Sarah D. Wire
Stories by Sarah D.
Panel to revise policy on lawmakers’ out-of-state trips
posted: 05/25/2013 4:46 a.m. Discuss
The Arkansas Legislative Council is expected to modify its policy on lawmaker travel Tuesday as legislators plan which conferences they will attend this year.
Crew of 637 to help health-care eligible
posted: 05/24/2013 5:01 a.m. Discuss
Arkansas will use Medicaid money to hire an additional 100 “in-person assisters” to help enroll people for coverage under the expansion of the insurance program for the poor approved by the Legislature during this year’s session, state officials said Thursday.
Federal insurance-pool grant gets an OK
posted: 05/23/2013 12:20 a.m. Discuss
Arkansas lawmakers gave initial approval Wednesday to a $16.47 million federal grant to help enroll people in an insurance pool required by the federal health-care law.
Shoffner resigns under fire
posted: 05/22/2013 12:03 a.m. Comments 5
Awaiting a federal grand jury indictment and facing calls for her resignation or ouster, state Treasurer Martha Shoffner stepped down Tuesday, effective at 5 p.m.
Call rises: Shoffner should quit
posted: 05/21/2013 12:46 a.m. Comments 2
As state Treasurer Martha Shoffner prepared to fight federal prosecutors, a U.S. senator, the governor, the attorney general, nearly two-dozen House Democrats and both political parties called on her to step down.
Shoffner, 68, under watch, sheriff says
posted: 05/20/2013 12:26 a.m. Comments 4
Arkansas State Treasurer Martha Shoffner spent most of Sunday alone in a cell meant for two at the Pulaski County jail.
Survey of 26 states gives insights on state veterans homes
posted: 05/20/2013 12:21 a.m. Comment 1
Although state law leaves decisions about a new veterans home to the state Department of Veterans Affairs director, the senator who helped create a task force to study a new home said veterans groups and lawmakers should also get a say.
FBI arrests Shoffner; hearing set
posted: 05/19/2013 4:53 a.m. Comments 4
Arkansas Treasurer Martha Shoffner was being held in the Pulaski County jail late Saturday after being arrested earlier in the day by the FBI.
104 areas upgrade services for 911
posted: 05/19/2013 4:39 a.m. Discuss
So far, 104 Arkansas 911 systems have implemented a software program that can provide emergency responders with detailed information about the people who call seeking help during emergencies.
Gavel falls on ’13 legislative session
posted: 05/18/2013 5:23 a.m. Comment 1
The Arkansas General Assembly quietly ended its 101-day regular session Friday without attempting to override Gov. Mike Beebe’s vetoes of three election bills sponsored by an outspoken Republican critic of Beebe.
Carter: Time to move beyond guns, abortion
posted: 05/16/2013 12:18 a.m. Comments 2
While participating in a panel of lawmakers Wednesday, House Speaker Davy Carter said Republicans need to move past guns and abortion if they want to govern in Arkansas.
Repairs begin outside Capitol
posted: 05/15/2013 5:14 a.m. Discuss
Secretary of State Mark Martin began a $218,219 project this week to replace chipped stairs, broken curbs and cracked sidewalks surrounding the Capitol building.
All agree new veterans home must feel homey
posted: 05/12/2013 4:37 a.m. Discuss
Veterans groups, lawmakers, and state and federal veterans agencies have differing ideas about what a new veterans home should look like. But they all agree it needs to feel like home.
Medical payouts flagged in audit
posted: 05/11/2013 5:05 a.m. Discuss
The state Legislative Audit Division questioned $1.3 million in health services in an audit of the state Medicaid program Friday because documentation was not filled out properly.
LR vets home unsold but nonprofits nibble
posted: 05/10/2013 12:17 a.m. Discuss
Two attempts to sell the former Little Rock Veterans Home have failed, and the state Department of Veterans Affairs is in talks with two nonprofit organizations about donating the 65-year old property or selling it at a reduced price.
Leaders start talk of details for vets home
posted: 05/08/2013 12:12 a.m. Discuss
Lawmakers, veterans and state agency leaders began a months-long process Tuesday of choosing where to locate a new veterans home in central Arkansas and deciding for whom it will care.
Voter-ID rule part of new election laws
posted: 05/06/2013 12:06 a.m. Discuss
Arkansas voters will need to take photo identification with them to the polls under a new law passed by the 2013 Arkansas Legislature.
Agency director scouts out sites for vets facility
posted: 05/01/2013 4:25 a.m. Discuss
The Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs has reviewed more than half a dozen potential sites for a new state-run veterans’ home in central Arkansas, though the process to replace the crumbling, and now closed, Little Rock home has just begun.
