OK, here’s what I need you to do: Take the back of your fingertips and place them underneath your chin, back kind of near your throat. Now I want you to swiftly flip your fingers out from directly underneath your chin, as if you’re giving the back of your hand to someone standing in front of [...]

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More misleading: Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford, or this sign? Yesterday, I sat in the cheap seats at the legislative hearing on the Arkansas state health insurance exchange, because I wanted to hear how Jay Bradford, the state insurance commissioner, would defend spending millions of dollars in federal funds. But I also wanted the opportunity to [...]

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Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford All right, show of hands: You’ve all heard of the old sales tactic called  the “foot in the door” technique, right? Where a crafty salesman gets a customer to agree to a small request, in order to soften up said customer up for larger requests to come? Why, it’s a timeworn [...]

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Monday! This morning all the world awaited the news as to whether former University of Central Arkansas president Lu Hardin would be stoned in the town square or merely executed by firing squad for his crimes against humanity (he ended up with probation). Now that that’s over, keep your eye on this (more consequential) matter: At a [...]

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Click for closer look at Tax Foundation map A new study from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation ranks states for combined state and local sales tax rates, and ye olde Natural State checks in with one of the lowest rates in the nation! No, of course that’s not true. Arkansas clocks in with a combined state and local [...]

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  A worthy addition today to the “Just How Much Damn Money ARE They Wasting?” genre from Alison Sider of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: Sider follows up with state Dept. of Workforce Services (DWS) officials on the question of some $161 million in improper unemployment payments made over the last three years. Surprise! They say it’s not [...]

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If you haven’t been following the raging debate over national educational standards, congratulations, you’re exactly like me. But I’ll tell you one dude who HAS been following that discussion, and that’s our pal Jay Greene at the University of Arkansas Dept. of Education Reform. Earlier this week, Greene testified before a real live Congressional committee, where [...]

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The Quarter-Million Dollar Man: Ark. Workforce Services Director Artee Williams hits the jackpot. This story about the Arkansas Dept. of Workforce Services making $161 million in improper unemployment payments has opened up some swell reportage and commentary from around the state. A sample: John Lyon at the Arkansas News Bureau contributed this nice issue primer based on [...]

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OK, so hated Arkansas Scholarship Lottery Director Ernie Passailaigue (sp? I don’t care, I’ve looked it up for the last time) has resigned, at last, good riddance. Let us never speak of him again. Who will replace him? Well, I suppose you can sit around and gas over who MIGHT be up for the job, or [...]

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NORTH LITTLE ROCK — U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius praised Gov. Mike Beebe today for seeking to overhaul the state’s Medicaid program.

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