April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. We all understand that the best way to prevent the abuse of children is to strengthen families. Today I’d like to share the story of state employees whose intervention stabilized a family and allowed…
This time last year, I knew COVID-19 was a serious threat, but I was confident if we pulled together as a state and nation, then we could over time defeat the virus. Now we seem to have rounded the bend…
This week I signed Senate Bill 107, which requires high school students to take at least one computer science course in order to graduate. This is a gigantic step forward among many steps that we’ve taken to advance computer science…
Arkansas is springing to life. The White Trout-lily is in full bloom in the woods. Spring ephemerals such as Pale Corydalis, Spring Beauty, Toothwort, Bloodroot, and Violets are coloring the forest floor. The return of Arkansas’s natural beauty is a…
In a news conference last week, I announced that I was renewing the state of emergency through March 31. I also announced that we would be keeping the mask mandate through March 31, as well. In the days before March 31, we…
Today I’d like to talk about the federal Payroll Protection Plan or PPP, which has kept many Arkansas companies alive during the pandemic. Congress passed the CARES Act to help Americans navigate the pandemic. PPP was one of the programs…
We still have eight days left in February, and already this is the third snowiest month in Little Rock since we started keeping records in the 1800s. And it is one of the most severe snowstorms statewide as well. The…
A company that produces wood pellets for grilling has announced it will open a plant in Hope this year, and today I’d like to talk about the wood-pellet industry in Arkansas and what it means for this state. Wood pellets…
In the past six years, much has changed in the way we treat young people in state custody, and today I’d like to talk about the ways we have reformed juvenile justice. After I was elected and before I took…
We are in our second month of inoculating Arkansans against COVID-19, and today I’d like to talk about the progress we are making. We have received nearly 473,000 doses of the vaccine, and we have administered right at 252,000 of…