OPINION — Editorial

Quick hits

Edits in a minute

There was other news last week, Mr. and Mrs. Arkansawyer. It just seemed as though one piece of news was all that mattered.

For the record, a 71-year-old man from Texas won the $177 million Mega Millions jackpot with a ticket he bought in Stuttgart, Ark. Any reader of this column knows our opinion on the lottery. It may have been put best by Edwin Edwards, former governor of Louisiana and former guest of the federal government. He once told a reporter he never played the lottery. "The odds are terrible." Governor Edwards liked his odds with the dice much better.

But, as lottery supporters quickly note, somebody has to win. Eventually. Congratulations to Eliberto Cantu, and may his family invest wisely. Many, many people have donated to the cause.


Word around the campfire is that the governor of Arkansas will probably call a special session of the Legislature to go over changes in Medicaid. The session might start May 1 and is only expected to last a couple of days. As far as putting online sales taxes on the call, the speaker of the House said he has "no expectation" of that being brought up, even after the Little Rock Board of Directors requested it.

The Ledge tried passing common-sense legislation in the last session to collect these taxes, but, according to Jeremy Gillam, "The Senate didn't like the House bill and the House didn't like the Senate bill . . . ."

But there are millions of dollars that the state (and cities) aren't getting because online companies aren't paying the same tax that local merchants are. We can't imagine why lawmakers can't see this. What's even harder to imagine is their constituents in the business community haven't explained it to them yet.


Emotions were tough to control the other day when a committee at the Arkansas Department of Education suggested revoking the charter of Covenant Keepers College Preparatory School because of what the panel called governance, financial and academic problems.

We make no judgment on the complaints against the school or charter administrators' claims that things are getting better. But there's a larger point to make after reading this story:

This proves, again, one of the advantages of charter schools. They can be shut down. If they somehow don't live up to their standards, or meet expectations, or just can't do the job they set out to do, they can be shuttered. When was the last time you heard of that happening at a traditional public school?


In this month's Hey Martha story, we learn that the flood of 1927 hit Arkansas harder than, yes, even Louisiana. ("What has happened down here since the wind has changed? Clouds rolled in from the north and it started to rain.") But the story in Arkansas' Newspaper said Arkansas was hit harder than Louisiana and Mississippi combined!

For those of us who grew up hearing stories from the old folks at home about that flood, and how many Arkies were run out of the Delta, it shouldn't have surprised. But somehow it still did.


Tom Cotton, the junior United States senator from Arkansas, let it slip last week that he talks with the president on a weekly basis. Either in person at the White House or on the phone.

First thought: Well, at least the president is getting good advice from somewhere.

Editorial on 04/24/2017

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