Stories by Alison Sider

  • Funds for insurance exchange accepted

    The Arkansas Legislative Council voted Friday to let the state Insurance Department use a $7.67 million federal grant to build the Arkansas-operated portions o…

    by Alison Sider April 21, 2012

  • Ticketmaster breaking law, court says

    The State Supreme Court said Thursday that Ticketmaster is violating the state’s ticket-scalping law by charging more than the box-office price for event ticke…

    by Alison Sider April 20, 2012

  • Beebe: China trip produced two prospects

    Gov. Mike Beebe said Wednesday that two of the companies he met with on his trade mission to China are close to making decisions about whether to come to Arkan…

    by Alison Sider April 19, 2012

  • PSC’s utility-incentive system upheld

    The Arkansas Court of Appeals said Wednesday that the Arkansas Public Service Commission can award financial incentives to electric and gas utilities that deli…

    by Alison Sider April 19, 2012

  • Court affirms conviction in ’10 killing

    Robert Ryan Sipe woke up in the early morning hours of Feb. 12, 2010, to the sound of his four-wheeler ATV being started and the engine revving.

    by Alison Sider April 19, 2012

  • GOP hopefuls for Congress out-raise foes

    Fourth Congressional District Republican candidate Tom Cotton continued his fund raising blitz in the first quarter of the year, raising the largest amount of …

    by Alison Sider , Sarah D. Wire April 17, 2012

  • 3 taking on Crawford for District 1 seat

    Three Democratic candidates are hoping that voters in the 1st Congressional District will unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford in the November election.

    by Alison Sider April 16, 2012

  • March court-fund collections rise

    The state’s Administration of Justice Fund took in more money in March than in the same month last year, a cause for cautious optimism among some state officia…

    by Alison Sider April 14, 2012

  • Mineral rights’ denial to landowners upheld

    The state Supreme Court upheld a circuit court’s order finding that mineral rights held back from a 1934 deed included oil and gas and so rightfully belong to …

    by Alison Sider April 13, 2012

  • Panels told courts taking online steps

    Lawmakers heard Wednesday about the court system’s progress toward doing more of its business online, an effort that has been under way for more than a decade.

    by Alison Sider April 12, 2012

  • Beebe’s view rosy on China trip

    Gov. Mike Beebe said Tuesday that he is optimistic that his trip to China will soon result in investments in the state, but could not yet discuss details of an…

    by Alison Sider April 11, 2012

  • State to utilities: No risk to share

    Attorneys for the state argued before the Public Service Commission on Tuesday that ratepayers should not have to agree to protect utility companies from harm …

    by Alison Sider April 11, 2012

  • Latanich refigures staff after all depart

    Last week Gary Latanich, a Democratic candidate for the 1st Congressional District seat, and his entire campaign staff parted ways, citing disagreements over h…

    by Alison Sider April 6, 2012

  • Private-club alcohol license in dry county upheld

    The state Court of Appeals agreed Wednesday with a restaurant owner’s argument that though his establishment is in a dry county, it should qualify for a privat…

    by Alison Sider April 5, 2012

  • Beebe: Won’t vote to increase gas tax

    After initially suggesting he would favor an increase in the severance tax, Gov. Mike Beebe now says he probably won’t vote for it should it appear on the ball…

    by Alison Sider April 4, 2012

  • Restriction on teacher-pupil sex tossed out

    The state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 Thursday that a law making it a crime for high school teachers to have sexual relationships with adult students unconstitutio…

    by Alison Sider March 30, 2012

  • Justices: Library tax case in wrong court

    The state Supreme Court dismissed the Eureka Springs Carnegie Library’s challenge to Carroll County’s tax collections Thursday, ruling that the library should …

    by Alison Sider March 30, 2012

  • DNA tests’ handling muddied case, justices told

    An attorney representing a man convicted of two 1997 murders argued before the state Supreme Court on Thursday that the state withheld evidence regarding misha…

    by Alison Sider March 30, 2012

  • Foe criticizes tax credits of state legislator

    State Rep. Clark Hall has illegally claimed two homestead tax credits since 2004 for properties that are in his wife’s name, the campaign of an opponent in the…

    by Alison Sider March 27, 2012

  • State officials hash out health-care pay tweaks

    Arkansas Surgeon General Joe Thompson, along with other state officials, met with health-care providers Monday to discuss the state’s plan to begin overhauling…

    by Alison Sider March 27, 2012

  • Pryor sure of pipeline passage

    Sen. Mark Pryor said the Keystone XL pipeline has been bogged down in politics, but he expects it will be approved after the November presidential election.

