NWACC's Third President Welcomed to Campus
By: Jay Dillon
Updated: December 7, 2012
After a very messy - and confusing - election night, the Benton County Election Commission is working to improve its voting process. These are the seven stories you need to know about before you head out the door.
Several ideas were presented to the Quorum Court Thursday, including possibly going back to a paper ballot county, using different machines to count the ballots, and also increasing the number of precincts. County Clerk Tena O'Brien believes the size of polling places is also a problem but she hopes that emphasizing early voting can ease the voter congestion on election day. So the Election Commission is now working to pinpoint the exact costs of these potential changes to present to the Quorum Court.
Northwest Arkansas Community College's new leader has arrived. Dr. Evelyn Jorgensen was selected to become the school's next president beginning in the summer. She'll be NWACC's third president and has spent the past couple days meeting her future staff and students. Jorgensen comes from Moberly Area Community College in Missouri, where she spent 16 years as president. She's scheduled to start July 1st following the retirement of Dr. Becky Panietz who's served as NWACC's president since 2003.
The great-grandparents of a two year old who died after being left in a hot car are both found guilty of negligent homicide. William and Margette Staten were both sentenced Thursday to serve one year in the Washington County Jail. On August 3rd, the Statens took their great-grandson, Joniah Chronister, with them to Walmart in Springdale. The couple said they forgot they took the child with them and left him in the car while they went shopping. Investigators measured the temperature inside the car on the day of the toddler's death at more than 130 degrees.
Springdale Police arrest two men on several charges including aggravated robbery and promoting prostitution. Timothy Counts, 24, and Richard Rodriguez, 22, were both arrested earlier this week. Police say the crimes all stem from personal ads online, including Craigslist. According to investigtors, they tracked a phone number in the personal ads to the a raintree-foxfire apartment and discovered property belonging to robbery victims. Springdale Police expect to make more arrests in this case soon.
A new parking deck is coming to Fayetteville's Dickson Street and the Walton Arts Center's administration building is going to be a casualty of the process, kind of. The plan is to put the new deck in the theatre lot between school and spring streets. The parking garage is expected to include five levels for parking and more than 200 spaces. The WAC administration building will eventually be reconstructed and actually connected to the garage. A final layout is expected to be presented to the planning commission in the spring, with construction beginning next summer. The estimated price tag is $6.1 million, which will be paid for exclusively through the city's parking revenue.
Students at the UofA get a much needed sugar-filled study break Friday afternoon for the Sixth Annual Gingerbread House Competition. But they have to bring one thing: creativity. The Honors College will provide graham crackers, icing, candy canes, Hershey bars, Oreos, and sprinkles. About 20 teams of students are expected to compete, with the Honors College staff judging the entries. Past award winners have ranged from a gingerbread replica of Old Main to the Great Sphinx.
Hundreds of students are converging on Fayetteville Friday for the Seventh Annual Razorback Technology Challenge. 485 students from Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas middle schools, junior high schools and high schools will be competing this morning. Students will build and race dragsters, constructing towers, creating graphic designs, and competing in the technology quiz bowl and a problem-solving challenge
Several ideas were presented to the Quorum Court Thursday, including possibly going back to a paper ballot county, using different machines to count the ballots, and also increasing the number of precincts. County Clerk Tena O'Brien believes the size of polling places is also a problem but she hopes that emphasizing early voting can ease the voter congestion on election day. So the Election Commission is now working to pinpoint the exact costs of these potential changes to present to the Quorum Court.
Northwest Arkansas Community College's new leader has arrived. Dr. Evelyn Jorgensen was selected to become the school's next president beginning in the summer. She'll be NWACC's third president and has spent the past couple days meeting her future staff and students. Jorgensen comes from Moberly Area Community College in Missouri, where she spent 16 years as president. She's scheduled to start July 1st following the retirement of Dr. Becky Panietz who's served as NWACC's president since 2003.
The great-grandparents of a two year old who died after being left in a hot car are both found guilty of negligent homicide. William and Margette Staten were both sentenced Thursday to serve one year in the Washington County Jail. On August 3rd, the Statens took their great-grandson, Joniah Chronister, with them to Walmart in Springdale. The couple said they forgot they took the child with them and left him in the car while they went shopping. Investigators measured the temperature inside the car on the day of the toddler's death at more than 130 degrees.
Springdale Police arrest two men on several charges including aggravated robbery and promoting prostitution. Timothy Counts, 24, and Richard Rodriguez, 22, were both arrested earlier this week. Police say the crimes all stem from personal ads online, including Craigslist. According to investigtors, they tracked a phone number in the personal ads to the a raintree-foxfire apartment and discovered property belonging to robbery victims. Springdale Police expect to make more arrests in this case soon.
A new parking deck is coming to Fayetteville's Dickson Street and the Walton Arts Center's administration building is going to be a casualty of the process, kind of. The plan is to put the new deck in the theatre lot between school and spring streets. The parking garage is expected to include five levels for parking and more than 200 spaces. The WAC administration building will eventually be reconstructed and actually connected to the garage. A final layout is expected to be presented to the planning commission in the spring, with construction beginning next summer. The estimated price tag is $6.1 million, which will be paid for exclusively through the city's parking revenue.
Students at the UofA get a much needed sugar-filled study break Friday afternoon for the Sixth Annual Gingerbread House Competition. But they have to bring one thing: creativity. The Honors College will provide graham crackers, icing, candy canes, Hershey bars, Oreos, and sprinkles. About 20 teams of students are expected to compete, with the Honors College staff judging the entries. Past award winners have ranged from a gingerbread replica of Old Main to the Great Sphinx.
Hundreds of students are converging on Fayetteville Friday for the Seventh Annual Razorback Technology Challenge. 485 students from Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas middle schools, junior high schools and high schools will be competing this morning. Students will build and race dragsters, constructing towers, creating graphic designs, and competing in the technology quiz bowl and a problem-solving challenge
