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.

All 50 states have applied for the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program in Republicans’ “big, beautiful” law, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Thursday.

Via @grajeda.bsky.social: 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

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.

The United States gained 42,000 jobs in October, the first increase since July as measured by ADP, a private payroll processing company and the only source of jobs estimates during the government shutdown, as federal jobs reports have been paused.

Following major Democratic wins in local and state elections across the country on Election Day, top Democratic congressional leaders pushed for a meeting with the president to end the federal government shutdown, which on Wednesday became the longest in U.S. history at day 36.

The U.S. Supreme Court during lengthy arguments Wednesday weighed whether President Donald Trump violated the Constitution when he became the first U.S. president to impose sweeping global tariffs under an economic emergency powers statute usually reserved to combat rare and unusual threats.

Democrats’ sweep of the biggest races in Tuesday’s off-year elections, including a California ballot measure to redraw that state’s congressional lines to give the party up to five more seats in the U.S. House, gave the party new confidence heading into the midterm elections next year.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Wednesday the Federal Aviation Administration would restrict air travel in 40 “high-traffic” areas of the country to relieve pressure on air traffic controllers who have been working without a paycheck since Oct. 1.

Via @ainsleyplatt.bsky.social: As SNAP benefits remained delayed, Central Arkansas food pantries are seeing spikes in demand, while the Arkansas Foodbank warns the charitable food system can't possibly meet the total need for assistance in America's most food insecure state. #arpx

Via @tessmvrbin.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

The Advocate's mothership launches a podcast this Friday! Give it a listen.

A panel of District of Columbia Court of Appeals judges Monday heard oral arguments from the Trump administration defending the president’s move to end asylum claims at the southern border through an executive order.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will pay about half of November benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, though benefits could take months to flow to recipients, the department said Monday in a brief to a federal court in Rhode Island.

Via @tessmvrbin.bsky.social: 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

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, U.S. Rep. French Hill and U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, all Republicans, filed their paperwork with the Secretary of State to run for reelection. Democratic challengers of all three candidates also filed Monday. #arpx ✍️: @tessmvrbin.bsky.social, @ainsleyplatt.bsky.social

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 Friday. #arpx ✍️: @sonnyalbarado.bsky.social

OPINION via @theshumater.bsky.social: The degree to which Arkansas Republicans are prepared to downplay, ignore or excuse the effects Trump’s tariffs are having on farmers would be comical — if agriculture were not our state’s largest industry and the linchpin of its rural economy.

A divided Arkansas Supreme Court said Thursday that two state laws related to ballot petitions violate the constitution, in a case involving a paper-ballot measure from Cleburne County. #arpx ✍️: @sonnyalbarado.bsky.social

Secretary of State Cole Jester announced Thursday that his office believes there are roughly 240 alleged noncitizens on Arkansas’ voter rolls. Thirty to 40 of those people are believed to have voted in an election. #arpx

Arkansas families & child care providers await a response from the state Department of Education after the Early Childhood Commission accepted and forwarded an emergency working group’s recommendations to keep child care centers afloat amidst a funding shortage with no end in sight.

Existing challenges for Arkansas’ farmers could be exacerbated by a prolonged federal government shutdown, Congressman Steve Womack told industry leaders Thursday, though he said he’s hopeful there will be movement toward reopening the government next week. #arpx

Addressing barriers to child care licensing in Arkansas, such as regulatory burdens and dependence on federal funding, could lead to greater access to care, particularly in underserved and rural areas of the state, according to a report released Wednesday. #arpx

A panel of child care experts on Tuesday recommended several steps the Arkansas Department of Education can implement by Saturday with the goal of preventing child care layoffs and closures throughout the state. #arpx

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences received a $4 million federal grant to support obstetric care for pregnant people in two rural South Arkansas counties. #arpx ✍️: @tessmvrbin.bsky.social

The installation of Ten Commandments posters on the University of Arkansas’ Fayetteville campus has led to the revocation of scholarships and discussions about the constitutionality of the displays. #arpx #arleg ✍️: @grajeda.bsky.social