An Arkansas lawmaker expressed concern Tuesday that upcoming restrictions on food stamp recipients’ purchases could make SNAP inaccessible to rural Arkansans if the state doesn’t give retailers clear guidance on how to implement the new rules. #arpx #arleg ✍️ : @tessmvrbin.bsky.social

The Arkansas Department of Corrections has made little discernible progress in fixing an aging wastewater plant that regularly violates its federal water permit, public records show. ✍️: @ainsleyplatt.bsky.social

President Donald Trump accused six Democratic lawmakers of sedition on social media Thursday and threatened them with punishment as severe as death, after they appeared in a video message encouraging U.S. armed forces to refuse “illegal orders.”

President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani turned around their heated criticism in remarks to the press after an Oval Office meeting Friday.

Via @tessmvrbin.bsky.social: Arkansas lawmakers returned an amended contract between the state’s child welfare agency and a California-based company to the subcommittee that reviewed it after a state representative raised concerns about the its stance on health care for transgender youth. #arpx

Via @ainsleyplatt.bsky.social: The Board of Corrections voted Tuesday to spend $1.95 million on upgrades and repair work at the Cummins-Varner Wastewater Treatment Plant. The decision came after the Arkansas Advocate published a deep dive into the delays and shifting timelines for fixing the plant.

Via @tessmvrbin.bsky.social: An Arkansas lawmaker expressed concern Tuesday that upcoming restrictions on food stamp recipients’ purchases could make SNAP inaccessible to rural Arkansans if the state doesn’t give retailers clear guidance on how to implement the new rules. #arpx

The Arkansas Advocate has big news! Andrew DeMillo, a veteran reporter who has covered Arkansas politics and policy for 23 years, will take the reins from retiring founding editor Sonny Albarado next month. Read more here:

In my latest for @arkansasadvocate.com, I did a deep dive on the delays and shifting timelines for fixing the Cummins-Varner Wastewater Treatment Plant, which treats the waste from Arkansas’ largest prisons. It’s a continuation of reporting I did at the ADG last year. Give it a read #arpx

Via @ainsleyplatt.bsky.social: The Arkansas Department of Corrections has made little discernible progress in fixing an aging wastewater plant that regularly violates its federal water permit, public records show. #arpx

President Donald Trump on Sunday night abruptly changed his tune, telling House Republicans to vote on a bill to compel the Department of Justice to release all files related to its investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 awaiting federal trial.

NEW from @ainsleyplatt.bsky.social: Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Sunday that she would comply with what she described as “unlawful” court orders to reschedule two special elections for vacant legislative seats, four days after the Arkansas Supreme Court declined to pause them. #arpx #arleg

NEW: Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has rescheduled the special elections in SD 26 and HD 70 for March, complying with what she called “unlawful” court orders that the Ark. Supreme Court declined to pause earlier this week. Story coming soon. #arpx #arleg

The Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality revived its Natural State Stewardship Program (NSTEP) after a brief hiatus Thursday, inducting a Fort Smith motor factory into the program for its commitments to reduce emissions.

The Arkansas State Library Board approved disbursing $1.37 million in state aid to local and regional libraries on Friday with little discussion. The meeting marked the board’s second since the governor appointed them under a new law dissolved the previous seven-member board. #arpx

The State Board of Education voted Thursday to release for public comment amended rules for Arkansas’ school voucher program that include new restrictions on how much funding can be used for extracurriculars. #arpx

More than 400 Arkansans entered the 2026 election cycle by Wednesday’s filing deadline, several of them returning candidates and some setting up rematches from the 2024 elections. #arpx #arleg

The Arkansas Supreme Court on Wednesday denied Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ request to stay two lower court orders requiring her to set earlier special election dates for two legislative vacancies. #arpx

Members of Ozark’s city council unanimously voted on Monday against starting discussions with the state to potentially supply water for a planned 3,000-bed prison in Franklin County. #arpx

A federal judge on Monday again converted a temporary restraining order to a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state law that requires displays of the Ten Commandments in public schools. #arpx #arleg

Health care providers sent Arkansas officials more than 300 proposals for how to utilize federal funding the state expects to receive to bolster rural health care in the face of impending changes to Medicaid. #arpx

Via @ainsleyplatt.bsky.social: The Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality revived its Natural State Stewardship Program after a brief hiatus Thursday, inducting a Fort Smith motor factory into the program for its commitments to reduce emissions. #arpx

Though Congress ended the record-setting federal government shutdown, many questions remain for states that were already wading through seismic federal changes. One major uncertainty: whether and how states will be reimbursed for the costs they incurred, as they have been in previous shutdowns.

