Little Rock Public Radio
Formally KUAR, news from the staff of content partners Little Rock Public Radio at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. They are a NPR member station.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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As members of the Arkansas General Assembly began a special session Wednesday to consider a proposal by Gov. Asa Hutchinson to revise a ban on mask mandates, the head of an east Arkansas school district said the number of students in quarantine because of possible exposure to the coronavirus had grown to more than 750.
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On the day before the Arkansas General Assembly begins a special session to consider modifying a state law prohibiting mask mandates, Gov. Asa Hutchinson acknowledged there might not be legislative support for the change.
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The public health emergency recently re-declared by Gov. Asa Hutchinson will continue after state legislators decided not to repeal it.