health care available to veterans within the state.
Research shows that there is a lower increase in the suicide rate among veterans in Veterans Health Administration (VHA) care than among veterans who are not in VHA care. The problem is that veterans are not automatically enrolled in VHA care, so it may be difficult to get those who are struggling the help they need. By connecting them with veterans’ healthcare services and other resources, legislators hope to see the number of veteran suicides decrease.
The committees have met in various locations across the state to study the issue. They will meet next at the Heritage Church in Van Buren on February 24 at 1:30pm.
During a joint committee meeting held in October in El Dorado, Mandy Thomas, Injury and Violence Prevention, Section Chief, Department of Health shared some interesting data on suicide prevention efforts in Arkansas. According to data collected from the period between January 1, 2019, and September 30, 2019, 23% of calls initiated to the Arkansas Lifeline Call Center by an Arkansas area code pressed #1 for the Veteran Crisis Line. The top five resources provided to callers include: Community Mental Health Centers, VA Crisis Line, AR Department of Veteran’s Affairs, National Domestic Abuse Hotline, and National Alcoholics Anonymous Hotline.
The Arkansas Lifeline Call Center, which is open through the Arkansas Department of Health, is open to use for anyone. The center answers calls made in Arkansas to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
Veterans can access the Veteran Crisis Line by calling the national line at 1-800-273-8255 and pressing 1. Anyone can also text the crisis line by sending TALK to 741741, or chat online at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/chat/ .
Lifeline Chat
Lifeline Chat is a service of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, connecting individuals with counselors for emotional support and other services via web chat. All chat centers in the Lifeline network are accredited by CONTACT USA. Lifeline Chat is available 24/7 across the U.S.
Arkansas based AMS Global & Norwegian based Jets AS held their 1st Annual North American Training Seminar on the Campus of UA Cossatot in De Queen on February 12th & 13th of this year. Attendees were giving theoretical and hands on training on Vacuum Sanitation Technology during the event.
There were 27 total people attending the event from 10 States including Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, California, Arizona, New York & Michigan as well as attendees from 2 other countries including representatives from the Province of Quebec in Canada and Norway.
AMS Global Representative Clint Nelson indicated he is “Extremely Grateful” for the hospitality shown by UAC’s Dr. Steve Cole and Tammy Coleman for helping to make the event a success. The “UAC Facilities were outstanding and all attendees were very complimentary of them” said Nelson.
Norwegian based Jets AS is the world leader in pioneering eco-efficient technology with a distribution network that spans the globe. AMS Global, in De Queen, is the proud, land based, North American Distributor for Jets AS.
A pilot program focusing on rural economic development in six rural Arkansas counties is surveying employees to learn more about job training and experiences that can bolster businesses in the retail, tourism, entertainment and accommodations industries.
Create Bridges, a multi-state program to help communities strengthen their retail, tourism, accommodations, and entertainment sectors, which in turn provide jobs and business opportunities that can boost rural economies, is seeking survey participants. In Arkansas, the efforts are organized by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Community, Professional and Economic Development unit.
The program was established in October 2018 in two regions in Arkansas. The 3Cs Region includes Howard, Little River and Sevier counties, while the Ozark Foothills Region is made up of Fulton, Izard and Sharp counties.
In 2019, Create Bridges held forums in several counties throughout the state to gather information about community assets in the retail, tourism, entertainment and accommodations industries. They also interviewed business owners to learn about the opportunities, benefits and challenges of operating a business in rural Arkansas.
Now, the project is focusing on gathering employee insight, asking survey participants about their current skills, areas in which they want to improve, and training available to them. The survey also asks about the types of benefits employees appreciate in their jobs, such as flexible scheduling, training opportunities, childcare assistance and insurance. Finally, the survey asked participants about the factors affecting their ability to work, including limited transportation options, housing availability, and child or elder care access.
Employees in the six program counties can access the survey at http://bit.ly/CBEmployeeSurvey. The survey is anonymous and takes about 15 minutes to complete. Results will be used to create strategies to support these businesses including workforce training.
Julianne Dunn, economic development instructor for the Division of Agriculture’s Cooperative Extension Service, encouraged employees to participate in the program.
“The employee perspective will be invaluable to identifying training and policy opportunities to promote the flourishing of these types of businesses,” Dunn said.
Talk Business & Politics - Daily Business & Political News for Arkansas
Talk Business & Politics is a news website that covers business, politics and culture across all the Arkansas regions. You can also sign up for daily e-mail news delivered every morning to your inbox.
Create Bridges — an acronym for Celebrating Retail, Accommodations, Tourism, and Entertainment by Building Rural Innovations and Developing Growth Economies — has already held community forums and a retail academy for regional leaders.
LITTLE ROCK — Fort Smith Southside, Russellville, De Queen, Arkadelphia, Mountain View, Haas Hall-Fayetteville and Norfork top their divisions, from 7A to 1A, respectively, in a mid-season poll of participating Arkansas Governor’s Quiz Bowl Association (AGQBA) coaches.
The poll was administered by Arkansas Friends of Quiz Bowl, a nonprofit organization comprised of alumni, coaches and others who support quiz bowl in Arkansas by, among other things, funding annual scholarships for quiz bowl players.
