eType Editor

LITTLE ROCK – Even though Arkansas has taken major steps to improve foster care over the past several years, the Division of Children and Family Services intends to do even better at recruiting foster families and providing services to children at a younger age. The division staff worked with educators, law enforcement, mental health professionals and non-profit organizations on a list of recommendations to better protect vulnerable children and strengthen families during times of crisis.

When I was growing up about 20 miles south of Fort Smith, Ark., I had multiple newspapers to choose from: the daily Southwest Times Record out of Fort Smith that covered the River Valley region, plus the weekly Mansfield Citizen and the Greenwood Democrat, as well as the school paper I cut my teeth on, the Mansfield Tiger Tale. For statewide news, there were the Arkansas Democrat and the Arkansas Gazette dailies. In college, I added the Jonesboro Sun (owned by the Troutt family until 2000), the ASU Herald and The Commercial Appeal out of Memphis to my repertoire.

It’s been a tough year for the state’s Freedom of Information Act. The open records law, one of the best in the country, has been updated often throughout its 56-year history to keep up with changing times, new industry and new technology.