Our Town

North Little Rock notebook

Library exhibiting blues art, photos

Blues music's roots in the Mississippi Delta are the focus of an exhibit that opened Friday in the second-floor gallery of the William F. Laman Public Library's main branch.

The exhibition, "A Cast of Blues," features 15 resin-cast masks of blues legends by Sharon McConnell-Dickerson, a visually impaired artist, and 15 color photographs selected from Ken Murphy's 2010 book Mississippi: State of Blues.

A 94-minute documentary from 2008, M for Mississippi: A Road Trip Through the Birthplace of the Blues, is also available to visitors to accompany the exhibit, according to a news release.

Exhibits at the library, at 2801 Orange St., are free and open to the public during the regular library hours of 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Saturday.

The exhibit is presented by ExhibitsUSA, a national arm of the Mid-America Arts Alliance, a nonprofit regional arts organization based in Kansas City, Mo.

More information on the exhibit is available by contacting the library at (501) 758-1720 or by visiting its website at lamanlibrary.org.

Hotel, eatery taxes' place to pay shifted

A change begins Monday for the payment of North Little Rock Advertising and Promotion taxes on hotel and motel room rentals and on restaurant meals within the city limits.

Payments are to be submitted directly to the Advertising and Promotion Commission starting with amounts due in February for the taxes collected during January. The tax payments had previously gone through the city clerk and treasurer's office at City Hall on behalf of the commission.

Payments and accompanying forms are to be mailed to the commission, P.O. Box 5511, North Little Rock, 72119, or delivered in person to the North Little Rock Visitors Center, 1 Eldor Johnson Drive, in Burns Park.

All hotels, motels and restaurants within North Little Rock's city limits are to collect either a hotel-motel tax or a restaurant tax, commonly called the "hamburger tax," and remit those taxes along with the required form each month, according to North Little Rock City Ordinance 4530.

The taxes fund city parks and the commission that promotes the city and oversees the operation of the North Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau.

More information is available by calling Robin Powell, special projects manager, at the Visitors Center at (501) 758-1424 or by emailing her at rpowell@northlittlerock.org.

Christmas Parade trophies awarded

Trophies for the city's annual Christmas Parade, held the first weekend in December, were distributed during the City Council meeting Monday to winners in 12 divisions.

The winner of the annual Mayor's Cup went to the "Nightmare Before Christmas" float by the Museum of Black Arkansans in Little Rock. The Chairman's Choice Award was presented to Ms. Karen's Dance Studio in North Little Rock.

Metro on 01/31/2016

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