Since Gov. Asa Hutchinson's briefing Monday afternoon, Arkansas lawmakers have overturned his veto of the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act, which bans gender-affirming medical care to transgender minors. During the media conference, Hutchinson said the bill is "extreme" and an overreach of government.

In the mid-1990s, dozens of bald eagles started dying at DeGray Lake after exhibiting neurological symptoms like stumbling, flying into cliffs and stooped wings. A quarter century later, researchers have identified the specific pollutant that causes blue green algae to make a novel toxin that then leads to brain lesions in the birds. Their research was published last month in Science Magazine .

In his weekly conversation with Roby Brock, of Talk Business and Politics, John Brummett, a political columnist with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette , considers recent Arkansas legislation regarding guns and what it says about the current state of politics.

Our Militant Grammarian, Katherine Shurlds, is back with a spelling test. She's selected a few easily misspelled words and offers a few ideas about remembering the correct way to spell them.

A bill that would allow certain adults with cognitive or intellectual disabilities to have supportive decision-making rights, rather than more restrictive guardianships, failed to progress in the Arkansas legislature. Advocates say supportive decision-making laws are trending and have been enacted in 13 states, so they plan to press forward with similar measures in Arkansas.

The University of Arkansas is maintaining its campus mask requirement after Gov. Asa Hutchinson lifted the statewide mask mandate on Mar. 30. The university is also offering more vaccinations to staff and students as they prepare to bring more people back to campus this summer.

For decades, politics in Conway County moved with Marlin Hawkins. He was an elected official who created an efficient political machine that propelled him to 40 years in office. We use archives from the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History with Randy Dixon as our guide to learn more about Hawkins' legacy.

Lawmakers voted unanimously this legislative session to pass an act that creates the Alzheimer's and Dementia Advisor Council, which will be charged with overseeing an Alzheimer's and Dementia Disease Plan. David Cook with the Arkansas chapter of the Alzheimer's Association says the state has to address the growing number of people and families dealing with the disease.

To raise awareness surrounding proposed hate crimes legislation, the Urban League of the State of Arkansas and its partners announced their Arkansas United Against Hate campaign at the state Capitol yesterday. Meanwhile, Republican legislators filed a new bill that they say will address class protections.

Michael Tilley, with our partner Talk Business and Politics , discusses sales tax collections in Fort Smith after more than a year of the pandemic. He also tells us about what the blocked Suez Canal means for local supply chains and a change in local weather forecasting.