Legislature checks off 3 priority issues
posted: 04/28/2013 4:44 a.m. Discuss
In the longest session in 82 years and the first led by Republicans in more than a century, members of the 89th General Assembly went home last week after passing bills to provide health insurance for more than 250,000 poor Arkansans, cut taxes projected to reduce state general revenue by $235.6 million over the next three fiscal years and allow $125 million in state-backed bonds for a $1.1 billion steel mill.
565 items on state wish list; $172 million in surplus kitty
posted: 04/28/2013 4:42 a.m. Comments 3
The governor and lawmakers identified more than $1.7 billion in special surplus-funded projects this legislative session that they’d like to see done in fiscal 2014, although a lot of those 565 projects won’t be funded because there is only $172 million in surplus cash to spend.
State legislators pass 61% of bills filed in session
posted: 04/28/2013 4:28 a.m. Discuss
The 89th General Assembly approved 1,520 of the 2,492 bills filed during the 100-day legislative session, or 61 percent.
Insurance expansion now state law
posted: 04/24/2013 3:42 a.m. Discuss
Gov. Mike Beebe signed legislation Tuesday that will let 250,000 poor Arkansans obtain private health insurance that will be paid for with federal Medicaid dollars — culminating a months-long effort that many never expected to see come to fruition.
Lawmakers wrap up, head home
posted: 04/24/2013 3:39 a.m. Discuss
The Republican-controlled state House and Senate on Tuesday completed action on bills increasing the state general-revenue budget by $197 million in the fiscal year that starts in July and distributing more than $300 million in surplus funds to various programs and projects.
Article appalls GOP leader; 2 quit posts
posted: 04/23/2013 4:11 a.m. Comments 19
The secretary of the Benton County Republican Party and her husband, a county GOP committee member, resigned Monday, days after placing an article in the organization’s newsletter calling for Arkansans to make “examples” of “turncoats” and “traitors” in the state Legislature who have “placed Arkansas firmly on the path to Socialism.” The article discusses the feasibility of shooting certain lawmakers and envisioned some as “bullet backstops.” The head of the county committee called the statements “abhorrent.” The Arkansas State Police reviewed the matter but determined Monday that the newsletter article and a series of purportedly threatening e-mails written by Chris Nogy of Lowell to state lawmakers weren’t serious enough to warrant an investigation, nor did a social-media message
Private-option nod just the start
posted: 04/21/2013 4:15 a.m. Comment 1
Arkansas lawmakers completed work on legislation last week that will let more than 250,000 low-income Arkansans use federal Medicaid funds to purchase private health insurance, becoming the first state in the country to adopt the method to provide health insurance for the poor.
Lawmakers send tax cuts to Beebe
posted: 04/20/2013 4:52 a.m. Discuss
With the 2013 Legislative session winding to a close, the Arkansas House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved and sent to Gov. Mike Beebe more than a dozen tax cuts Friday that will reduce state general revenue by more than $90 million during the next two years.
Senate OKs bill to set up manager of insurance exchange in ’15
posted: 04/19/2013 4:52 a.m. Discuss
The Senate voted 27-5 Thursday to approve placing a federally run insurance pool for Arkansans in the hands of the state.
Beebe to sign private option
posted: 04/19/2013 12:58 a.m. Discuss
More than 250,000 Arkansans who make about $15,000 a year or less will be able to purchase private health insurance using federal Medicaid money under a bill that gained final legislative approval Thursday.
Cutoff for Planned Parenthood stalls in House panel
posted: 04/18/2013 5:07 a.m. Discuss
A bill barring state grants to entities that perform abortions or make abortion referrals failed to clear an Arkansas House committee Wednesday.
Private-option redo gets key bill to Beebe
posted: 04/18/2013 12:12 a.m. Discuss
The Senate voted 28-7 late Wednesday night to approve using hundreds of millions of federal dollars to purchase private health insurance for 250,000 low-income Arkansans, after a day of waiting and amendments.
10 GOP votes shifted overnight on private option
posted: 04/17/2013 3:38 a.m. Discuss
Ten Republican representatives voted differently Tuesday on whether to give the state Department of Human Services authority to use federal funds to help 250,000 low-income Arkansans purchase private health-insurance policies.
House panel rejects bill to reduce jobless benefits
posted: 04/16/2013 3:12 a.m. Discuss
A bill reducing the maximum weekly unemployment benefit by $126 and another measure cutting employers’ payments into the state’s unemployment trust fund failed to clear an Arkansas House committee on Monday.
Lawmakers debate private-option plan with Benton crowd
posted: 04/16/2013 3:11 a.m. Discuss
Supporters and opponents laid out their case for and against providing government-funded private health insurance to 250,000 low-income Arkansans at a public meeting in Benton Monday night.