    by Alison Sider March 20, 2012

  • Court uses its rulings to extend authority

    When the state Supreme Court this year overturned a portion of the 2003 tortoverhaul law that regulated expert medical testimony, its decision was based in par…

    by Alison Sider March 18, 2012

  • Library argues tax-cash division faulty

    An attorney for Carnegie Public Library in Eureka Springs argued before the state Supreme Court on Thursday that Carroll County is not correctly distributing t…

    by Alison Sider March 17, 2012

  • On a judicial-campaign evaluator, doubts arise

    Lawyers and judges who have been working on developing a way in which a panel could be started to evaluate complaints about the campaign practices of judicial …

    by Alison Sider March 15, 2012

  • Tax idea for ballot has sides lining up

    Though it hasn’t been assured a spot on the ballot in November, battle lines are being drawn over a proposal to raise the state’s severance tax on natural gas.

    by Alison Sider March 11, 2012

  • Night search bad but OK, justices rule

    A nighttime search that resulted in a couple being arrested regarding the cooking of methamphetamine in their trailer was not legal, but the evidence it turned…

    by Alison Sider March 9, 2012

  • Budget awaits capping vote

    Both chambers of the Arkansas Legislature have approved a version of the fiscal-2013 state budget, the main reason lawmakers are at the Capitol, but legislativ…

    by Alison Sider , Sarah D. Wire March 2, 2012

  • Death-row inmate loses appeal

    A man sentenced to death for a 2005 murder got no relief Thursday from the state Supreme Court in his contention that his trial attorney was ineffective.

    by Alison Sider , ALISON SIDER ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE March 2, 2012

  • Trucker tax-break bill stalls in Senate

    Efforts to get the Arkansas Senate to allow introduction of a bill to repeal a sales-tax exemption on big trucks failed Wednesday, prompting the House to vote …

    by Alison Sider , Sarah D. Wire March 1, 2012

  • Panel reassured on overpayments

    Administrators at the state Department of Workforce Services told lawmakers that they are working to increase the number of overpayments the department detects…

    by Alison Sider February 29, 2012

  • Truckers’ tax break survives repeal bid

    The state Senate did not vote Monday on a resolution that would have allowed the Legislature to consider a bill to repeal a sales tax exemption for truckers se…

    by Alison Sider , Sarah D. Wire February 28, 2012

  • Lawmakers’ budget looks like Beebe’s

    After days of wrangling over ways to trim the state’s proposed budget, lawmakers on Friday presented a Revenue Stabilization Bill that is nearly identical to t…

    by Alison Sider February 25, 2012

  • Auditors: Jobless aid paid properly

    The state Legislative Audit Division said there was nothing “inappropriate” about how the Department of Workforce Services is making unemployment insurance pay…

    by Alison Sider February 25, 2012

  • Court filing rules altered

    The state Supreme Court made two changes to the rules governing civil procedures in Arkansas, both intended to address a shortfall in the state’s Administratio…

    by Alison Sider February 25, 2012

  • ’11 court collections fall 10%

    The state’s Administration of Justice Fund reached the brink of a crisis mainly because fewer court cases were filed, and fewer fines and costs were collected,…

    by Alison Sider February 25, 2012

  • 3 lawyers rebuked, 1 license suspended

    The state Supreme Court’s Committee on Professional Conduct released disciplinary actions against three lawyers Thursday, including one whose license will be s…

    by Alison Sider February 25, 2012

  • Votes hatch bills offering Beebe budget

    Arkansas lawmakers cleared a big hurdle Thursday after two weeks of budget debate by voting to create bills containing the governor’s fiscal-2013 $4.72 billion…

    by Alison Sider , Sarah D. Wire February 24, 2012

  • Settlement money to pay court assistants

    Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel will contribute $450,000 from past settlements to help pay the salaries of trial-court assistants who have faced furl…

    by Alison Sider February 17, 2012

  • Justices: Release officer’s reports

    The state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Little Rock Police Department has to release the reports a police officer wrote about incidents when he used fo…

    by Alison Sider February 17, 2012

  • Speaker lists primary home outside district

    The speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives lists his primary residence as a home in Little Rock on Pulaski County tax records, though he represents a…

    by Alison Sider February 16, 2012

  • After audit, forester resigns

    State Forester John Shannon announced his resignation Friday, after lawmakers reviewed an audit that found he allowed practices that resulted in a $4 million s…

    by Alison Sider February 11, 2012

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