GDELTArkansas
Goldstein: -4.4Tone: 0.0
BELLA VISTA -- The Arkansas Ethics Commission issued Mayor John Flynn a public letter of caution and a $50 fine for mixing city resources with his reelection campaign.
This is subscriber-exclusive reporting from the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. It's original coverage you can't get anywhere else.
Copyright © 2026, Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC. (NWA Media)
This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC
Material from the Associated Press is Copyright © 2026, Associated Press and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. The AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing. All rights reserved.
Open article →GDELTArkansas
Goldstein: 5.4Tone: 0.0
MELBOURNE -- Ozarka College, a two-year community college in Melbourne, entered into a $100,000 contract with a private consulting firm in 2024 to help secure a federal grant on behalf of the college.
The problem, however, is that the college never submitted the contract for a legally required legislative review before work began.
Ozarka officials acknowledged their mistake in documents submitted to state lawmakers, attributing the failure to obtain the required legislative review before work began to an oversight involving staff turnover and changes in federal guidance.
Now, nearly three years later, after successfully securing the grant and with the contractor awaiting payment, Ozarka is going before lawmakers Tuesday to ask them to retroactively ratify the agreement. The college has not made any payments to the contractor, according to the submitted documents.
The agreement with Cascadia Consulting, a private consulting firm, calls for the company to receive $50,000 upon notification of the grant award and another $50,000 for its grant-writing and support services.
Under Arkansas law, nonexempt service contracts worth at least $50,000 in a year must undergo legislative review.
In an Oct. 29 letter to lawmakers, Ozarka College President Josh Wilson acknowledged the error, but urged lawmakers to retroactively ratify the contract, arguing that doing so was "in the best interest" of the state and college because Cascadia had performed the work in "good faith," expecting to be compensated.
Wilson said in his letter that the college had implemented a new tracking system for its contracts to ensure a similar incident would not occur in the future.
Ozarka College did not respond to requests for comment before publication deadline Thursday. The contract will go before lawmakers Tuesday for review.
Tarek Anthony can be reached by email at tanthony@nwaonline.com.
Tarek Anthony is a higher education reporter and a recent graduate of the University of Oregon, where he earned degrees in journalism and political science. He previously served as editor-in-chief of the Daily Emerald and interned at Oregon Public Broadcasting and The Oregonian/OregonLive.
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Copyright © 2026, Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC. (NWA Media)
This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC
Material from the Associated Press is Copyright © 2026, Associated Press and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. The AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing. All rights reserved.
Open article →GDELTOregon
Goldstein: -1.1Tone: 0.0
MELBOURNE -- Ozarka College, a two-year community college in Melbourne, entered into a $100,000 contract with a private consulting firm in 2024 to help secure a federal grant on behalf of the college.
The problem, however, is that the college never submitted the contract for a legally required legislative review before work began.
Ozarka officials acknowledged their mistake in documents submitted to state lawmakers, attributing the failure to obtain the required legislative review before work began to an oversight involving staff turnover and changes in federal guidance.
Now, nearly three years later, after successfully securing the grant and with the contractor awaiting payment, Ozarka is going before lawmakers Tuesday to ask them to retroactively ratify the agreement. The college has not made any payments to the contractor, according to the submitted documents.
The agreement with Cascadia Consulting, a private consulting firm, calls for the company to receive $50,000 upon notification of the grant award and another $50,000 for its grant-writing and support services.
Under Arkansas law, nonexempt service contracts worth at least $50,000 in a year must undergo legislative review.
In an Oct. 29 letter to lawmakers, Ozarka College President Josh Wilson acknowledged the error, but urged lawmakers to retroactively ratify the contract, arguing that doing so was "in the best interest" of the state and college because Cascadia had performed the work in "good faith," expecting to be compensated.
Wilson said in his letter that the college had implemented a new tracking system for its contracts to ensure a similar incident would not occur in the future.
Ozarka College did not respond to requests for comment before publication deadline Thursday. The contract will go before lawmakers Tuesday for review.
Tarek Anthony can be reached by email at tanthony@nwaonline.com.
