Stories by Cheree Franco

  • Bodies, souls nourished at multifaceted ministry

    When you step through the door of the warehouse/storefront known as The Shack off Baseline Road in Little Rock, there are booths, a round table and a piano.

    by Cheree Franco September 11, 2016

  • High Profile: Sophia Said

    On July 13, the Obamas and the Bushes joined other mourners in a 7,600-seat sanctuary in Texas. They were there to honor Dallas police officers slain six days …

    by Cheree Franco September 4, 2016

  • Hope floats

    HEBER SPRINGS -- On a Saturday morning in late summer, at a quasi-diner attached to a gas station about 10 minutes out from Heber Springs, three old-timers and…

    by Cheree Franco August 15, 2016

  • High Profile: Joey Lauren Adams

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- If you disagree with Joey Lauren Adams, even over a topic that she knows intimately, she will remain polite. Even after she's had a few dri…

    by Cheree Franco July 17, 2016

  • Woman is dogs' best friend

    The cacophony is brutal. Nearly 200 anxious dogs bark and jockey for attention, two each to a chain-link pen. The no-kill, donor-supported Humane Society of th…

    by Cheree Franco June 12, 2016

  • HIGH PROFILE: Senator Tom Cotton

    DARDANELLE -- Many have said much, personally and under the banners of mastheads and networks, about the nation's youngest senator, 38-year-old Tom Cotton. Som…

    by Cheree Franco April 24, 2016

  • Personal space

    Where I live: Governor’s Mansion District

    by Cheree Franco April 23, 2016

  • REVIEW: The Cupcake Factory in Little Rock

    After Kanis Road leaves behind chain hotels and freshly sprung strip malls, it turns wooded and curvy, meandering west toward a fork (straight, you head out to…

    by Cheree Franco March 10, 2016

  • Wildwood's Lanterns! illuminates winter night

    On an unseasonably warm weekday afternoon in January, Wildwood Park for the Arts is deserted. There are hibernating gardens, footbridges and sculptures, trails…

    by Cheree Franco February 14, 2016

  • Will Little Rock Film Festival be resurrected?

    In March, the Little Rock Film Festival (LRFF) completed its second year of downtown screenings, a move hallmarked by the early 2014 completion of CALS' (Centr…

    by Cheree Franco January 29, 2016

  • Missing the bull's-eye

    Editor's note: This is the second part of two-part series about Lyme disease in Arkansas. Part one, about how the disease is diagnosed, appeared in Sunday's St…

    by Cheree Franco January 25, 2016

  • Lyme test used on dogs promising for people

    Some veterinarians use a two-tiered test to diagnose Lyme in dogs. The SNAP test detects the presence and quantity of antibodies for a single protein, called C…

    by Cheree Franco January 25, 2016

  • STARI symptoms similar to Lyme's

    In the late 1980s, a Missouri physician, Dr. Edwin Masters, started noticing symptoms of what he thought was Lyme disease in his patients.

    by Cheree Franco January 25, 2016

  • Lyme in Arkansas?

    Editor's note: This is the first of two articles about Lyme disease in Arkansas. This part looks at how the disease is diagnosed. Part 2, on treatments, will a…

    by Cheree Franco January 24, 2016

  • Most common tick-borne diseases reported by state

    According to the Arkansas Department of Health, in 2015 Arkansas had 869 cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, 189 of ehrlichiosis, 23 of tularemia and 16 of …

    by Cheree Franco January 24, 2016

  • Personal Space

    Where I live: In a 1917 Tudor Revival home in the Central High School Neighborhood Historic District.

    by Cheree Franco January 23, 2016

  • Nutcracker enthusiasts will find it endearing

    Ballet Arkansas' The Nutcracker is a frothy confection that caters to human zest for habit or, more kindly, tradition. Held at the intimate (1,200 seat) Maumel…

    by Cheree Franco December 12, 2015

  • Santa Paws lands at Trapnall Hall

    Spend an hour with Betsy Robb, 28, and Kelsey White, 27, and you'll learn that the Little Rock Animal Village takes in an average of 17 critters a day, and tha…

    by Cheree Franco November 29, 2015

  • Rock around the clock

    JASPER -- The entrance to the ranch -- a high sign between two posts -- perches atop a hill. The road is narrow and rutted, overhung, claustrophobic at night. …

    by Cheree Franco October 5, 2015

  • Baby steps, baby milestones

    The prospect of sorting through roomfuls of floor-to-ceiling stuff is daunting at best, paralyzing at worst.

    by Cheree Franco October 3, 2015

  • Personal Space

    Where I live: Little Rock near the state Capitol.

    by Cheree Franco September 26, 2015

  • On a role

    Ashlie Atkinson slinks through a giant Valentine in a shiny bubble-gum gown, gloves to her elbows and pink feathered fan fluttering. Men in tuxedos spin and gr…

    by Cheree Franco June 9, 2015

  • Panel unswayed in clemency bid

    The Arkansas Board of Parole has decided against recommending clemency for Belynda Goff, 53, who says she is innocent of the 1994 bludgeoning death of her husb…

    by Cheree Franco May 31, 2015

  • Panel unswayed in clemency bid

    The Arkansas Board of Parole has decided against recommending clemency for Belynda Goff, 53, who says she is innocent of the 1994 bludgeoning death of her husb…

    by Cheree Franco May 29, 2015

  • Personal Space

    Chelsye Garrett Where I live: Downtown in the MacArthur Park Historic District of Little Rock, in a house built in 1877 that's been renovated into apartments.

    by Cheree Franco May 23, 2015

  • Grounded Gourmasian gratifies

    The shtick is "Southern meets Asian." The story is food truck turns storefront (partially through crowdfunding, with more than $16,000 coming from 177 Kickstar…

    by Cheree Franco May 21, 2015

  • Drinks to dessert, it's So good

    So Restaurant-Bar -- an upscale Hillcrest staple since 2006 -- is part neighborhood pub, part Parisian bistro. Once primarily known for seafood, the menu has e…

    by Cheree Franco May 14, 2015

  • That's So Raw a fresh addition

    It's more of an indoor taco stand than a full-grown restaurant, with food truck aspirations (all tips are earmarked) and several items eighty-sixed just two ho…

    by Cheree Franco April 23, 2015

  • Michael Raymond Rice

    NEW YORK -- Michael Rice is out of tissues, so he hands his guest a dish towel. "Just blow your nose on this, and I'll toss it in the wash," he drawls.

    by Cheree Franco April 12, 2015

  • SXSW's single purpose

    AUSTIN, Texas -- South By Southwest Music, Film and Interactive Festival is part trendy business conference, part art-damaged Spring Break blow-out, part war z…

    by Cheree Franco April 3, 2015

  • Egg lady gets cracking for Youth Home benefit

    Lynn Sudderth likes to get her hands dirty. She likes her clay best when it's saturated and sopping, the gray drips running down her elbows, the slime oozing b…

    by Cheree Franco March 22, 2015

  • 40 shades of gray

    Claudia Shannon of Jonesboro understands how stressful redecorating can be. "We didn't used to have all of those home shows and all of these Internet sites. ..…

    by Cheree Franco March 7, 2015

  • Eric David Dyer

    NEW YORK -- Shortly after Hurricane Sandy pummeled the East Coast on Oct. 29, 2012, New York Times reporters began filing stories -- from emergency shelters on…

    by Cheree Franco March 1, 2015

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