Kenneth Heard
Stories by Kenneth
Widow is 4th arrest in killing of spouse
posted: 05/24/2012 3:57 a.m. Discuss
A Jonesboro woman who called police after finding her fatally shot husband in their home on Aug. 24, 2011, was arrested in his slaying Wednesday.
1 pilot dies in plane collision
posted: 05/24/2012 3:47 a.m. Discuss
A Bono agricultural pilot was killed and a second man injured Wednesday when their planes collided over a field in Greene County, authorities said.
PB voters OK 0.4-mill tax rise
posted: 05/23/2012 3:59 a.m.
Discuss
Two insolvent pension programs for Pine Bluff ’s police and fire departments appear to have been saved as voters favored two millage increase proposals Tuesday evening.
Boyd, Tosh get nods in sheriff primaries
posted: 05/23/2012 3:58 a.m.
Discuss
A Craighead County chief deputy defeated two Democratic challengers in a primary Tuesday and avoided a runoff election, just as his boss did 14 years ago.
In a switch, sheriff’s race has 2 party primaries
posted: 05/19/2012 5:11 a.m. Discuss
For the first time in six elections, the Craighead County sheriff’s race does not feature an incumbent.
Gun goes off, killing ex-mayor of Helena
posted: 05/11/2012 2:13 a.m. Discuss
Former Helena Mayor Robert Miller, a retired physician, died Thursday of an accidental gunshot wound, authorities said.
It’s guilty again in 4 ’98 killings
posted: 05/10/2012 5:41 a.m. Discuss
In his retrial Wednesday, Billy Green was convicted for a second time on four counts of capital murder and one count of kidnapping in the 1998 slayings of a Dalton family.
After 2 hours, no verdict, Green jury adjourns for day
posted: 05/09/2012 5:34 a.m. Discuss
Randolph County Circuit Court jurors deliberated for two hours Tuesday in the capital murder retrial of Billy Green before the judge sent them home without reaching a verdict.
Son told of killings, dad testifies
posted: 05/08/2012 4:15 a.m. Discuss
Tears welled in Charles “Chad” Green’s eyes on Aug. 1, 1998, when he told his father that he killed a Randolph County family of four, Billy Green testified Monday at his capital murder retrial.
Kin: Told by murder suspect to lie
posted: 05/05/2012 3:14 a.m. Discuss
Shortly after police questioned Billy Green’s wife about the July 29, 1998, slayings of a Randolph County family of four, he demanded that his wife and children lie about his and his son’s whereabouts that night, family members testified in Green’s capitalmurder retrial Friday.
Witness: Murder victim, 8, raped
posted: 05/04/2012 3:26 a.m. Comments 4
Eight year-old Felicia Elliott was kept inside a trash can and repeatedly raped for two days before Billy Green submerged her in a creek near his Warm Springs home and then cut her throat in 1998, a prisoner testified during Green’s capital-murder retrial in Randolph County Circuit Court on Thursday.
Inquiry gets 3 suspended by district in Arkadelphia
posted: 05/04/2012 3:07 a.m. Discuss
The Arkadelphia School District has suspended three employees in the wake of a Department of Human Services investigation, Superintendent Donnie Whitten said this week.
Slayings’ brutality in ’98 case limned on retrial’s 1st day
posted: 05/03/2012 4:57 a.m. Discuss
Billy Green fatally shot, bludgeoned and stabbed a Randolph County family of four in 1998, Prosecuting Attorney Henry Boyce said during the opening statements of Green’s retrial Wednesday, calling it the worst crime ever committed in the county.
State not seeking death in 1998 killings
posted: 05/02/2012 5:03 a.m. Discuss
The prosecutor who will retry a Randolph County man charged with four counts of capital murder said Monday that he will not seek the death penalty.
Prosecutor seeking execution in retrial
posted: 04/30/2012 3:53 a.m. Discuss
The retrial of a Randolph County man whose capital murder convictions were overturned by the state Supreme Court in 2008 begins today in Randolph County Circuit Court.
Walnut Ridge plans guitar-shaped plaza
posted: 04/29/2012 4:55 a.m. Discuss
Rockabilly musician Sonny Burgess once talked singer Johnny Cash out of quitting more than 50 years ago, just before Cash was to take the stage in a Jackson County club.
MISSION OF MERCY: Volunteers pluck teeth, ease pain at packed clinic
posted: 04/28/2012 3:11 a.m. Discuss
Cecil Daniels spent Thursday night camped outside the Arkansas State University Convocation Center to have the few teeth he had left pulled Friday and get fitted for dentures because his wife told him to do so.
