Kristin Netterstrom
Stories by Kristin
Baby boy, first of ’12, comes early
posted: 01/02/2012 4:54 a.m. Comment 1
Preston George Yakoubian waited for his father to wrap up the evening weather forecast before making his way into the world.
Dead birds at 250 in Beebe
posted: 01/02/2012 4:30 a.m. Discuss
Horace Taylor rang in the new year cleaning up dead blackbirds from the streets of Beebe.
Police beat
posted: 01/02/2012 4:28 a.m. Discuss
Toddler’s illness prompts landing A Frontier Airlines flight from Orlando, Fla., to Denver made an emergency stop Sunday morning in Little Rock after a 4-year-old boy had breathing problems.
Beginning today, LR’s sales tax increases to 8.5%
posted: 01/01/2012 5:03 a.m. Comment 1
Little Rock’s first sales tax increase since 1994 kicks in today, meaning everything from a new television to the water coming out of the tap will cost a little more in the capital city.
Fix on way for LR trail
posted: 12/29/2011 4:39 a.m. Discuss
Closed off since a 2009 landslide, a section of the Medical Mile trail in downtown Little Rock will soon be repaired.
E-books demand grows in libraries
posted: 12/27/2011 5:59 a.m. Discuss
Santa brought Riley Montague a Nook for Christmas, an electronic reader that the 8-year-old has pointed out to her mother every chance she could.
With Fern on job, no peace for geese
posted: 12/26/2011 5:17 a.m. Comment 1
At 12 years old, Fern chases pine cones more often than Canada geese.
OUR TOWN: Little Rock notebook
posted: 12/24/2011 4:24 a.m. Discuss
Two area nonprofit organizations that work with homeless people received a financial boost after being nominated for Wal-Mart’s “12 Days of Giving” program.
LR directors’ repeal clears path on Chenal Parkway
posted: 12/21/2011 4:31 a.m. Comments 8
One of Little Rock’s busiest roads is now eligible for widening and expansion with city dollars after city directors repealed a 17-year-old resolution Tuesday that said voters had to specifically approve any tax dollars spent on Chenal Parkway.
LR council OKs purchase of $9 million radio system
posted: 12/21/2011 3:58 a.m. Comment 1
Little Rock city directors signed off Tuesday on an $8.7 million emergency communications system to replace one for which city officials can no longer find parts.
Road clear for panel appointment
posted: 12/21/2011 3:57 a.m. Discuss
Little Rock expects to advertise an open spot on the Little Rock Housing Authority board of commissioners in coming weeks now that the attorney general issued an opinion saying that city directors followed proper procedure during a recent vote not to reappoint Robert Webb.
Tax-vote spending complaint dropped
posted: 12/17/2011 4:49 a.m. Discuss
The Arkansas Ethics Commission dismissed a complaint Friday against a group that promoted Little Rock’s successful campaign to triple the city sales-tax rate.
LR misses out on grant for River Trail
posted: 12/16/2011 4:58 a.m. Discuss
Efforts to close the gap in the Arkansas River Trail suffered a setback Thursday when Little Rock lost out to other cities in a national bid for a share of $511 million in federal transportation grants.
Tech-park plans worry some
posted: 12/15/2011 4:47 a.m. Discuss
Bobbie Phillips and her Forest Park neighbors sought answers Wednesday to their growing list of questions about plans for a research park south of Interstate 630 in Little Rock.
Chenal resolution divides LR board
posted: 12/14/2011 5:22 a.m. Discuss
Little Rock city directors were at odds Tuesday over an idea to repeal a 17-year-old resolution that locked them in to not widening Chenal Parkway with city money.
LR directors adopt budget with no fight
posted: 12/14/2011 5:16 a.m. Discuss
Little Rock city directors passed a $158.6 million budget Tuesday night without any discussions or changes to the spending plan that was revealed earlier this month.
3 sites possible for park
posted: 12/14/2011 5:13 a.m. Discuss
Three sites have been identified as potential locations for Little Rock’s future technology park, which will be partly funded by the city’s new sales tax.
LR to revisit Chenal rule
posted: 12/13/2011 6:02 a.m. Discuss
Seventeen years after saying Little Rock wouldn’t widen Chenal Parkway, the only remaining city director from that time period said she wants to repeal the resolution in case projects come up next month during discussions with residents about how to spend new sales-tax revenue.
OUR TOWN: Little Rock notebook
posted: 12/13/2011 5:20 a.m. Discuss
Artmobile lines up stay in Perryville The Arkansas Arts Center is taking its act on the road.
