By ANDREW DeMILLO

The Associated Press

LITTLE ROCK -- A law passed this year allows Arkansans of any age -- even infants -- to marry if their parents agree, and the governor may have to call a special session to fix the mistake, lawmakers said Friday.

The legislation was intended to establish 18 as the minimum age to marry but also allow pregnant teenagers to marry with parental consent, bill sponsor Rep. Will Bond said. But an extraneous "not" allows anyone who is not pregnant to marry at any age if the parents allow it.

The bill reads: "In order for a person who is younger than eighteen (18) years of age and who is not pregnant to obtain a marriage license, the person must provide the county clerk with evidence of parental consent to the marriage."

"We need a special session to fix this," said Sen. Sue Madison. "I am concerned about pedophiles coming to Arkansas to find parents who are willing to sign a very young child's consent."

Now are these people lame or what?  It's an EXTRANEOUS not....it shouldn't be there.  Everyone knows it shouldn't be there.  How much...oh how much...is the special session to fix this typo going to cost??? Perhaps Ginger Beebe can conduct a mental health tour of the Arkansas House.  Seems like there are some common sense issues......

Well.... apparently Gov. Beebe has decided that it's too late to make any changes to the plans on how to teach Arkansas history to public school students.

I've read various articles about the frameworks for teaching Social Studies and History by the Department of Education.  Can't help but notice how the American History guidelines seemed monopolized by post-Reconstruction era activites.  Also....someone remind them that the American Civil War is not 'THE' Civil War....as in a stated goal of having students "Analyze the causes and effects of the Civil War."

 Come on...

Just a personal aside if anyone at the Board of Education is listening....you should stop by and visit one of Dr. Sondra Gordy's Arkansas History classes.  She has a wealth of information and a visible passion for Arkansas history AND teachers. 

Not only that...she has a track record...and knows what works.  That'll beat any boardroom framework.

This article was published on Thursday, August 2, 2007 7:08 PM CDT in News

LITTLE ROCK -- Though a small percentage of Arkansas' more than 12,000 bridges are substandard, highway officials said Thursday they had no plans to beef up inspections in the wake of a deadly bridge collapse in Minneapolis.

"If any bridge was deemed unsafe we would close the bridge," said Glenn Bolick, spokesman for the state Highway Department.

The eight-lane Interstate 35 bridge, a major Minneapolis artery, was in the midst of repairs when it buckled during the evening rush hour Wednesday.

The official death toll stood at four Thursday, but authorities feared more victims were trapped in vehicles submerged beneath thick piles of concrete in the murky waters of the Mississippi River.

In a 2005 inspection, the span rated 50 on a scale of 100 for structural stability and transportation officials classified it as "structurally deficient" -- the same classification as just under 4 percent of the 7,146 bridges in the state highway system in Arkansas.

Another 12.8 percent of state highway bridges are deemed functionally obsolete, Bolick said.

Being structurally deficient "does not mean it's not safe," he said. "It may have some deficiency that does not meet current day standards, such as it needs shoulders or wider lanes ... but just because these bridges are deemed to be in these categories doesn't mean they are unsafe."

Every bridge in Arkansas is inspected at least every two years. The department's 20 full-time bridge inspectors around the state continued their regular inspection cycle Thursday, said Randy Ort, director of the department's public affairs office.

Until the cause of the Minnesota bridge collapse is determined, state engineers don't plan to change the way bridge inspections are conducted in Arkansas, Ort said.

"Right now we wouldn't know what to look for," he said.

However, he said Wednesday's bridge collapse should cause people to think about bridge safety and that many bridges in the state need to be repaired or possibly replaced.

Before this year's legislative session began in January, state Highway Director Dan Flowers estimated the state had about $19 billion in highway needs, including $1.6 billion for bridge repair and replacement.

"Anything that is obsolete or deficient sounds bad, and it needs to have something done to it to meet current standards," Bolick said. (The $1.6 billion estimate) is just a wish list. It would be nice to go out and replace or fix all the bridges."

The study, Bolick said, found that 14.5 percent of the county bridges and 6 percent of city bridges in the state are classified as structurally deficient, while 17 percent of county bridges and 18 percent of city bridges were considered functionally obsolete.

Ort said the bridges in Arkansas appear to be in better shape than in other states based on a recent national report he has seen that showed about 25 percent of the bridges in the United States were structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.

Ort said the state highway department is responsible for repairing state highway system bridges; counties are responsible for fixing county bridges and cities for repairing city bridges.