Historic ASU house gets reprieve, but with strings
posted: 04/20/2012 3:26 a.m. Discuss
Arkansas State University administrators halted plans to demolish in May the campus home of ASU’s first president, giving a group that wants to save it a chance to raise restoration funds.
Surveyors verify tornado in Arkansas
posted: 04/17/2012 4:12 a.m. Discuss
The National Weather Service confirmed Monday that a tornado touched down in southeast Van Buren County on Sunday evening and left a 2-mile-long path of toppled trees and downed power lines.
Indiana prisoner charged in 2000 Forrest City killing
posted: 04/12/2012 4:57 a.m.
Discuss
Twelve years after a 19-year-old waitress was raped, tortured and killed, Forrest City police said Wednesday that authorities have solved the crime.
Fans of ASU home see it doomed
posted: 04/07/2012 2:47 a.m. Discuss
Resigned that an effort to save a historic home on the Arkansas State University campus is likely too late, ASU faculty senate members asked a committee Friday to investigate whether university planners failed to properly notify authorities of their demolition plans.
Video ban on Calico Rock city council agenda
posted: 04/03/2012 4:16 a.m. Discuss
The Calico Rock City Council will review its policy that bans video recording devices next Monday after the Arkansas attorney general’s office said the state’s Freedom of Information Act allows the cameras.
4 cities in state report warmest March ever
posted: 04/03/2012 4:02 a.m. Discuss
Harrison, Jonesboro, Little Rock and North Little Rock recorded their hottest March ever as temperatures averaged 10 degrees or more above normal, the National Weather Service said Monday.
Spa City trail marks rich hardball history
posted: 04/01/2012 3:50 a.m. Discuss
Babe Ruth hit a mammoth home run into Hot Springs’ Arkansas Alligator Farm in the spring of 1918 that helped convince his manager that Ruth was better suited as a batter than a pitcher.
Farmers address possible new bill
posted: 03/31/2012 3:12 a.m. Discuss
Farmers from six states asked a congressional agriculture panel Friday to consider the diversity of crops in the South when preparing a draft of a new farm bill.
Searchers find body of 4-year-old in river
posted: 03/29/2012 4:23 a.m.
Discuss
A search team using canoes found the body of a 4-year-old boy in the South Fork River on Wednesday morning after an extensive search that began Saturday, when authorities now believe the child fell into the rapid waters.
River now focus in hunt for boy, 4; 2 shirts found
posted: 03/28/2012 4:07 a.m. Discuss
The sheriff leading the hunt for a 4-year-old boy last seen Saturday by the South Fork River near Cherokee Village called off ground searches Tuesday evening and will now focus strictly on the river.
Jonesboro fire totals 50-year-old building
posted: 03/28/2012 3:54 a.m. Discuss
A fire that began in the roof of a Jonesboro funeral home destroyed the 50-year-old building, Fire Chief Kevin Miller said Tuesday.
Plan to raze ’36 home stirs passions at ASU
posted: 03/25/2012 6:23 a.m. Discuss
When Scott Darwin began teaching at Arkansas State University in 1969, he lived next door to the stately two-story house on Aggie Road that was once the home of ASU’s first president.
Rising water sends 20 fleeing
posted: 03/22/2012 5:04 a.m. Discuss
At least 20 people fled their homes Wednesday in Faulkner County as creeks overflowed from rain that has deluged much of the state since Monday evening.
Rain to linger in state a few days
posted: 03/21/2012 4:43 a.m. Discuss
A weather system initially expected to drop up to 8 inches of rain in parts of the state instead brought less rain but produced some damaging winds.
Forest campsites closed ahead of rain
posted: 03/20/2012 4:46 a.m. Discuss
The National Forest Service has closed campsites in the Ouachita and Ozark-St. Francis National Forests and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is releasing water from the Craig D. Campbell Lake Conway Reservoir in anticipation of heavy rains this week.
Blytheville passes 1% sales tax to pay off IRS debt
posted: 03/14/2012 4:15 a.m. Discuss
Hours before the polls closed Tuesday, Blytheville city officials worked on an alternative plan in case voters turned down a proposed tax increase that would help erase a $3.7 million Internal Revenue Service debt.
Tax increase OK’d for Nettleton schools
posted: 03/14/2012 4:11 a.m. Discuss
Nettleton School District patrons approved a 3.95-mill school tax increase Tuesday that will help pay for a new intermediate school and additional classrooms.
