If we’ve succeeded in keeping you informed throughout the year on new state policies, please consider donating to our nonprofit this #GivingTuesday. Your gift will be doubled, up to $1,000, thanks to a matching grant from Skip Rutherford. Thank you for your continued support! buff.ly/9hC4cIe

Via @arkansasadvocate.com: Former President Barack Obama shared his thoughts Monday on democracy, civic engagement and understanding others during the inaugural conversation of Building Bridges, a new lecture series hosted by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

CALLOUT: I am looking to interview individuals who have sought health care at crisis pregnancy centers, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and want to talk about their experience. The center can be located anywhere. If you or someone you know might be interested, please email or send me a DM.

30+ national organizations have signed onto a letter expressing “profound concern” about the demand by Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett that libraries receiving state grants remove remove books that "promote gender ideology" tennesseelookout.com/2025/12/01/l... @tennesseelookout.com

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

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:

Correction: Adams is running against Justice Nicholas Bronni, also a Sanders appointee, not Justice Hiland. (Bronni and Hiland are running for each other's seats because as appointees, they can't defend their own seats.)

The last point in this story is worth highlighting: Supreme Court Justice Cody Hiland, a Sanders appointee, will run for election against John Adams, an attorney who represented the plaintiffs against the 2023 library "obscenity" law and got it enjoined. #arpx arkansasadvocate.com/2025/11/13/a...

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

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

Here’s a teaser, a snippet of our pilot episode about the impact of Medicaid funding cuts. www.newsfromthestates.com/episode/excl... #FairFearlessFree #LocalJournalism

Rural Tennessee residents are going to be hit hard by SNAP freeze. In some rural counties, one out of every five residents relies on SNAP for food. tennesseelookout.com/2025/10/30/a... @friedmanadam5.bsky.social @tennesseelookout.com

Can't believe I gave up watching this game in the top of the 18th

From @tessmvrbin.bsky.social: The grant will bring “comprehensive, team-based care closer to home” in Ashley and Union counties, Dr. Nirvana Manning, the grant recipient and chair of the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said in a Monday news release. #arpx

An internal memo shows NLRSD admin told staff they are "required to hide" dozens of titles with LGBTQ+ characters and themes. "Certain reading materials... may not align with the diverse belief systems of all our school district families," the memo states. arkansasadvocate.com/2025/10/23/n...

Hundreds of Arkansans marched down Capitol Avenue in downtown Little Rock Saturday morning in a joint effort to protest the Trump administration and to celebrate LGBTQ+ Arkansans. @tessmvrbin.bsky.social has a recap of the Pride and #NoKings rallies. #arpx arkansasadvocate.com/2025/10/18/h...

Some religious counterprotesters are playing live music on the Capitol steps. No violence between them and the #NoKings supporters gathered here. @arkansasadvocate.com

Teana Bailey of Perryville (50 min. from Little Rock) said she was raised Republican but protests the Trump administration because "right is right and wrong is wrong." #nokings @arkansasadvocate.com

Elizabeth Wiggins drove two and a half hours from El Dorado to Little Rock to protest with friends. Being here is important because Trump "wants us to be silent," Wiggins said. #NoKings @arkansasadvocate.com

Good morning from #NoKings in downtown Little Rock, which coincides with Central Arkansas #Pride. I'm here for @arkansasadvocate.com

Arkansas’ child care system needs additional funding to avoid widespread closures and layoffs due to changes to the state’s financial aid program for low-income families, providers told the state Early Childhood Commission during a Wednesday work session. ✍️: @tessmvrbin.bsky.social buff.ly/kPS6Zkv

My contribution to States Newsroom's coverage of the proposed federal ban on Medicaid reimbursements for Planned Parenthood: This has been the law in Arkansas for years, and while low-income people have some other affordable health care options, those options don't specialize in women's health.

Rural hospitals in need of financial stability can get more federal money if they cut inpatient beds. The Camden hospital is willing to do this even though they'd have to scale back labor and delivery services. Other hospitals decided the exchange isn't for them. arkansasadvocate.com/2025/10/06/t...

There's a possibility of two Arkansas legislative special elections before the regular ones next year: one to replace the late Sen. Gary Stubblefield (will definitely happen) and one if Rep. Carlton Wing takes over Arkansas PBS (not a done deal yet). #arpx arkansasadvocate.com/2025/09/17/a...

Via @tessmvrbin.bsky.social: Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders officially declared state Senate District 26 a vacant seat in the Legislature yesterday, paving the way for a special election to succeed Sen. Gary Stubblefield, who died earlier this month. #arpx #arleg

Arkansas legislators reverse decision to withhold state funding for 40 municipalities that missed deadline to submit audits, despite concerns by some lawmakers that extending deadline in violation of state law was “dangerous uncharted territory.” @tessmvrbin.bsky.social reports

Via @tessmvrbin.bsky.social: Up to 40 Arkansas National Guard members will assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in apprehending migrants at risk of deportation under the federal Title 32 program, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Tuesday. #arpx

Charlie Kirk shot during event at Utah Valley University. @utahnewsdispatch.com story by @kmckellar.bsky.social:

Kansas recently signed a $44M deal with RedMane Technology to upgrade its child welfare information system. What does that have to do with Arkansas? RedMane had a similar contract here that ended after two years of the state's frustration over lack of progress. arkansasadvocate.com/2025/09/08/e...

