LITTLE ROCK – The legislature has begun budget hearings in preparation for the 2022 fiscal session, which begins on February 14. Legislators will consider the governor’s proposed balanced budget of about $6 billion for Fiscal Year 2023, which officially begins on July 1.
The Clay County Jr. Fair Board is looking for new members in the 9th-12th grade from Corning, Piggott and Rector. The new Jr. Fair Board advisors, Reagan Groves and Erin Dixon, have a ton of ideas and plans for the Jr. Fair Board and the scholarship fundraisers. Contact Reagan Groves at (870) 324-1415 and Erin Dixon: (870) 324-3363 for more information. Applications will be going to the schools in a few weeks.
POCAHONTAS – Mark Mosier has been named Black River Technical College’s Interim Law Enforcement Training Academy (LETA) Director. Mosier has been a full time LETA instructor at BRTC since 2016 but started as an adjunct instructor in 1999, the academy’s inaugural year.
My husband and I both grew up in the country in the fifties in different areas of Arkansas. My dad raised hogs and chickens for food and a couple of cows for milk. Chicken killing was a common occurrence, and it didn’t bother me at all. I could watch the process taking place in the morning and ask for a second piece at supper. I have seen many a hog hung upside down after butchering and enjoyed pork all winter. Although he wasn’t a deer hunter, he would set his rabbit trap or shoot a squirrel to provide meat for the table.
PIGGOTT — Applications for the 2022 writer-inresidence program at the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center in Piggott are now being accepted. The residency is June 1-30, and includes lodging in a loft apartment on the downtown square in Piggott over the City Market coffee shop. The writer-in-residence will also have the opportunity to work in the studio where author Ernest Hemingway worked on his Pulitzer Prize winning book A Farewell to Arms during an extended stay with his wife’s family in 1928. The residency includes a $1,000 stipend to help cover food and transportation. If public health conditions allow, the writer-in-residence will be expected to serve as mentor for a week-long retreat for writers at the educational center. This retreat will be open to 8-10 writers. The recipient may be asked to hold one or two readings of his/her own work. The remainder of the month will be free to the writer-in-residence to work on his/her own work in a safe, socially-distanced environment. Candidates with an Master of Arts or Master of Fine Arts degree in a relevant field are preferred. Send a cover letter, CV, and writing sample of roughly 20 pages (in any genre) to Dr. Adam Long at adamlong@ AState.edu by Feb. 28.
Shayna Casinger and Zack Brown are happy to announce their engagement to be married. The couple became engaged on January 8 while on vacation in Cancun, Mexico. They have set their wedding date for March 1, 2022 at the Oaks Downtown. The ceremony will begin at 5:30 p.m.
There are birds all over the planet Earth. There may be some birds in your backyard right now. Many birds migrate during different times of the year looking for warmer or cooler weather, or to find food. There are birds that never migrate because they are made to live in a certain climate zone. Tropical birds don’t migrate. These birds live in tropical rainforests where it is warm year round, and there is always plenty of food. They are some of the most colorful and smartest birds on the planet. Certain tropical birds can be taught to dance, do tricks like playing fetch and even talk. Some tropical birds, like the hyacinth macaw, are endangered.
I like machines. Occasionally, usually on the couch, I envision an idyllic future, like the one in The Jetsons, where a robot rolls over to me with a martini. In the timeless classic by Flight of the Concords, the song Robots, set in “the distant future, the year 2000”, it is Man vs. Robot. The song is so good I’m rooting for the robots! And who could forget Short Circuit, the 1986 film starring Steve Guttenberg alongside a delightful robot, Number 5? The picture also gave us the hit single Who’s Johnny, by El Debarge. Okay, fine. Most people forgot that film but I did not! #neverforget!
Dear (Your-Name-Here) Foundation: I have a plan. Your part is to help.
Individuals work hard to save enough money to purchase their homes. And the hard work doesn’t end there. Once homeowners settle into a new home, they may set their sights on renovations that suit their individual needs. And even when buyers find a home that needs no such work, maintenance requires homeowners’ utmost attention.