Amy Upshaw
Stories by Amy
Church: School behind on taxes
posted: 05/27/2011 4:40 a.m. Discuss
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 of thousands of dollars in expenses, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral church officials said Thursday.
Vestry surprisingly votes to close Cathedral School
posted: 05/26/2011 3:36 a.m. Comments 6
After an unexpected vote, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral church officials announced Wednesday that they will close the Cathedral School in Little Rock on Friday after more than 54 years.
Showers strike as rivers recede
posted: 05/24/2011 4:41 a.m. Discuss
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 rivers.
Just as flood ebbs - rain
posted: 05/21/2011 3:28 a.m. Discuss
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 up from the previous deluge.
Blytheville hit for $2 million loop by IRS
posted: 05/19/2011 3:07 a.m. Discuss
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
posted: 05/13/2011 3:47 a.m. Discuss
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 with three other employees because the nonprofit group was $30,000 in debt.
Delta awaiting river’s crest
posted: 05/12/2011 3:29 a.m. Discuss
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
posted: 05/11/2011 6:15 a.m. Discuss
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 47.8 feet.
I-40 eastbound to Memphis reopens
posted: 05/10/2011 5:39 a.m. Comment 1
Floodwaters receded enough to reopen the eastbound lanes of Interstate 40 on Monday, reconnecting the main thoroughfare from Little Rock to Memphis as its residents braced for the cresting Mississippi River.
Flooding alters I-40 detours
posted: 05/07/2011 3:38 a.m. Discuss
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
posted: 05/05/2011 6:24 a.m.
Comments 4
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 of the worst flooding on record.
Arkansans flee cresting rivers, fatigued levees
posted: 05/04/2011 4:17 a.m.
Discuss
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 control flooding.
Missing Scouts rescued
posted: 05/04/2011 3:24 a.m.
Comment 1
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
posted: 05/04/2011 3:19 a.m.
Discuss
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
posted: 05/03/2011 6:03 a.m.
Comments 2
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 fall Monday and worsened widespread flooding around the state.
Storms return, take fewer hits
posted: 04/27/2011 4:21 a.m.
Discuss
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 after at least four tornadoes hit.
Storms maul state, kill 5
posted: 04/26/2011 6:14 a.m.
Discuss
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
posted: 04/26/2011 5:38 a.m. Comment 1
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 alone in a van for three hours, according to documents released Monday.
Widow in police shootout sues
posted: 04/23/2011 2:39 a.m. Discuss
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 Department.
LOST PARADISE: Victims look for help, find little
updated: 02/22/2011 9:21 a.m.
When victims of Wayne Watkins' failed land deals turned to government agencies for help, they felt further victimized.
State set to sue over land deals, McDaniel says
updated: 02/22/2011 9:22 a.m.
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 McDaniel described as "reprehensible."
Tipsters say fugitive developer spotted back in Sharp County
updated: 02/22/2011 9:23 a.m.
Hardy developer Wayne Watkins, who is wanted on a felony theft charge in connection with failed land deals and believed to be in Mexico, was reported to have been back in Sharp County two weeks ago, strolling down the aisles of a Wal-Mart.
LOST PARADISE: Land buyers left empty-handed
updated: 02/22/2011 9:20 a.m.
HARDY - For two decades, people in this northcentral Arkansas town saw Wayne Watkins as a visionary who created resort developments along the scenic Spring River and boosted the area economy. Now, people he lured here to buy property see him as a thief.
Snowfall clobbers Arkansas
posted: 02/10/2011 4 a.m.
Comment 1
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 from the Missouri to Louisiana borders.
Snow pops in, makes a mess
posted: 02/05/2011 5:31 a.m.
Discuss
Yet another round of winter weather marched across Arkansas and several other Southern states Friday, triggering more school closures, canceled flights and snarled traffic.
$1.2 million set aside for legal costs
posted: 02/03/2011 4:50 a.m. Discuss
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 future lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Conway center will shift kids, care out
posted: 02/03/2011 4:41 a.m. Discuss
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 caring for younger people.
Ex-trooper to appeal firing
posted: 01/28/2011 4:06 a.m. Discuss
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 Bill Sadler confirmed Wednesday.
