Arkansas farmers are still recovering from one of the worst droughts in recent decades on the Mississippi River. Dry weather across the United States over the summer caused the Mighty Mississippi’s water levels to dip so low this fall that thousands of barges got stuck in the mud, halting trade on one of America’s most vital waterways.

The timing of the drought coincided with the height of harvest season for farmers, causing potentially big losses for those who didn’t have storage for crops that could not be loaded onto barges.

At Poinsett Rice & Grain’s port near Osceola, more than a hundred trucks — double the usual number – have been arriving daily this December to try to offload crops that weren’t shipped earlier this year.

Water levels are higher now but the fallout from the drought will be felt for months as farmers, and the supply chains responsible for transporting their goods, recover losses.

Capitol & Scott visited Poinsett Port where Jeff Worsham, port manager, discusses how the extreme weather event continues to impact business. Hunter Biram, an assistant professor and agricultural economist with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, also joins the show to discuss what 2022’s historic drought means for commodity markets now and in years to come.

Additional reading:

Drought snarls Mississippi River transit in blow to farmers

Arkansas farmers paying price of low water

Record low Mississippi River levels have Arkansas farmers dealing with challenges

Let us know what topics would you like to hear about in future episodes: arkansasonline.com/capitol-and-scott/

Duck hunting is big business in this tiny Arkansas Delta town that’s host to the annual Wings Over the Prairie Festival, a week-long celebration featuring duck gumbo cookoffs, duck-calling competitions, even a Queen Mallard beauty pageant. Tens of thousands descend upon Stuttgart for the event, which coincided this year with the start Nov. 19 of waterfowl hunting season.

Stuttgart, and the Arkansas Delta, are famous nationally for renown waterfowl hunting grounds. Private jets fly into the local airstrip carrying celebrities, politicians and business moguls who stay in expensive hunting lodges around the town. Local businesspeople estimate the industry generates about $1 million in economic benefits per day during the hunting season. But there is concern the seasonal hunting economy could be in jeopardy because the trees that provide the acorns and seeds ducks feed on are dying in droves.

The wetland habitat in the Delta has been under threat or mostly disappeared over the past century. Those flooded bottomland hardwood forests were chopped down to make way for farms. Around the middle of the 20th century, local landowners and conservationists began re-creating the flooded forests, resulting in wooded areas where trees are covered with water almost year-around instead of only a couple of months per year. What was once a boon for duck hunting emerged as problematic as tree species not adapted to year-around flooding have been dying – tree species that produced the food ducks and geese fly hundreds of miles for annually to feed on throughout the winter.

There are efforts to turn back the tide and save the wetlands. Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is mitigating flooding in the Delta’s green tree reservoirs, or GTRs, while working to bring back habitat that’s been declining. There’s hope that it is not too late to reverse the damage.

On this week’s Capitol & Scott, host Lara Farrar travels to Stuttgart to meet with organizers of the Wings Over the Prairie Festival and learn about they’re concerns about wetland preservation. Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Luke Naylor, head of the agency’s Wildlife Management Division, also joins the show to talk about efforts to save some of the most valuable waterfowl hunting habitat in the country.

Background reading: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/nov/27/tennessean-captures-duck-calling-title/

Let us know what topics would you like to hear about in future episodes: arkansasonline.com/capitol-and-scott/

With high voter turnout and some surprising results across the country, the 2022 midterm elections are almost over. Returns from some key races are not yet in, but outcomes indicate that Republicans did not gain as much ground as predicted in early polling. 

Arkansans woke up to the state’s first female governor after Sarah Huckabee Sanders beat Democratic opponent Chris Jones. Attorney General Leslie Rutledge defeated liberal opponent Kelly Krout to become the first female lieutenant governor here. Republicans maintained firm control of the state’s legislature.

Voters did not pass an initiative to legalize recreational marijuana in the state. Constituents in Craighead County voted in favor of decreasing funding for public libraries there, which could pave the way for similar movements in Arkansas and elsewhere in the U.S. 

To break down the results, the surprises and what it all could mean for the 2024 presidential election, Skip Rutherford, dean emeritus of the Clinton School of Public Service, joins Capitol & Scott the day after Election Day.

Rutherford served as a key advisor to former President Bill Clinton’s presidential campaigns and is an expert election pundit.

Get live updates on Arkansas election results: arkansasonline.com/elections

Let us know what topics would you like to hear about in future episodes: arkansasonline.com/capitol-and-scott/

Arkansans will see four ballot issues when going to the polls to cast their votes in the 2022 midterm elections.

Early voting has already started. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8.

The four measures would all amend the state’s constitution and cover a range of issues, including the legalization of cannabis for recreational use and the protection of religious freedoms.

Kristin Higgins, a program associate with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Public Policy Center, joins Capitol & Scott to discuss what this year’s ballot issues are and what they could mean for voters now and in the future.

The Public Policy Center has published a 2022 voter guide that details each of the ballot issues, which can be downloaded here.

For information on the 2022 general election check out the Democrat-Gazette’s 2022 voter guide at: arkansasonline.com/voter-guide/

Let us know what topics would you like to hear about in future episodes: arkansasonline.com/capitol-and-scott/

At the end of November, the second half of a trial challenging a law banning gender affirming health care for transgender minors will resume, during which the defense will make its case that the law — known as Act 626 of 2021, The Save Adolescents From Experimentation Act — is in the best interest of adolescents.