Water utility’s sale of bonds OK’d
posted: 12/09/2011 4:20 a.m. Discuss
Central Arkansas Water commissioners Thursday approved issuing up to $18.15 million in bonds early next month to help pay for upgrades to the utility’s treatment plants and to buy property in the Lake Maumelle watershed.
Two LR leaders get earful on budget plan
posted: 12/09/2011 4:19 a.m. Discuss
Little Rock residents told the mayor and city manager Thursday that they want their neighborhood alert centers reopened and for locals to get preference for the dozens of new jobs the city will be filling next year.
City’s budget meeting draws only 4 residents
posted: 12/08/2011 4:30 a.m. Comment 1
Few residents had questions for Little Rock city officials Wednesday about the capital city’s largest budget ever.
LR repeals ’57 segregation stance
posted: 12/07/2011 4:15 a.m. Comment 1
Little Rock city directors repealed a 54-year-old declaration Tuesday in which their predecessors declared support for Gov. Orval Faubus’ intervention at Central High School and said immediate integration of the schools at the time was not in the best interest of race relations.
With tax revenue on way, LR adds
posted: 12/06/2011 6:17 a.m. Discuss
Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola had an opportunity Monday night to do something he hasn’t been able to do in past budget discussions.
LR to take up ordinance on trash
posted: 12/05/2011 5:46 a.m. Discuss
Little Rock city directors will consider an ordinance Tuesday that would allow the city to deem apartment complexes and mobile home parks that don’t have trash pickup service as nuisances.
Residents grimace as fire-station work starts
posted: 12/04/2011 4:24 a.m. Comments 2
Homeowners in Little Rock’s Deer Park neighborhood are seeing some of their backyards disappear as the city moves forward with construction of a new fire station at Taylor Loop and Rahling roads.
OUR TOWN: Little Rock notebook
posted: 12/03/2011 4:26 a.m. Discuss
Police will get 73 Tasers in ’12 Little Rock police officers will be equipped with more Tasers by early next year.
LR seeks grant for natural gas stop
posted: 11/30/2011 5:35 a.m. Comments 3
Little Rock is one of six entities vying for a state grant to build a compressed-natural-gas station to service its small fleet as well as the public.
Libraries seeking bond reissue
posted: 11/30/2011 5:34 a.m. Discuss
The Central Arkansas Library System will ask Little Rock voters next spring to approve a bond reissue to raise $19 million for new projects, including a downtown auditorium and parking deck as well as property for a future branch out west.
LR set to offer post-tax-election budget preview
posted: 11/29/2011 5:35 a.m. Discuss
Little Rock residents will have four opportunities next week to weigh in on the capital city’s 2012 budget that includes millions in new revenue from the sales-tax increase voters approved in September.
Oil pipeline in watershed worries utility
posted: 11/27/2011 5:14 a.m. Discuss
One of the nation’s main arteries for transporting oil snakes through the Lake Maumelle watershed underground, crossing the Maumelle River and other tributaries to the lake that provides the region’s drinking water.
OUR TOWN: Little Rock notebook
posted: 11/24/2011 1:44 a.m. Discuss
LR wins Arkansas Shine Award Little Rock won an Arkansas Shine Award this week from the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission for the city’s “outstanding environmental and community improvement efforts.” Little Rock was one of six recipients across the state awarded as part of the fourth annual Arkansas Shine Awards.
Watershed regulations win support
posted: 11/22/2011 5:53 a.m. Comments 3
Central Arkansas Water commissioners voiced their support Monday for county land-use regulations meant to protect the Lake Maumelle watershed despite the request of supporters and critics that they delay approval until Pulaski County made some suggested changes.
Developer looks at Main Street as suitors woo cooking school
posted: 11/22/2011 5:45 a.m. Discuss
As Main Street boosters work to convince Pulaski Technical College trustees to move the school’s culinary program to the downtown Little Rock corridor, other property on the street is being eyed for redevelopment.
2 votes on tap for lake property
posted: 11/20/2011 4:19 a.m. Discuss
Flipping through the 60 pages of proposed landuse regulations in the Lake Maumelle watershed on Friday, Lorie White said the technical language Pulaski County is considering adopting is so burdensome on a small landowner that building a new fence would be too expensive and difficult.
Pay-to-park stations, not meters, set for LR area
posted: 11/18/2011 3:44 a.m. Comments 4
When Little Rock starts charging for parking in the River Market, there’s a good possibility people will plug their coins or debit cards into solar pay stations installed throughout the entertainment district.