Batesville passes tax for recreation projects
posted: 03/14/2012 4:09 a.m. Comment 1
Batesville voters favored two half-percent sales-tax issues Tuesday that will fund recreational projects for the Independence County city of 10,248.
Son set to testify in father’s retrial
posted: 03/13/2012 4:46 a.m. Discuss
After maintaining for six years that he would not testify during his father’s retrial on a capital murder charge, Charles “Chad” Green said Monday that he would take the stand next month.
Batesville to vote on sales-tax rise
posted: 03/12/2012 5:04 a.m. Discuss
Batesville officials have retooled a sales-tax-increase proposal that voters turned down two years ago in hopes of developing recreational facilities and creating economic opportunities for the Independence County town.
Study logs twisters in state since 1950
posted: 03/11/2012 5:27 a.m. Discuss
While tornadoes seemed to follow a track along the Interstate 30 and U.S. 167/67 corridor for years, devastating storms touched down in every Arkansas county between 1950 and 2011, a National Weather Service survey of Arkansas twisters shows.
3.95-mill rise sought for Nettleton district
posted: 03/11/2012 5:25 a.m. Discuss
The Nettleton School District is asking for a 3.95-mill increase Tuesday to help pay for construction in anticipation of a surge in enrollment over the next 10 years.
Blytheville starts early in vote on tax to pay IRS
posted: 03/11/2012 5:24 a.m. Discuss
More than 600 people cast early votes by Friday evening in Blytheville’s special election for a 1 percent sales tax targeted at helping pay the city’s debt with the Internal Revenue Service.
Hudson excited to lead at ASU
posted: 03/03/2012 3:44 a.m. Discuss
Even though Tim Hudson saw Jonesboro only minimally while interviewing with Arkansas State University last month, he said taking the helm as the ASU-Jonesboro chancellor in May will be “like coming home.” Hudson, 57, the vice chancellor for the Texas Tech University System in Lubbock, was named ASU’s second chancellor Friday.
ASU looks to Texas for its next chancellor
posted: 03/02/2012 3:36 a.m. Discuss
Tim Hudson, the vice chancellor of the Texas Tech University System, will be named the Arkansas State University chancellor today, sources with direct knowledge of the selection said Thursday.
Officer suspended in chief’s drug case
posted: 02/29/2012 6:16 a.m. Discuss
A police detective who told an investigator that he gave then-Trumann Police Chief Tony Rusher prescription medication from the department’s evidence room has been suspended, Mayor Sheila Walters said Tuesday.
Trumann police chief quits after probe
posted: 02/28/2012 4:41 a.m. Comment 1
Trumann Police Chief Tony Rusher resigned Monday after a private investigation commissioned by the city revealed that he took prescription medication from the department’s evidence room, Mayor Sheila Walters said.
3 postal centers in state to close
posted: 02/24/2012 5:02 a.m. Comment 1
The U.S. Postal Service approved plans Thursday to close mail distribution centers in Harrison, Hot Springs and Jonesboro and move those centers’ operations elsewhere as part of continuing efforts to save billions of dollars nationwide.
ASU to choose new chancellor from 3 finalists
posted: 02/22/2012 5:36 a.m. Discuss
Hours after the last of three candidates for the Arkansas State University-Jonesboro chancellor’s position interviewed with faculty and staff Tuesday, ASU System President Charles Welch said he hoped to make a selection by the middle of next week.
Tax vote pushed as city’s debt aid
posted: 02/19/2012 5:57 a.m. Discuss
Reeling from Internal Revenue Service liens placed on city-owned property for tax debts and a prosecutor’s request for a criminal investigation into the matter, Blytheville city leaders are urging residents to pass a sales tax in next month’s election to help pay the debt.
Storm a wintry smorgasbord
posted: 02/14/2012 4:34 a.m.
Discuss
After weeks of unseasonably high temperatures, Arkansans got a brief taste of nearly every kind of winter weather possible Monday.
Crumbling roads lead Salesville to look at tax
posted: 02/12/2012 5:04 a.m. Discuss
Residents of Salesville will vote Tuesday on adopting the Baxter County town’s first sales tax, with proceeds to help pay for road repairs.
La Nina has state basking this winter
posted: 02/09/2012 5:03 a.m. Discuss
Daffodils are beginning to bloom, and winged pests have already been buzzing in the state thanks to an unseasonably warm winter.
