Andrew DeMillo / Associated Press

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A proposal to legalize casinos in Arkansas has been approved for the November ballot.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal judge on Monday extended a halt she had imposed on an Arkansas law that critics say would make the state the first in the nation to effectively ban abortion pills.

U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker granted a preliminary injunction preventing Arkansas from enforcing the law, which says doctors who provide the pills must hold a contract with a physician with admitting privileges at a hospital who agrees to handle any complications.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for the state to launch its medical marijuana program, reversing and dismissing a judge's ruling that prevented officials from issuing the first license for businesses to grow the drug.

  LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Opponents of a Ten Commandments display at the Arkansas state Capitol filed federal lawsuits Wednesday to have the monument removed, arguing it's an unconstitutional endorsement of religion by government

Democrats in central Arkansas will choose the party's nominee for a Republican-held U.S. House seat the party believes it has a chance to reclaim this fall, while a state Supreme Court justice is seeking re-election in a campaign that's marked by an onslaught of attack ads from an out-of-state group.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas judge said Friday he'll rule by the middle of next week on whether to allow the state to issue its first licenses for companies to grow medical marijuana after hearing complaints from an unsuccessful applicant challenging the permitting process.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked the state from awarding its first licenses for companies to grow medical marijuana in response to complaints about the state's process for reviewing applications for the facilities.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An attorney for a Little Rock man challenging Arkansas' voter ID law called the measure an end run around a court decision striking down a nearly identical state law four years ago, while attorneys for the state called the provision a proper way to verify a voter's registration.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas lawmakers voted Wednesday to keep the state's Medicaid expansion another year after federal officials said the state can require people on the program to work or volunteer to keep their coverage.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A top Trump administration official is visiting Arkansas next week as state leaders await word on requests to impose a work requirement and scale back the eligibility of its Medicaid expansion, Gov. Asa Hutchinson's office said Friday.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A former federal consumer product regulator dropped his bid for the Arkansas Legislature Wednesday and is now trying to unseat the state's Republican attorney general.

Mike Lee filed paperwork to seek the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. Lee, 70, is the first Democrat to announce a race against Rutledge, who filed last week to seek re-election.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas' ban on the use of a weed killer blamed by farmers in several states for crop damage will remain in place after a state judge dismissed a legal challenge by a maker of the herbicide.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas lawmakers said Tuesday they're concerned about the impact of a recent court ruling that they can't scale back the state's immunity from lawsuits, and said they may need to put the issue before voters in two years if a group can't get its proposal on the ballot this fall.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas lawmakers recommended regulators move forward Tuesday with efforts to ban an herbicide that farmers in several states say has drifted onto their crops and caused damage, advancing the prohibition despite a lawsuit by a maker of the weed killer.

A legislative subcommittee supported the state Plant Board's proposal to ban the use of dicamba from April 16 through Oct. 31. The proposed ban is scheduled to go before the Legislative Council, the Legislature's main governing body when lawmakers aren't in session, for a final vote on Friday.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The former head of an education nonprofit says he's running against Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson in Arkansas next year, marking the first Democrat to announce a bid for the solidly red state's top office.

Jared Henderson is the former executive director of the Arkansas branch of Teach for America. He said Tuesday that he'll seek the party's nomination to challenge the first-term governor.

updated  on 12/8/17 at 10:26 am

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The Latest on a judge ordering Arkansas to stop issuing birth certificates (all times local):

10:20 a.m.

Arkansas officials say they won't issue or amend birth certificates in response to a judge's order halting the program until the state complies with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling to amend a state birth certificate law it says illegally favors heterosexual parents.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A "semi-retired" rancher and farmer who hasn't sought political office before said Tuesday he's challenging an Arkansas Republican congressman as a Democrat next year.

Mike Nelson said he is seeking the party's nomination to challenge Republican Rep. Rick Crawford in the 1st Congressional District. Crawford has held the seat since 2010 and is seeking re-election next year.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas lawmakers have approved an effort to scale back the state's hybrid Medicaid expansion by moving 60,000 people off the program and to require some remaining participants to work.

The Senate and House gave final approval to identical measures Wednesday allowing the state to seek federal approval for the new restrictions to the program, which covers more than 300,000 people. The program was created in 2013 as an alternative to expanding Medicaid under the federal health overhaul.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Two condemned Arkansas killers who admit they're guilty but fear their poor health could lead to extreme pain during lethal injections set for Monday might become the first inmates put to death in a double execution in the U.S. in more than 16 years.

Jack Jones and Marcel Williams are set to die in what would be the second and third executions in Arkansas this month. The state set an aggressive plan to execute several inmates before one of its lethal injection drugs expires at the end of April.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas judge who participated in an anti-death penalty demonstration after issuing an order blocking the state's executions is defending the move, saying his ruling was guided by property law and not his views on capital punishment.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas' governor says he has signed legislation expanding the locations where concealed handguns are allowed in the state to include colleges, some bars, government buildings and even the state Capitol.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas Supreme Court justices have questioned whether a city's ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity flies in the face of a 2015 state law that was intended to prevent local LGBT protections.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas Senate panel has advanced Gov. Asa Hutchinson's $50 million proposal to cut income taxes for more than 600,000 low-income residents.

The Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee on Wednesday endorsed the Republican governor's proposal to cut income taxes for those making less than $21,000 a year. The legislation would also form a task force to recommend further tax cuts before the 2019 legislative session.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is making his case to lawmakers for a legislative agenda that includes a $50 million plan to cut taxes for low-income residents.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Divisions within the Republican Party over tax cuts and questions about the launch of the Bible Belt's first medical marijuana program are expected to dominate the agenda when Arkansas lawmakers return to the Capitol this week to start their 2017 session.