Tarek Anthony is a higher education reporter and a recent graduate of the University of Oregon, where he earned degrees in journalism and political science. He previously served as editor-in-chief of the Daily Emerald and interned at Oregon Public Broadcasting and The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Log in or create an account to continue reading.
Support journalism that covers the topics that matter most to you. Donate today to preserve the quality and integrity of local journalism.
Copyright © 2026, Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC. (NWA Media)
This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC
Material from the Associated Press is Copyright © 2026, Associated Press and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. The AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing. All rights reserved.
Open article →GDELTArkansas
Goldstein: 2.9Tone: 0.1
Everyone attending or taking part in the weekend's Little Rock Reptile Expo at the Arkansas State Fairgrounds has an origin story.
For Madison Schieffer, who runs the "Show Me Reptiles" touring show, it started in college.
"I got a reptile as an emotional support animal in college, and started going to shows," Schieffer said Sunday inside the fairground's Hall of Industry.
The reptile in question was a leopard gecko.
"Then I became a breeder myself, and then I got employed to work in the store that showed me how," Schieffer said.
With the tour based out of Troy, Mo., Schieffer spends her weekends traveling across the country running the show.
"A lot of our coordinators will travel to put on shows just for education and for animal science," Schieffer said.
"It's a big jump, but it's fun," Schieffer said.
Roughly a dozen vendors, based both in Arkansas and others parts of the country, were spread out across 100 tables in the exhibit hall. The exhibition is the tour's largest show in the Little Rock area.
"I'm happy to see the community is growing here," Schieffer said. "I ran all of them this year, and I know we've grown by at least 50 tables."
A table near the building's entrance sold a variety of lizards and snakes, along with a tub that was home to seven baby Sulcata Tortoises. While they'll one day grow to be as large as 3 feet long, they now safely fit in the palm of your hand.
A buyer could take one home for $120 a shell.
Behind that booth was one run by Corey Christian, a vendor from Conway who operates Natural State Reptarium.
On the tables and shelves surrounding Christian were various accessories for reptile tanks and different types of wood branches for them to hang out on.
"Wood is a hot seller," Christian noted. "All the routine maintenance stuff, lighting, substrate stuff like that. That's all necessary to care for them."
Christian, who has lived in Arkansas for five years, travels all over selling reptile supplies.
"I go to Tennessee, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, all over the place," Christian said.
Next week, he said, he'll be opening his first store, located at 23 Fritts Way in Conway.
Facing the back wall of the building was the booth for CoopaTroopaExotics, a business operated by Lizzy and Sam Cooper.
The couple, along with one of their children, were a long way from their home in Holden Beach, N.C. For the last four years, they've spent roughly 37 weeks a year traveling the country, selling lizards, snakes and feeding supplies.
"I've had reptiles my entire life, and he basically said, 'if you can't beat them, join them,'" Lizzy Cooper said of her husband. "And he started his projects. I have my projects."
The furthest they've traveled for a show is Joplin, Mo.
On Sunday, they had six different lizards available, including the mourning gecko, an all female species that reproduces asexually.
"They're referred to in the reptile world as lesbian geckos because they reproduce with themselves," Cooper said. "They're all carbon copies of each other."
She removed the top off the tank that the geckos called home.
"Any of you on my lid?" she asked rhetorically, before being greeted by three very small geckos clinging to its underside.
What inspired Cooper's love of reptiles?
"Some of them have the greatest personalities, just like regular cats and dogs," she said. "But not everybody can do cats and dogs. Allergies and stuff like that.
"Reptiles, I haven't met anybody really allergic to reptiles."
Daniel McFadin is a general assignment reporter who has been with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette since October 2022. He previously worked at NBC Sports, and has also been a writer covering NASCAR for Frontstretch — which is not affiliated with the Democrat-Gazette — since 2014. Daniel also has and continues to be involved in podcasting at the newspaper.
Log in or create an account to continue reading.
Support journalism that covers the topics that matter most to you. Donate today to preserve the quality and integrity of local journalism.
Copyright © 2026, Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC. (NWA Media)
This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC
Material from the Associated Press is Copyright © 2026, Associated Press and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. The AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing. All rights reserved.
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