KUAR

Arkansas’ top law enforcement official has announced new funding to help police departments buy new equipment and provide training.

With the new school year just getting underway, the highly contagious delta variant of COVID-19 continues spreading through Arkansas schools.

Arkansas could lose over $100 million in federal aid for renters. On Monday, the state was identified as having one of the lowest disbursement rates for funding provided by the U.S. Department of Treasury's Emergency Rental Assistance program.

All intensive care unit beds for COVID-19 patients in Arkansas are full, with those people making up roughly half of all ICU patients in the state. That’s according to Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who said in his weekly coronavirus briefing Tuesday the state’s hospital capacity is at its lowest point since the pandemic began.

Connie Hamzy, a rock 'n' roll groupie from Arkansas who was immortalized as "sweet, sweet Connie" in the 1973 Grand Funk Railroad hit "We're an American Band," has died. She was 66.

Some Arkansans may have one less reason to be reluctant about getting a COVID-19 vaccine. On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration announced it had given full approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine.

The city of Little Rock is imposing a mask mandate in public places, defying a state law enacted last week that prohibits such mandates. The announcement Thursday by Mayor Frank Scott Jr. came the same day two Arkansas school districts filed a lawsuit against the state and Gov. Asa Hutchinson challenging the constitutionality of the new law.

An Arkansas House committee failed to advance two bills that would have amended the state’s current ban on mask mandates, likely ending the chance of passing before the end of the special session. By a series of voice votes Thursday, members of the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor did not pass either House Bill 1003 or House Bill 1004. Both would have given school boards the authority to require the wearing of masks.

A bill that would give Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson the authority to terminate an additional $300-per-week federal unemployment benefit is one step closer to becoming law.

A bill that would allow Arkansas school districts to implement mask mandates if they meet a COVID-19 case threshold is being reworked to address the concerns of some lawmakers. Members of the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee spent just under three hours Wednesday discussing and listening to public comments on the proposed legislation.