Congress has roughly two months to find bipartisan agreement to curb rising health insurance costs if lawmakers want to avoid another government shutdown.

Some accreditation agencies acknowledge the process needs to evolve. But critics say the Trump administration is reshaping accreditation for political reasons, and risks undermining the legitimacy of the degrees colleges and universities award to students.

The longest shutdown in U.S. history ended Wednesday night when President Donald Trump signed a spending package that reopens the government and funds most of it through January.

NEW from @ainsleyplatt.bsky.social: The Arkansas Supreme Court denied Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ request to stay two lower court orders requiring her to set earlier special election dates for two legislative vacancies Wednesday evening. #arpx #arleg

The county involved in a small-town Kansas newspaper raid in 2023 will pay a cumulative $3 million to three journalists and a city councilor.

Via @ainsleyplatt.bsky.social: Members of Ozark’s city council unanimously voted on Monday against starting discussions with the state to potentially supply water for a planned 3,000-bed prison in Franklin County. #arpx

The off-and-on freeze of benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, that serves about 42 million people, was among the most consequential effects of a record-setting shutdown. Here’s a timeline over 42 days since Congress failed to pass new funding:

Kentucky’s two U.S. senators sparred this week over the future of the country’s hemp industry — one arguing that a provision attached to the package that will reopen the government will close a problematic loophole and the other contending the language will regulate the industry “to death.”

A year out from the 2026 midterm elections, legal fights and procedural maneuvering over ballot measures and referendums are already well underway in states across the country – including in Arkansas.

President Donald Trump announced on Monday he pardoned his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani and other people allegedly involved in the attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election, but the president’s federal pardon does not shield members of the group from state charges.

Via @tessmvrbin.bsky.social: Health care providers sent Arkansas officials more than 300 proposals for how to utilize federal funding the state expects to receive to bolster rural health care in the face of impending changes to Medicaid.

Via @grajeda.bsky.social: A federal judge on Monday again converted a temporary restraining order to a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state law that requires displays of the Ten Commandments in public schools.

The Arkansas Department of Human Services delayed its plan to furlough hundreds of employees and temporarily close offices next week if the federal government shutdown does not end before then, the agency announced Thursday. #arpx

Arkansas Democrats asked a Pulaski County circuit judge Thursday to hold the governor and secretary of state in contempt for failing to comply with a court order to set a special election in House District 70 for March 3. #arpx #arleg

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and the Arkansas Department of Agriculture announced a farm-to-table program Thursday for Arkansas schools that will provide meals to students using ingredients raised or grown in-state.

The Arkansas Department of Education released district level rankings for the first time as part of a redesigned school report card website that launched Thursday. #arpx ✍️: @grajeda.bsky.social

Three Central Arkansas food pantries reported spikes in demand in recent weeks as those who normally receive SNAP benefits steeled themselves for possibly losing the help due to the congressional spending impasse, a first in the program’s history. ✍️: @ainsleyplatt.bsky.social

Elementary and middle school administrators in a Central Arkansas school district ordered faculty and staff to remove a book from library shelves in October after a parent complained it was “grooming” children by portraying LGBTQ+ characters. #arpx

Jimmy Harris was sworn in Wednesday as the new Arkansas Insurance Commissioner. The governor appointed Harris, who has served as interim commissioner of the Arkansas Insurance Department since August when former commissioner Alan McClain retired. #arpx

The attorney general rejected for a second time Tuesday a proposed constitutional amendment to grant Arkansans the right to a clean and healthy environment. #arpx #arleg buff.ly/KtTz1fH

Arkansas’ first candidates for next year’s elections packed the Capitol rotunda on Monday to formally declare their candidacies, kicking off the nine-day filing period and the 2026 election cycle. #arpx #arleg

The Arkansas Department of Education accepted most of a task force’s recommendations to sustain the state’s financial assistance program for low-income families to access child care. #arpx ✍️: @tessmvrbin.bsky.social

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders approved the deployment of about 100 Arkansas Army National Guard soldiers to the nation’s capital to support the D.C. National Guard’s ongoing civil security operations. #arpx

The Arkansas Board of Corrections has supervisory authority over the Secretary of Corrections and directors of the Department of Corrections, a Pulaski County circuit judge ruled. #arpx #arleg ✍️: @sonnyalbarado.bsky.social

The U.S. Department of Agriculture told states Friday it was releasing full November funding for the nation’s major food assistance program that helps 42 million people afford groceries, complying with a federal court order issued Thursday.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to continue carrying out, for now, its policy requiring that passports only list a person’s sex assigned at birth.

Senate Democrats left their Thursday caucus lunch tight-lipped as an agreement to end the government shutdown, now the longest in U.S. history at 37 days, remained elusive.