Council approves street's renaming
North Little Rock City Council unanimously approved Monday an ordinance changing the name of Gregory Street between East 12th Street and East 13th Street to Smothers Street.
Shawn Spencer, the city's Planning Director, told the council to rename the street because of the confusion of having two streets named "Gregory" near each other. He said it was causing semi-trucks to take the wrong street, resulting in traffic jams because it's difficult to back up in that area.
The ordinance stated there were no objections to the name change from the Police Department, the Fire Department, the Planning Department, the 911 Communications Center or the History Commission.
A notice was also sent out to property owners in the area and no objections were made at the city council meeting.
The change will go into effect immediately.
Best Buy to partner in teen tech center
The Innovation Hub is partnering with Best Buy to create the first Best Buy Teen Tech Center in Arkansas.
The center will be designed to help teenagers develop skills through hands-on activities that explore their interests in programming, film-making, music production and design, among others, the organization stated Tuesday on its Facebook page.
Construction to remodel portions of the Innovation Hub's 22,000-square-foot facility will start later this year. The Teen Tech Center is expected to be fully operational in 2022, and will add new studio spaces for audiovisual production.
Housing programs receive HUD funds
Local programs in North Little Rock received $676,662 and $331,627 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
HUD announced Thursday $5.5 billion in funding to local programs throughout the country that provide affordable housing, community development and economic opportunity, and support to individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
The grants were provided through various HUD programs including the Community Development Block Grant Program and the HOME Investment Partnerships Program.
North Little Rock received $676,662 in block grant funds and $331,627 in HOME funds.