Via @tessmvrbin.bsky.social: Arkansas public libraries will receive their usual allotments of state funding for the first quarter of the 2026 fiscal year, a Department of Education attorney told the new State Library Board during its first meeting Tuesday. #arpx

Teens calling Idaho's suicide hotline are being told they can't proceed with the conversation without parental consent. Many of the callers are then hanging up. Idaho approved a strict parental consent law last year. idahocapitalsun.com/2025/08/29/i...

From @sonnyalbarado.bsky.social and @grajeda.bsky.social: Sen. Gary Stubblefield, a Branch Republican who served a dozen years in the Arkansas Senate, died Tuesday at the age of 74. #arpx

Via @tessmvrbin.bsky.social: Arkansas faith leaders petitioned Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday not to restart executions in the state in light of a new law allowing the use of nitrogen gas suffocation for the death penalty. #arpx

Two of the new members are from Yellville and Benton, sites of local unrest over public library leadership, content and/or funding. Sydney McKenzie, wife of a GOP lawmaker from Rogers, is the only reappointed member (so far; one appointee has yet to be announced).

Today's our birthday! Looking for the perfect gift? Consider giving the gift of independent, local journalism by making a donation to our nonprofit's fundraiser. We hope to raise $3,000 to purchase audio and video equipment to enhance our reporting. You can give at buff.ly/yM94LEp Thank you!

Last month, we reported that the IRS was preparing a system that would share millions of taxpayers' data with ICE. Now we can confirm data was officially transferred ⤵️

A federal appeals court lifted the injunction on Arkansas’ law banning transgender minors’ health care, clearing the way Tuesday for it to be enforced after four years. ✍️: @tessmvrbin.bsky.social

Yesterday the entire Searcy County Election Commission received letters of reprimand from the state on two charges of violating election laws. A poll worker was reprimanded today for electioneering, but as with yesterday, the board decided not to decertify her. arkansasadvocate.com/briefs/arkan...

As of tomorrow, nonprofit Arkansas hospitals will be allowed to hold retail pharmacy permits, and drug manufacturers will face restrictions on their ability to limit the availability of drugs in the state. arkansasadvocate.com/2025/08/04/l...

Ann Cornwell is retiring in December after 45 years in the Arkansas Senate. Colleagues describe her as a dedicated public servant who’s led with grace and a commitment to excellence while directing staff and legislators through the intricacies of creating state law. #arpx #arleg

Arkansas' first-in-the-nation ban on pharmacy benefit managers owning retail pharmacies may rise or fall over provision exempting Arkansas-based Walmart, which took center stage Wed. during federal court hearing in suit challenging ban. @tessmvrbin.bsky.social reports. #arpx #arnews buff.ly/4Trxclg

After SCOTUS upheld Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming health care for trans kids, Arkansas AG Tim Griffin said this means the injunction on Arkansas' similar ban should be lifted. arkansasadvocate.com/2025/07/17/p...

Many people in the Delta region of the Deep South say Medicaid work requirements and other provisions in the "big, beautiful" bill ignore the reality of living in poorer rural communities. Part of “Uninsured in America,” a project led by @pubhealthwatch.bsky.social stateline.org/2025/07/03/m...

Arkansas PBS board votes to continue PBS affiliation amid attack on funding by Trump administration; state network - facing $2.5M cut - could have saved $2.3M by not renewing PBS membership but would have lost PBS programming. @tessmvrbin.bsky.social reports. #arpx

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine said restorative reproductive medicine “is not medical practice but ideology... Its proponents create a false narrative that standard fertility care skips proper diagnosis or healing, when in fact, it is based on precisely those principles."

The Mountain Pine school board voted in March 2023 to limit elementary schoolers' access to LGBTQ+ books. The state lawmakers representing the small city sponsored a new law this year that makes these restrictions mandatory for elementary schools statewide. #arpx arkansasadvocate.com/2025/06/16/l...

Article by @tessmvrbin.bsky.social and I summing up yesterday's #NoKings protest in Little Rock for @arkansasadvocate.com. Check it out. arkansasadvocate.com/2025/06/14/t...

The #NoKings protest and rally is officially over here in Little Rock. Stay tuned for @tessmvrbin.bsky.social and I’s story on it in @arkansasadvocate.com

Here’s the interview from @tessmvrbin.bsky.social for @arkansasadvocate.com

At Little Rock's #NoKings protest, Lizbeth Huggins (right) said she is married to an immigrant and is concerned that federal leaders think they can "ignore the Constitution and do whatever [they] want." @arkansasadvocate.com