Stories by Amy Upshaw

  • Church: School behind on taxes

    The Cathedral School in Little Rock owes the federal government more than $100,000 in back payroll taxes and has depended solely on one donor to cover hundreds…

  • Showers strike as rivers recede

    Rain continued to fall across parts of Arkansas and the South on Monday, and emergency officials are closely watching the ebb and flow of already swollen river…

  • Just as flood ebbs - rain

    Rain expected to pound pockets of the South over the next several days caused fresh concern Friday about flooding just as many Arkansans were trying to clean u…

  • Blytheville hit for $2 million loop by IRS

    Blytheville is trying to figure out why it owes the Internal Revenue Service more than $2 million in back payroll taxes, city officials said Wednesday.

  • Director sought for film festival in Hot Springs

    The board that oversees the annual Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival is searching for a new executive director after laying off the former director along w…

  • Delta awaiting river’s crest

    As some towns in Arkansas and Tennessee tried Wednesday to emerge from weeks of worry and water, others in the Delta were still fending off floodwaters.

  • Memphis levees thwart river

    Memphis residents were breathing sighs of relief Tuesday because the levees along the Mississippi River held off one of the highest crests on record there at 4…

  • I-40 eastbound to Memphis reopens

    Floodwaters receded enough to reopen the eastbound lanes of Interstate 40 on Monday, reconnecting the main thoroughfare from Little Rock to Memphis as its resi…

  • Flooding alters I-40 detours

    As the water in the Mississippi River continues to rise toward predicted historic levels, comparisons with the great flood of 1927 have become inevitable.

  • Rising water closes I-40

    With stretches of the Mississippi River forecast to reach historic highs, cities and towns along its banks and tributaries in Arkansas are preparing for some o…

  • Arkansans flee cresting rivers, fatigued levees

    Rivers in Arkansas engorged from rain are breaking decades-old records, some of which were set before the state created a system of dams and reservoirs to cont…

  • Missing Scouts rescued

    Just after midnight Tuesday, a crew from the Arkansas Army National Guard spotted twinkling flashlights from the cockpit of their helicopter.

  • State parks close amid flooding

    Flooded roads and campgrounds triggered the closure of several state parks, day-use areas and U.S. Army Corps of Engineer spots across Arkansas this week.

  • Boy Scouts missing near flooded camp

    Searchers hunted for a missing Boy Scout troop camping near a flood-prone area of the Ouachita Forest where 20 people died last summer, as rain continued to fa…

  • Storms return, take fewer hits

    Arkansans hunkered down once again Tuesday as a strong line of storms packing high winds, heavy rain and large hail tore through much of the state just a day a…

  • Storms maul state, kill 5

    Hours of storms packed with violent winds spun off tornadoes and drenched cities across Arkansas, killing at least five people Monday.

  • Patient left in van led to firing

    A driver for the Booneville Human Development Center was fired earlier this month after leaving a profoundly mentally retarded woman with a history of pica alo…

  • Widow in police shootout sues

    The widow of a man who died along with his son in a shootout after the killings of two West Memphis police officers last year has filed suit against the Police…

  • LOST PARADISE: Land buyers left empty-handed

    HARDY - For two decades, people in this northcentral Arkansas town saw Wayne Watkins as a visionary who created resort developments along the scenic Spring Riv…

  • State set to sue over land deals, McDaniel says

    Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said Monday that he plans to file a lawsuit on behalf of consumers against Sharp County developer Wayne Watkins, whose conduct…

  • Snowfall clobbers Arkansas

    Snow once again blanketed the state Wednesday, piling to an unexpected 20-plus inches in the northwest corner and forcing the closure of schools and businesses…

  • Snow pops in, makes a mess

    Yet another round of winter weather marched across Arkansas and several other Southern states Friday, triggering more school closures, canceled flights and sna…

  • $1.2 million set aside for legal costs

    A board that oversees the state’s human development centers agreed Wednesday to set aside another $1.2 million to cover legal expenses related to pending and f…

  • Conway center will shift kids, care out

    Under a plan adopted Wednesday, the state will move 50 children living at the Conway Human Development Center to private institutions that focus solely on cari…

  • Ex-trooper to appeal firing

    An Arkansas State Police trooper facing a manslaughter charge has been fired, but he has asked the State Police Commission to reinstate him, agency spokesman B…

  • U.S. suit filed over 5 centers is tossed

    A federal judge Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit against five of the state’s human development centers that alleged that they violated the Americans With Disabiliti…

  • 2010 droughts sparked state forest-fire flare-up

    The Arkansas Forestry Commission responded to more fires in 2010 than it did in the previous two years combined, an increase officials blame on unusually dry a…

  • Fatal-flood site’s status vexes Ross

    Congressman Mike Ross says the U.S. Forest Service has been frustratingly slow in its efforts to clean up the Albert Pike Recreation Area and decide what parts…

  • State suspends care facility’s license

    The Arkansas Department of Human Services suspended the license of a Morrilton residential facility for mentally disabled people this week after its staff fail…

  • Storm makes traveling I-30 frozen misery

    Though snow had stopped falling by Monday morning, Arkansas’ first winter storm of the year continued to plague motorists stranded on Interstate 30, and meteor…

  • Agency expands rehab services

    The Department of Human Services is piloting a $13 million program that will offer services to thousands of substance abusers who would not otherwise get the h…

  • Prosecutors ready 3rd trial in ’05 slaying

    Prosecutors will begin a third attempt this week to convict someone in the killing of Russellville college student Nona Dirksmeyer, 19, who was beaten to death…

  • Old-killing report spurs PB search

    Pine Bluff police say they are investigating new leads in the 2002 disappearance of a prostitute after a woman told them that her now-dead ex-husband admitted …

  • Youth lockups’ redo advances

    Several new classrooms and dorms at the state’s six youth-detention centers are nearing completion, marking the latest milestone in Arkansas’ effort to revamp …

  • 46 now out of Alexander center

    Seven months after the state decided to begin closing the Alexander Human Development Center, a third of the men living there have moved to other programs for …

  • Suspect in killing eludes lawmen

    More than a year has passed since a DNA test confirmed that a set of long unidentified human remains belonged to a missing 12-yearold girl from Little Rock.

  • Agency raising care bar at units

    As the state works to close one of its human development centers and waits to hear from a federal judge on the fate of another, officials are making plans to i…

  • Firm settles patient-death suit

    A lawsuit filed after a 19-year-old State Hospital patient who was allergic to shrimp died from eating the shellfish has been settled, the company that handles…

  • McDaniel sues closed adoption agency

    The state attorney general’s office filed a consumer protection lawsuit Thursday against a now-defunct adoption agency, accusing it of taking thousands of doll…

  • Hot Springs police hunt for teen missing 25 years

    Search teams with cadaver dogs combed three wooded areas in Hot Springs for six hours Tuesday, hoping to find remains or clues in the 25-year-old disappearance…

  • Forced into sex, 2 state in report

    A report released Tuesday detailing the investigation into the 2009 rape and sex-abuse allegations against a Department of Human Services employee says he was …

  • Swept Away - Part 3: Dawn reveals magnitude of loss

    Reuben and Kathryn Cleveland strained to keep their heads above water as the Little Missouri River gushed into their 1985 Toyota motor home parked at the feder…

Upcoming Events