The first week of the trial wrapped up Friday, Oct. 21, in Little Rock where U.S. District Judge James M. Moody Jr. heard testimony from parents, their children and physicians who are challenging the law. Attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union are representing the parents and children. Act 626 is not yet in effect after Moody issued a preliminary injunction last summer.

Democrat-Gazette federal courts reporter Dale Ellis covered last week’s proceedings. He joins Capitol & Scott host Lara Farrar to discuss highlights from plaintiff testimony, the significance of the case nationally and what likely will happen when the defense resumes testimony Nov. 28.

Catch up on the legal procedings:

Trial will decide fate of Arkansas law banning transgender care for minors

Second day of transgender care trial features testimony by patients’ fathers

Teen’s testimony highlights third day of transgender care trial

State to finish putting on its case in transgender care trial late next month

State’s request to dismiss Arkansas transgender case denied, trial adjourns until late November

 Let us know what topics would you like to hear about in future episodes: arkansasonline.com/capitol-and-scott/

The covid-19 pandemic saw many teachers in Arkansas retiring or leaving the profession, intensifying a teacher shortage already on the verge of crisis levels. 

The National Education Association has estimated a shortage of more than 300,000 teachers and staff across the country. In Arkansas, data from the state’s Education Department indicates the worst shortages are in rural districts. 

Shay Loring, executive director for secondary schools with the Little Rock School District, and Jennifer Cobb, senior vice president and executive director at City Year Little Rock, join host Lara Farrar on this week’s episode of Capitol & Scott to talk about the shortage.

Loring and Cobb discuss how districts are retaining and recruiting educators while adapting their programs to ensure a continued stable environment for students. 

Suggested reading:

ACT scores fall for state, nation

Arkansas lawmakers discuss ideas for increasing teacher pay

Let us know what topics would you like to hear about in future episodes: arkansasonline.com/capitol-and-scott/

Lethal overdoses of an illicit form of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid used for pain treatments, are on the rise in Arkansas.

The drug, which is deadly in very small amounts, is appearing in fake pills as well as street drugs, like cocaine, heroin and ecstasy. The latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that fatal overdoses increased more than 40% in Arkansas between 2019 and 2020 — largely driven by an increase in fentanyl.

Convicting those who sell the drug is also difficult. In the case of deadly overdoses, prosecutors must tie the victim to the dealer or source of the drug and prove that the lethal fentanyl dose was distributed by that individual. As little as 2 milligrams can be fatal, the CDC says.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette federal courts reporter Dale Ellis and Chris Givens, deputy criminal chief for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Little Rock, join Capitol & Scott to discuss the fentanyl crisis, what is driving it and how authorities are working overtime to try to stop its spread.

Let us know what topics would you like to hear about in future episodes: arkansasonline.com/capitol-and-scott/

Cash-strapped rural hospitals are waiting for state lawmakers to approve some $60 million in federal funding to ease financial constraints that worsened during the pandemic.

At the end of August, Arkansas’ 15-member American Rescue Plan steering committee recommended approval of the state Department of Human Services’ request for the money that would be funneled to hospitals at risk of closing within months, or even weeks.

Bo Ryall, Arkansas Hospital Association president and CEO, joins Capitol & Scott host Lara Farrar to discuss the ongoing challenges rural hospitals are facing in Arkansas and what it would mean for the state’s health-care system should such facilities have no choice but to close.

State and federal agencies have opened criminal investigations into three law enforcement officers after a video emerged from a Sunday morning incident in Crawford County of a suspect being brutally beaten during an arrest outside of a convenience store. The video, shot by a bystander, showed police kicking, punching and pounding the suspect’s head on pavement.

The clip, which has millions of views, garnered widespread public outrage as well as coverage from state and national news organizations. The FBI, the Arkansas State Police and other agencies are conducting criminal investigations into the three law-enforcement officers involved in the arrest: Crawford County sheriff deputies Zack King and Levi White and local Mulberry police officer Thell Riddle. 

Suspect Randal Worcester, 27, was treated at a local hospital and released on bond. He faces a number of charges, including resisting arrest and 2nd degree battery.

Tom Carpenter, Little Rock city attorney, joins host Lara Farrar on today’s special episode of Capitol & Scott to discuss the use of excessive force by law enforcement, how such cases are investigated and why they can be challenging to prosecute.

Let us know what topics would you like to hear about in future episodes: arkansasonline.com/capitol-and-scott/

As much-needed rainfall blankets Arkansas this week, farmers across the state are still dealing with one of the worst droughts in recent history. More than a dozen counties were classified as disaster areas because of weeks of dry conditions paired with scalding temperatures. Conditions this summer have not been this dire since a drought in 2012.

Farmers will begin assessing the toll of the extreme weather in coming weeks as they prepare to harvest crops. Yields will determine the impact not only on the crops but also on farmers' bottom line. The estimated loss for livestock farmers is already coming it at around $100 million.

In Capitol & Scott’s two-part series on the impact of climate change on agriculture in Arkansas, our second episode centers on the economic impacts and risk assessment of droughts.

University of Arkansas agricultural economist John Anderson joins host Lara Farrar to talk about how the sector has been affected so far and projections for the second half of 2022.

Check out last week’s episode featuring Hallie Shoffner, a sixth-generation farmer in the Arkansas Delta, who shares the story of how extreme weather conditions are changing the way her family’s farm does business.