Polls were taken in January in which all AGQBA coaches were asked to rank their opponents by division, as determined by their classification in the Arkansas Activities Association (AAA). Weighted points were assigned to higher rankings. A composite score was generated from those weighted points to determine the highest ranking teams in each division.
A similar poll conducted in September prior to the beginning of the academic year’s competitions had Conway, Russellville, De Queen, Arkadelphia, Centerpoint, Haas Hall-Fayetteville and Haas Hall-Rogers as the top ranked teams in each division from 7A to 1A, respectively.
Quiz bowl is an academic competition governed by the AGQBA under the administration of the AAA. During games, players answer questions on a variety of academic topics such as literature, art, music, history, science and math to earn points.
Games are structured such that teams must rely on the individual knowledge of each player to answer most questions but are allowed to work collaboratively on others. State championships will be played in April and broadcast live on the Arkansas Educational Television Network.
5A
De Queen
Morrilton
Huntsville
White Hall
Little Rock Christian
dequeenbee.com | The primary source of local news for De Queen and Sevier County
While admittedly not the most exciting member of the De Queen/Sevier County Chamber of Commerce. CTS Services of Benton - with a location in Lockesburg - provides a service that while seemingly mundane to ordinary folks, is vital and sometimes critical to the business that they service.
For more details visit: https://www.dequeenbee.com/…/article_445e5776-4dd3-11ea-9a9…
MAGNOLIA – Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced the appointment of Gary L. Golden of De Queen to the Board of Trustees of Southern Arkansas University.
Golden replaces David Nelson on the board. Golden is vice chair and chief executive officer of First State Bank of De Queen. Golden attended SAU from 1968 to 1970. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the SAU Foundation.
The complete story can be found online at https://www.dequeenbee.com
Gary L. Golden, CEO of First State Bank of De Queen, was sworn in as a new member of the Board of Trustees of Southern Arkansas University on Jan. 29, by District Judge Manya Woods.
Bee photo/Cindy Evans
The National Weather Service predicts a wet start to the week!
Want more money for Roads, Libraries, Schools, Employment, Healthcare, etc? Make sure to #BECOUNTED You can fill out the 10 minute questionnaire by phone, mail, or internet.
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¿Quiere más dinero para carreteras, bibliotecas, escuelas, empleo, atención médica, etc.? Asegúrese de ser contado #BECOUNTED. Puede llenar el cuestionario de 10 minutos por teléfono, correo o por internet.
The 2020 Census is coming! March 12-April 30, 2020. Get involved and help make sure we count EVERYONE living in Sevier County. The 10 minute questionnaire will impact the next 10 years! The 2020 Census is IMPORTANT, SAFE and Easy!
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¡Se acerca el Censo 2020! Del 12 de marzo al 30 de abril de 2020. Participe y ayude a asegurarse de contar a TODOS los que viven en el Condado de Sevier. ¡El cuestionario de 10 minutos tendrá un impacto en los próximos 10 años! ¡El Censo 2020 es IMPORTANTE, SEGURO y Fácil!
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States, and 1 in 4 deaths are caused by heart disease each year. In 2017 in Arkansas, a total of 8,270 people died of heart disease.
February is American Heart Month. Its purpose is to promote the importance of heart health and increase awareness of the risk factors of heart disease.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, half of all Americans have at least one of the top three risk factors for heart disease-high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking. Other conditions and behaviors that affect your risk for heart disease include obesity, diabetes, physical inactivity, and unhealthy eating patterns.
Smoking, the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, is also one of the greatest risk factors for developing heart disease. Smoking damages the heart and blood vessels very quickly, but the damage is repaired quickly for most smokers who quit
In 2019, the General Assembly passed Act 580, which would have phased in an increase in the age a person must be to buy tobacco products like cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, and vaping products that contain nicotine. However, a new federal law signed by President Trump supersedes the 2019 state law, and as of December 27, 2019, the nationwide minimum age to buy tobacco products has been raised to 21. With this law now in place at the federal level, we expect to see fewer teens begin smoking or vaping in the first place.
You can choose healthy habits to help prevent heart disease. Arkansans are encouraged to make healthy changes to lower their risk of developing heart disease such as controlling their cholesterol and blood pressure, living an active lifestyle, and eating healthy. If you don’t smoke, don’t start. If you smoke, know that quitting will lower your risk for heart disease. For free help to quit smoking, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW or go to smokefree.gov or cdc.gov/tips.
Home | Smokefree
Preparation is the first step to being smokefree. Boost your chances of success by making a quit plan.
The CREATE BRIDGES pilot project wants to hear about the experiences of retail, accommodations, tourism or entertainment employees in your community! Retail and hospitality sectors provide jobs and business opportunities that often drive rural economies. University Arkansas System Division of Agriculture is piloting CREATE BRIDGES, a program designed to strengthen these industries in Arkansas. As part of the pilot, CREATE BRIDGES is collecting the opinions and comments of retail, accommodations, tourism, and entertainment employees related to their preparation, training, and benefits in the industry. The following Arkansas counties are included: Howard, Little River, and Sevier. This anonymous survey takes less than 15 minutes: http://bit.ly/CBEmployeeSurvey. Please help us get the word out about this opportunity, as these employees’ feedback will be invaluable to identifying training and policy opportunities to promote the flourishing of these industries. If your business or community is having an event at which we can survey or you are interested in more information, please contact Julianne Dunn at 501-671-2158 or jbdunn@uaex.edu.
