The state/region in brief
Posted on Friday, January 9, 2009
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STEPHEN B. THORNTON Boat show setup Ray Giles (left) and Jeff Bennett, both with Red River Boating Center of Heber Springs, assemble pricing display stands as they set up for the 26th annual Arkansas Marine Expo on Thursday afternoon at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. The expo runs today through Sunday.
Russellville police detain man in death
RUSSELLVILLE - Police said Thursday they have a man in custody in connection with a fatal shooting in Russellville earlier this week.
Matthew Rodriguez, 23, died of his injuries Wednesday at UAMS Medical Center, according to the Pulaski County coroner's office.
The Russellville Police Department declined on Thursday to identify the victim or the person in custody, and the victim's hometown was unavailable.
Police said in a news release Wednesday that they responded to a report of a wounded man at 11:03 p.m. Tuesday. Emergency workers took the man to a local hospital and later transferred him to the Little Rock hospital, where he died Wednesday.
A Pope County jailer confirmed that Russellville police brought an 18-year-old man to the jail Wednesday on a firstdegree murder charge but said he didn't know if anyone else also was arrested that day on a murder charge.
Officer Joshua McMillian, police spokesman, said the department would release more information today.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Tiny earthquake strikes near Clinton
CLINTON - The U.S. Geological Survey said a small earthquake struck Wednesday near Clinton.
The agency said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 2.7 and happened at 2:32 p.m. The temblor hit about seven miles west-southwest of Clinton. Clinton is 59 miles north of Little Rock.
Emergency management officials in the county said they know of no damage from the quake.
A quake of magnitude 2.5 to 3.0 is the smallest generally felt by people. Hundreds of earthquakes occur each year. Most are so small they cannot be felt.
This earthquake was recorded after scientists placed portable seismographs throughout central Arkansas in November after a series of small temblors.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
4 kids hurt
in bus wreck
PINE BLUFF - Police say four students were injured when a Pine Bluff school bus dodging another car went into a culvert and ran into a light pole.
Police officers at the scene told the Pine Bluff Commercial newspaper that the students suffered minor injuries in the Thursday afternoon crash. Officers said the bus was at the corner of 27th Avenue and Main Street when it apparently had to dodge another car coming toward it.
The bus dropped into a culvert, then came back up and struck the light pole.
The injured students were taken to Jefferson County Regional Medical Center in Pine Bluff. Their conditions were not immediately available.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Somalian national
convicted in scam
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - A Somalia citizen living in Kansas City was convicted for his role in a conspiracy to provide fraudulent licenses to Somali and Bosnian nationals.
U.S. Attorney John F. Wood said a federal jury convicted Elias Mohamed, 28, for charges from a Sept. 21, 2006, federal indictment.
Prosecutors said the Kansas City trucking company and driving school issued fake commercial driver's licenses through a testing center in south Missouri.
Mohamed was accused of participating in a mail fraud conspiracy from April 2003 to February 2006.
He was accused of directing students to Ernest Arnel White, 51, knowing that White would provide the students with fraudulently obtained licenses.
White pleaded guilty on Dec. 19, 2007.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Inaugural trip off to save tribe money
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. - Some Cherokee Nation councilmen said a trip to attend the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama as president is an unnecessary expense and they're canceling them.
Councilmen Jodie Fishinghawk, Bill John Baker, Tina Glory Jordan, Joe Crittenden and David Thornton will not attend the event.
Fishinghawk said she gets calls regularly from constituents who have been laid off and said that a $50,000 donation to Obama's inauguration committee and the entire council attending the event are not in good taste.
Cherokee Nation Businesses donated the $50,000 to the inauguration committee.
Fishinghawk said the tribe saves about $17,000 by not having the five councilmen travel to Washington.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ammonia blast
injures three
MIAMI, Okla. - Two Missouri men and a woman have been hospitalized with burns after a fire extinguisher loaded with anhydrous ammonia exploded in a car, authorities said.
The blast occurred in a moving vehicle in south Ottawa County around 4:15 a.m. Wednesday near the junction of Oklahoma 10 and Oklahoma 60.
When authorities arrived, they found the three had removed most of their clothing, and their bodies appeared to be covered in chemical burns, Sheriff Terry Durborow said.
Anhydrous ammonia can be used to make methamphetamine. There were several ingredients needed to manufacture the drug strewn about the scene, Durborow said.
The names of the three weren't released.
The men were flown by medical helicopter to a Springfield, Mo., hospital, while the woman was flown to a Joplin, Mo., hospital.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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