Gov. Mike Beebe, in a statement released Thursday afternoon, expressed sympathy for the families of those who died in the Minnesota collapse and said bridge safety is a top priority.

"If any information is found that warrants a review of inspection procedures in our state, my office will work with the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department to take necessary steps," Beebe said. "All of us use Arkansas highways, and the safety of travelers on our roads is of preeminent importance to my administration."

Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample also said the governor has not decided on whether to place a $575 million interstate highway bond package before voters in a special session or the 2008 general election ballot.

Act 511 of the 2007 session authorized the governor to call a special session or place a measure on the next general election ballot that would renew a 1999 interstate highway improvement bond program.

That money would only be used for repairs and not on new projects.

Voters defeated a similar proposed extension in 2005 after heavy criticism that the provision would have allowed the Highway Commission to continue to extend debt without a public vote.

AT A GLANCE

Deficient Bridges

The percentage of structurally deficient bridges by county in Arkansas, according to 2006 figures from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration. The federal figures show there were 12,553 bridges in Arkansas and 1,068 were structurally deficient -- in the same category of a bridge that collapsed Wednesday at Minneapolis. The figure amounts to 8.5 percent.

Arkansas highway officials put the 2007 figures at 12,398 bridges and 963 structurally deficient, or 7.8 percent.

Table shows county name, number of bridges in the county, number of bridges structurally deficient and the percentage of bridges structurally deficient.

County No. SD PctSD

Benton 316 38 12.0

Carroll 116 21 18.1

Crawford 242 10 4.1

Madison 135 23 17.0

Pulaski 700 34 4.9

Sebastian 261 7 2.7

Washington 415 19 4.6

Source: Federal Highway Administration

This article was published on Wednesday, August 8, 2007 6:35 PM CDT in News

By John Lyon
THE MORNING NEWS

LITTLE ROCK -- Gov. Mike Beebe said Wednesday he will not recommend a delay of controversial new guidelines for teaching Arkansas history, but he said discussion of the issue is not over.

"With the beginning of the school year only a few weeks away, it would not be practical to delay the implementation of the approved social studies frameworks." Beebe said in a statement issued by his office. "However, the discussion and hard work surrounding the importance of Arkansas history in the education of our children will continue toward a resolution before the next school year."

The new frameworks incorporate Arkansas history into the social studies curriculum in elementary grades and require the teaching of world history in seventh and eighth grades.

Beebe met Monday with historians who contend the changes will weaken the teaching of state history and education officials who say the changes will strengthen it.

The historians had asked for a one-year moratorium on the new guidelines, arguing the changes would cause schools to shift Arkansas history from junior high to high school, yet schools have no state history textbooks designed for high school students.

Historians also maintained high school students may not take Arkansas history if they complete their social studies requirements by taking other classes. State law requires teaching a semester of Arkansas history sometime between the seventh and 12th grades.

"I acknowledge the deep concerns expressed by some parties who fear that the new frameworks will decrease the emphasis on Arkansas history as a stand-alone course," Beebe said. "Let me again assure everyone that Arkansas students will be taught a separate semester of Arkansas history between the seventh and 12th grades, as required by law."

Tom Dillard, president of the Arkansas History Education Coalition, said the group was "very disappointed" by Beebe's decision not to recommend a delay of the guidelines.

"We think it's a mistake. We think it would actually be easier for the schools to delay them rather than implement them at this point," Dillard said.

Dillard said the group is seeking an opinion from Attorney General Dustin McDaniel about whether the guidelines comply with state law.

State Education Commissioner Ken James said Wednesday the new guidelines will not change "the paradigm" with respect to textbooks. More than 4,000 students took Arkansas history in high school last year under the old frameworks, using textbooks that were "elementary-based," he said.

"The textbook is not really designed to be the primary source of the entire course," James said. "It's a resource."

The Department of Education's textbook committee is about to begin the yearlong process of considering and selecting new textbooks. If changes are needed in the area of textbooks or other facets of the new frameworks, those changes can be made further down the road, according to James.

"Our objective is, we need to make the course, and any offering that we have, the best it can be," he said.

Dillard said he was encouraged by Beebe's pledge to resolve the controversy in the next year, although he would rather see a resolution now. He said he believes Beebe is sincere about wanting to address the coalition's concerns.

"I could tell in our meeting with the governor on Monday that the governor is quite upset that this whole thing came to pass, and he wants it fixed. We want it fixed too," Dillard said.