U.S. suit filed over 5 centers is tossed
posted: 01/26/2011 4:54 a.m. Discuss
A federal judge Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit against five of the state’s human development centers that alleged that they violated the Americans With Disabilities Act, saying the U.S. Department of Justice should have tried to resolve problems that it found before rushing to court.
2010 droughts sparked state forest-fire flare-up
posted: 01/20/2011 3:57 a.m. Discuss
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 and warm weather.
Fatal-flood site’s status vexes Ross
posted: 01/19/2011 5:29 a.m. Discuss
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 to reopen after 20 campers died in a flood there last summer.
Health officials say flu is here, ready to spread
posted: 01/18/2011 5:07 a.m. Discuss
Doctors in at least 50 counties in Arkansas have reported that they’ve already treated people for the flu, state Health Department officials said Monday.
State suspends care facility’s license
posted: 01/15/2011 5:15 a.m. Discuss
The Arkansas Department of Human Services suspended the license of a Morrilton residential facility for mentally disabled people this week after its staff failed to report accusations that a male resident had sexually or physically assaulted six residents.
Below-normal cold raising concern for pipes, homeless
posted: 01/13/2011 5:38 a.m.
Discuss
Worries about what below normal temperatures — some in the single digits — will do to water pipes and people without warm places to sleep have replaced concerns over icy roads and stranded travelers in Arkansas.
Storm makes traveling I-30 frozen misery
posted: 01/11/2011 6:04 a.m.
Comment 1
Though snow had stopped falling by Monday morning, Arkansas’ first winter storm of the year continued to plague motorists stranded on Interstate 30, and meteorologists predicted the same treacherous road conditions today.
Agency expands rehab services
posted: 01/11/2011 5:03 a.m. Discuss
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 help they need to assimilate back into the community after receiving treatment.
Prosecutors ready 3rd trial in ’05 slaying
posted: 01/10/2011 3:58 a.m. Discuss
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 in her apartment Dec. 15, 2005.
Suspect in girl’s 1982 killing tells police dead uncle did it
posted: 01/08/2011 5:39 a.m. Comments 2
The only living suspect in the 1982 death of 12-year-old Carmeletta Green has told Little Rock police that he believes his late uncle killed the girl and dumped her body in the woods.
Old-killing report spurs PB search
posted: 01/07/2011 5:36 a.m. Discuss
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 killing her.
Youth lockups’ redo advances
posted: 01/03/2011 5:02 a.m. Discuss
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 its juvenile-justice system.
46 now out of Alexander center
posted: 12/30/2010 4:58 a.m. Comment 1
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 the developmentally disabled.
Suspect in killing eludes lawmen
posted: 12/27/2010 5:45 a.m. Comments 2
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
posted: 12/25/2010 2:35 a.m. Discuss
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 improve other facilities where hundreds of developmentally disabled Arkansans live.
Firm settles patient-death suit
posted: 12/11/2010 4:58 a.m. Discuss
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 the food for the facility confirmed.
McDaniel sues closed adoption agency
posted: 12/10/2010 5:58 a.m. Comment 1
The state attorney general’s office filed a consumer protection lawsuit Thursday against a now-defunct adoption agency, accusing it of taking thousands of dollars from people without finding them children.
Grain silo collapses in Nashville; kills 1
posted: 12/10/2010 3:58 a.m. Discuss
A nine-year employee of a Tyson feed mill in Nashville died Thursday when a grain silo at the facility suddenly collapsed.
Hot Springs police hunt for teen missing 25 years
posted: 12/08/2010 5:52 a.m.
Comments 5
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 of Jeffery Lynn Smith, a teenage girl who vanished while walking home from school.
Author explores state governors’ legacies, choices
posted: 12/02/2010 5:26 a.m. Discuss
For many of Arkansas’ governors, their defining moments centered on race or on a single public policy decision often made despite great opposition to the move, Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Robert L. Brown said at a lecture Wednesday.
Forced into sex, 2 state in report
posted: 11/24/2010 5:50 a.m. Comments 2
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 the supervisor of one of the accusers and the foster-care caseworker of the other.
Swept Away - Part 3: Dawn reveals magnitude of loss
posted: 11/23/2010 6 a.m. Comments 2
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 federal campground. “Lord, if it be thy will and we have to go, let us go together,” Kathryn, 78, prayed aloud. “But please, spare the children.”
