Two state teachers take C-SPAN class
WASHINGTON -- Two Arkansas teachers spent time at C-SPAN's offices overlooking Capitol Hill last week, learning to use the organization's video and online resources at their schools.
Shelina Warren of Pine Bluff and Cherese Smith of Ozark were selected to participate in the two-day program; C-SPAN paid for the trip.
Warren works with her district's gifted students; Smith teaches social studies at Ozark Junior High School.
"The educators' conference provides an opportunity for teachers to discover creative strategies to integrate C-SPAN programming into classroom activities," said Craig McAndrew, the C-SPAN's manager of education relations.
Warren said C-SPAN's educational tools are helpful and easy to access.
"It's all about social studies, bringing in videos, bringing in lesson plans, bringing in opportunities for learning for the students and it's housed all in one area. And all you have to do is click on it," she said.
"I can't wait to start using that in my classroom now," she added.
Smith said the program will benefit her eighth-grade students.
"I'm learning lots of ways that I can bring C-SPAN into the classroom and even their mobile devices, so hopefully they can be connected to learning about government and politics," she said.
With C-SPAN, students will have access to "real-time, up-to-date information that they can get even outside of the classroom day," Smith said. "Hopefully, it will encourage them to vote in the future."
Kid brother on way for Cotton firstborn
U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton and his wife, Anna, are expecting another child.
The due date is in December.
The Republican from Dardanelle made the announcement Tuesday morning on Twitter.
The "Breaking News" Tweet showed Cotton's firstborn, 14-month-old Gabriel, with a sign that says: "I'm Getting a Little Brother for Christmas This Year."
"We're very excited, very blessed to be having another boy," Cotton said Wednesday.
No name has been selected.
Educator gets time in nation's library
The Library of Congress selected a Van Buren educator to participate in its Teaching with Primary Sources Summer Teacher Institute.
Ashleigh Gillespie, who teaches at Butterfield Trail Middle School, spent last week at the library, which sits on Capitol Hill next door to the U.S. Supreme Court building.
Gillespie and the other participants worked with "education specialists and subject-matter experts to learn effective practices for using primary sources in the classroom, while exploring some of the millions of digitized historical artifacts and documents available on the Library's website," officials said in a news release announcing Gillespie's selection.
Only a fraction of the 300 people who applied were selected.
On her Twitter page, Gillespie posted a picture of her new Library of Congress card. She can visit as much as she likes; it doesn't expire until July 2018.
She says the experience was wonderful, adding: "I can't wait to bring my learning on primary sources back to [Butterfield Trail Middle School] teachers and my classroom."
Family joins ralliers to save environment
A Fayetteville family rallied Wednesday morning on Capitol Hill, joining other activists concerned about pollution and global warming.
The Moms Clean Air Force event drew families from all 50 states, organizers say.
Melissa Terry, a graduate student at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, made sure that the Natural State was represented. She was joined by her husband, Flint Richter, and her two daughters.
This was the first trip to Washington for 10-year-old Luna and 8-year-old Heidi.
"Our goal is to leave our children a healthy climate," Terry said.
Her family is serious about environmental matters. They live on a 9.5-acre farm in south Fayetteville where they grow "naturally raised" hay and Cascade hops, an ingredient brewers rely on. They're currently working to obtain organic certification.
They've also harnessed the power of the sun to provide electricity. "We have enough solar panels to produce all the power we need," she said.
After the rally, Terry headed for meetings with U.S. Sen. John Boozman and with a staff member for U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton.
The rest of the family headed for the museums. "They had a full list of what they're going to try to achieve this afternoon. They're having a great time," she said.
Boozman pushing for rural broadband
U.S. Sen. John Boozman was on hand Tuesday for the establishment of the Senate Broadband Caucus, joining four of his colleagues for the announcement.
And on Monday, he signed a letter telling Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, that "the expansion of rural broadband should be a top priority of federal and state policymakers."
At Tuesday's news conference, he said broadband access is essential for communities across America. "If you don't have that ability, you simply are not going to have [a healthy] economy, the area's not going to thrive, because that's become such an integral part of our society," he said.
Officials with the Ozarks Electric Cooperative, who were visiting Washington last week, stopped by for the announcement.
The cooperative, with headquarters in Fayetteville, recently set up a subsidiary, OzarksGo, to provide high-speed, fiber-optic broadband Internet service to its roughly 70,000 customers.
Randy Klindt, OzarksGo's general manager, said all of Arkansas deserves the type of access his customers will be receiving.
"I think it can be statewide. I think electric co-ops are a good tool to make that happen. We already serve a lot of the rural areas with rural infrastructure. We can make the service available," he added.
Planning to visit the nation's capital? Know something happening in Washington, D.C.? Please contact Frank Lockwood at (202) 662-7690 or flockwood@arkansasonline.com. Want the latest from the Democrat-Gazette's Washington bureau? It's available on Twitter @LockwoodFrank.
SundayMonday on 07/17/2016