Medicaid vote has legislators in pause mode
posted: 04/14/2013 4:35 a.m. Discuss
Arkansas lawmakers are in the final stages of deciding whether to let 250,000 poor Arkansans obtain private health insurance that will be paid for with federal Medicaid dollars — something that is referred to at the state Capitol as the “private option.” But first, some legislators say they need to convince their constituents that the private option is the right thing to do.
House delays Medicaid vote until Monday
posted: 04/13/2013 5:14 a.m. Comment 1
The Arkansas House will wait to vote on whether to authorize spending federal funds for private insurance for 250,000 poor Arkansans until Monday so representatives can speak with people in their districts, House Speaker Davy Carter said Friday.
Private option down to spending-bill votes
posted: 04/12/2013 12:14 a.m. Comment 1
The Arkansas House voted Thursday to create a program that would allow 250,000 poor Arkansans to purchase health insurance using government funds, but it wasn’t clear whether there is enough support to authorize funding for the program.
Backers wooing Medicaid votes
posted: 04/11/2013 12:19 a.m. Discuss
With a vote looming today on whether to provide 250,000 low-income Arkansans with government-funded private health insurance, legislators scrambled Wednesday to secure support from House members to pay for it.
Insurance-exchange aid less than state requested
posted: 04/10/2013 3:58 a.m. Discuss
Because of federal sequestration, the Arkansas Insurance Department has received a smaller-than-expected federal grant to help enroll people for insurance through the state’s health-insurance exchange, a spokesman said Tuesday.
House to vote on Medicaid; sponsor exits
posted: 04/10/2013 12:32 a.m. Discuss
A plan to allow 250,000 low-income Arkansans to purchase private health insurance using federal funds passed out of a House committee Tuesday after one of its sponsors pulled his name from the bills.
House probes agency chiefs on Medicaid
posted: 04/09/2013 12:40 a.m. Discuss
House members spent two hours Monday peppering agency heads with questions about how Arkansas would extend government-funded private health insurance to 250,000 poor Arkansans.
Medicaid deal rests in hands of House GOP
posted: 04/07/2013 4 a.m. Discuss
Whether the state extends government-funded private health insurance to 250,000 low-income Arkansans is largely in the hands of the 51 Republicans in the Arkansas House of Representatives.
Bus-insurance bill advances; CATA says it’s target
posted: 04/07/2013 3:19 a.m. Discuss
The 2011 death of a Bryant man spurred a Senate committee to approve a bill Saturday to dramatically increase the amount of liability insurance public transit authorities must hold.
Senate OKs by 24-9 Medicaid expansion
posted: 04/06/2013 5:08 a.m. Discuss
The Arkansas Senate voted 24-9 Friday to approve a program that would expand health-care access to a quarter-million poor Arkansans by letting them use government funds to purchase private health insurance.
Bill shifts pensions of court’s workers
posted: 04/05/2013 4:30 a.m. Discuss
As part of an ongoing disagreement between the legislative and judicial branches, a legislative panel voted Thursday to convert additional state Supreme Court workers into employees of the state.
Bill enters dispute over trauma work
posted: 04/05/2013 12:48 a.m. Discuss
An Arkansas health-care consulting firm that failed to secure a $500,000 state contract is trying to get it anyway by having special language attached to an appropriations bill pending before the Legislature.
Panel OKs bill to tie drug test to jobless aid
posted: 04/04/2013 12:22 a.m. Comments 15
A bill requiring recipients of unemployment benefits to consent to random drug tests cleared an Arkansas Senate committee Wednesday, but a measure sharply reducing the maximum weekly unemployment amount failed to clear the committee.
Panel passes private option for Medicaid
posted: 04/04/2013 12:06 a.m. Discuss
Legislation to expand health insurance to 250,000 low-income Arkansans passed out of a Senate committee Wednesday as sponsoring legislators worked to clarify an idea that has driven much of the 2013 session.
Medicaid bills lay out state’s growth plans
posted: 04/03/2013 12:06 a.m. Discuss
Lawmakers put forward two identical bills Tuesday detailing how to give a quarter of a million poor Arkansans access to private health care.
Medicaid plan gets a pair of key nods
posted: 04/02/2013 midnight Comments 2
House and Senate leaders spoke in favor Monday of giving about 250,000 low-income Arkansas access to government-funded private health insurance.
Movement on Medicaid plan expected this week
posted: 04/01/2013 12:38 a.m. Discuss
Unanswered questions and a lack of explicit approval from the federal government have slowed legislation to provide government-funded private health insurance to about 250,000 low-income Arkansans through the state’s Medicaid program.