Recall sought of declaration by LR in 1957
posted: 11/17/2011 4:17 a.m. Comments 2
Little Rock city directors are being asked to repeal a declaration adopted by their counterparts Sept. 30, 1957, that supported Gov. Orval Faubus’ intervention at Central High School and suggested state aid be withheld from schools being forced by the federal government to integrate students.
LR will take on new debt to buy trucks
posted: 11/16/2011 4:09 a.m. Discuss
Little Rock will issue its first short-term loan since 2008 after city directors approved the $4.6 million debt Tuesday for new firetrucks, trash trucks and dump trucks.
Juanita’s denied 5 a.m. liquor license
posted: 11/16/2011 4:02 a.m. Discuss
A River Market restaurant and music venue lost its bid Tuesday to become the only bar in the entertainment district with a license to sell alcohol until 5 a.m.
Tweaks possible on LR residents’ forum
posted: 11/13/2011 3:56 a.m. Discuss
Little Rock city directors set aside 30 minutes every other week to listen to concerns and complaints from residents — including some who have come to board meetings for years to talk about missed trash pickups, bus service needs and, more recently, the sales-tax election. Mayor Mark Stodola and city directors are contemplating tweaking the forum they call “Citizen’s Communications.” Suggestions from City Hall include no longer allowing hand-held signs in the boardroom or electronic presentations by residents out of fear that removable memory cards containing the information could infect city computers with a virus.
OUR TOWN: Little Rock notebook
posted: 11/12/2011 4:18 a.m. Discuss
Tree lit at library site as work starts While dirt work has been ongoing for months at the site of the future Children’s Library, Central Arkansas Library System employees and city officials held a “groundbreaking” Wednesday for the new library off Jonesboro Drive.
Critics: Watershed plan all wet
posted: 11/11/2011 4:50 a.m. Discuss
Longtime supporters of Central Arkansas Water’s efforts to prevent pollution in the Lake Maumelle watershed told water commissioners Thursday that they are not satisfied with the latest efforts by Pulaski County to help meet that goal.
Water utility to hold line on ’12 rates
posted: 11/11/2011 4:33 a.m. Discuss
The budget approved Thursday by Central Arkansas Water commissioners forgoes rate increases next year but includes federally required overhauls to its two treatment facilities that will affect future years’ rates.
LR to seek loan of $4.6 million to buy vehicles
posted: 11/09/2011 4:56 a.m. Discuss
Little Rock City Hall expects to take out a $4.6 million loan before the end of the year to help buy new firetrucks, garbage trucks and street sweepers that city officials said are desperately needed.
State opinion sought in LR reappointment
posted: 11/09/2011 4:52 a.m. Discuss
Little Rock Housing Authority commissioners will wait for an attorney general’s opinion before deciding how to react to the city board’s recent rejection of a housing commission appointment.
With new tax cash coming, LR spending hinges on timing
posted: 11/06/2011 4:04 a.m. Discuss
Little Rock officials are in the midst of crafting a 2012 budget that will include dozens of new jobs next year, thanks to a sales-tax increase voters approved in September, but millions in new funding won’t be available right away. The city’s 1 percentage point tax increase doesn’t go into effect until Jan. 1. Little Rock won’t receive the first proceeds from it until March, making this budget cycle more about the timing of when to hire people rather than last year’s dilemma of where to cut.
OUR TOWN: Little Rock notebook
posted: 11/06/2011 3:37 a.m. Discuss
Ground broken for fire station Little Rock Fire Chief Greg Summers broke ground Tuesday on his department’s first new fire station in nearly two decades.
Social-problem tack touted for guns
posted: 11/05/2011 4:49 a.m. Comments 2
Gun control should be viewed not as an ideological or cultural issue but as a social problem that needs a national solution, an advocate for stronger firearm regulations told a Little Rock audience Friday.
Ward boundaries for LR adopted
posted: 11/03/2011 3:14 a.m. Discuss
Pulaski County election commissioners adopted new ward boundary lines for Little Rock on Wednesday despite a request from one city director to delay the approval.
LR seeks grant for $11.9 million to complete trail
posted: 11/02/2011 4:46 a.m. Comment 1
Little Rock is asking the federal government for $11.9 million to close the last remaining gap in the Arkansas River Trail, a $14.5 million section that bicyclists and city officials have said is needed to make the trail safer for commuters.
