State Briefs
Last updated Wednesday, November 19, 2008 8:34 PM CST in News
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Official: No Injuries In Shooting
ARKADELPHIA -- The president of Henderson State University says there are no reports of injury after a single gunshot was fired toward a group of students near his campus.
President Charles L. Welch told Little Rock television station KATV that the shooting happened around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in a parking lot at nearby Ouachita Baptist University. KATV reported the students were apparently headed to a Henderson State dormitory.
Arkadelphia police told the television station three people had been arrested in the shooting. They say officers seized a handgun from the car. Welch said those arrested were not students.
Police say detectives continue to interview witnesses at the school.
Arkadelphia is about 60 miles southwest of Little Rock.
Worker Injured At Steel Mill
ARMOREL -- Officials say a worker at an Armorel steel mill has been airlifted to a Memphis, Tenn., hospital after being crushed by a steel beam.
Officials declined to identify the Skyline Steel worker, who was injured at 7 a.m. Wednesday. Officials say he was taken by helicopter to The Med in Memphis.
Skyline Steel is near Nucor-Yamato Steel.
The Mississippi County sheriff's office is investigating the incident.
Emerson Delays Plans For Plant
BATESVILLE -- Officials say a heating and air company will delay opening a manufacturing plant in Batesville hoped to bring nearly 400 new jobs to northern Arkansas.
Emerson Climate Technologies had planned to open a compressor plant in the city by 2010. However, spokesman Dave Baldridge says the St. Louis-based company wants to "re-examine its timetable" as the nation's economy continues to falter.
Baldridge said he could not be more specific on when the company would push back the opening.
The company previously said rising demand for its Copeland Scroll compressors made the new plant necessary. The plant was slated to be at a site that was formerly occupied by Emerson's White-Rodgers operation.
Rosenbaum Named Highway Chairman
LITTLE ROCK -- Carl Rosenbaum of Little Rock has been elected the new chairman of the state highway commission.
The commission named Rosenbaum its new head on Wednesday after Jonathan Barnett resigned as chairman. Barnett, a Republican from Siloam Springs, was elected to the state House earlier this month.
Selection of a new chair for the commission at this time of year is traditional so the presiding officer can be in place when the Legislature convenes early in the coming year.
Barnett's term on the commission expires Jan. 14, but he said he plans to resign from the panel before he is sworn in to the state Legislature. Rosenbaum, a businessman, was appointed to the commission in 2000 by then-Gov. Mike Huckabee.
School Bus Crash Injures Dozens
PARAGOULD -- More than two dozen students suffered bumps and bruises after two Greene County Tech school buses collided in southwest Paragould.
Authorities say 25 students and one bus driver were taken to the hospital, but all were treated and released shortly after the Tuesday afternoon collision.
Authorities say the two buses were traveling in the same direction on Pruett's Chapel Road when the accident occurred. The driver in the front bus slowed down so he could discipline a student who was standing up, but the driver in the second bus did not slow down and rear-ended the first bus.
A spokesman for Arkansas Methodist Hospital says all the injuries were minor.
The Greene County Tech School District says the accident is under investigation.
Hot Springs City Manager Resigns
HOT SPRINGS -- Hot Springs City Manager Kent Myers has announced his resignation.
Myers has seen the city through a lot of development over the past 14 years, as the city gained added recognition for its connection to Bill Clinton, who grew up there. Myers told the city board at a meeting Tuesday night that he will leave effective Dec. 31.
The resignation followed a closed session by board members.
Myers did not say what his plans for the future would be.
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