Check and Mate
Founders Week at CAC starts Monday, School Covid numbers on the rise, Getting 'Cyber Safe', Football teams all hit the road, plus news and sports headlines
Welcome to Arkansas Newsroom, a bundled newsletter covering news and sports in central Arkansas. For some answers to frequently asked questions, click here.
Subscribe to the site by clicking the button below …
Note to subscribers: An annual or monthly subscription is billed to your debit or credit card as ARKANSAS.SUBSTACK.COM and if you have questions, please email arkansas@substack.com. Thanks for reading and subscribing! The headlines
It was a lengthy agenda on Tuesday night for the City Council with most items involving growth in and around Maumelle, so let’s dive right in. By Chad Gardner and read more by clicking Maumelle City Council report
A team of six Henderson State University biology students, including Maumelle’s Lauren Camp, are on a mission to examine and analyze mysterious microbes found deep underground in a unique Tennessee cave. For the past two years, they have been using metagenomic DNA sequencing to identify microbes from a “petroleum pond” found in the cave. Read more by clicking Maumelle's Camp spelunking for microbes in 'unusual' cave system as Henderson State project
Sports headlines
MAUMELLE: Maumelle’s month on the road continues this Friday when the Hornets travel to Vilonia for a 7 p.m. Friday kickoff. Maumelle enters the game 1-1 after last Friday’s 47-44 overtime loss to Joe T. Robinson, while Vilonia is 1-0 after beating Greene County Tech, 56-17. Read more by clicking Hornets head to Vilonia after OT loss
NORTH LITTLE ROCK: The first North Little Rock game under new head coach Randy Sandefur was a rousing success as the ‘Cats rolled past Springdale Har-Ber, 58-28, last Friday and will travel to Fayetteville to take on the Purple ‘Dogs this week. Read more by clicking North Little Rock rolls, Fayetteville next
CAC: Off a surprising 41-7 season-opening home loss to Riverview, Central Arkansas Christian’s Mustangs hope to get back in the win column Friday at Carlisle. By Donna Lampkin Stephens and read more by clicking CAC looks for win at Carlisle
Your Covid game plan: Are stadiums safe?
BASEBALL ON BROADWAY is the weekly newsletter that spotlights the Arkansas Travelers. It is published on Monday and click the link above to give it a read.
Moore on Maumelle: My Take
Neal Moore is taking the week off.
Founders Week at CAC starts Monday
Central Arkansas Christian is celebrating its 50th birthday with a week-long set of events at the school in North Little Rock.
The school opened on Sept, 13, 1971 at the Sylvan Hills Church of Christ with 156 students and Betty Murray as principal.
Doug and Kathleen Freeman, considered the school’s founders, will be honored next Friday, Sept. 17, at halftime of the game between the Mustangs and Mayflower.
Before the game will be a Backyard Birthday Bash at the football practice field and tickets are $5 in advance. After the game will be fireworks sponsored by Dr. Joel & Jennifer Smith and McConnell & Sons Inc.
For more information, click here and for a photo album from the school, click here.
Schedule of events
Monday: Founder’s Day ... For CAC’s 50th Birthday, all campuses will wear Spirit Wear and hear special presentations in chapel.
Tuesday: CAC Talent Show ... Enjoy a showcase of talents from CAC students in grades 6-12 hosted by CAC Drama Club at the Secondary Campus Auditorium. The Mustang Choir and Band will perform. There will be a limited number of public tickets made available.
Wednesday: Founder’s Breakfast ... Due to spacing limitations, this event is invitation only and to be placed on the waiting list, email Erin Brogdon at ebrogdon@cacmustangs.org.
Thursday, Sept. 16: Home Athletics … Seventh grade and junior high football games against Stuttgart.
Friday, Sept. 17: CAC’s Backyard Birthday Bash ... Join us for this community-wide outdoor celebration complete with food and live music prior to the football game and fireworks to follow. Starts at 5 p.m. at the football practice field, at 1 Windsong Drive. Tickets are $5 per person and a separate ticket is required for the game against Mayflower.
Who was CAC’s best football player?
Vote in a Twitter poll on CAC’s best football player by clicking below.
In honor of @CACAthletics turning 50, who was the school's best football player? Was it @JoeAdams_3 @dj45williams or David Henson, the school's first graduate to make the NFL. Or Trent Morgan, described as the school's most versatile athlete and who starred @Harding_MBB #ARprepsCandidates include David Henson, a former all-state football player at CAC and multiple All-American at the University of Central Arkansas and who became the first Mustang in the NFL when he was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in 1992. Joe Adams and D.J. Williams were both stars at the University of Arkansas and both went on to the NFL. Trent Morgan, now the boys basketball coach at Pulaski Academy, was described as the “most versatile” athlete at CAC and had football and basketball scholarship offers as a Mustang. He chose to play basketball at Harding.
Maumelle Charter’s Anant Borad wins international chess tournament
Anant Borad, 11 and a sixth grader at Maumelle Charter, recently won an international chess tournament hosted by Uganda and with competitors from that country, as well as eight more virtually, including the United States.
Borad, below, competed in and won the Under 12 division.
Dad, Jignesh Borad, said his son has been playing chess since he was 5.
“When he was in kindergarten, I took him to see one a [Little Rock School District] chess tournament to support and cheer my friend's kids who were participating in the tournament.” Jignesh Borad said. “The atmosphere there was magnetic and pulled him into the world of chess instantly.”
That exposure, the older Borad said, led his son to start learning the game, and began competing in tournaments in just a “few months.”
Anant Borad started just by entering, then, “he worked very hard … and received a second place medal in the next tournament and a first place medal in the tournament after that.
“He continued to play and grow ever since” and “has earned 20 plus medals and trophies in various chess tournaments.”
Jignesh Borad said his son has usually played against older students which, “has helped him get challenging games and more learning opportunities”
The younger Borad also coaches chess to other students via Zoom and the “student to student coaching is organized by Georgia Morris at Mosaic Church in Little Rock.”
Covid case count sees uptick at area schools
The Covid case count and quarantine numbers at area schools are still showing increases as the calendar moves into September.
The Academics Plus System, which includes the Maumelle Charter and Scott Charter elementary schools as well as Maumelle Charter High School, have a total of six Covid-positive cases in the system.
No school, the said on its website exceeds five individual cases at any of the three campuses.
Maumelle Charter High … N/A
Maumelle Charter Elementary … N/A
Scott Charter … N/A
The Pulaski County Special School District released numbers on Monday for the previous week and that report can be viewed by clicking here.
The five schools considered feeders for Maumelle are Crystal Hill, Oak Grove and Pine Forest elementaries as well as Maumelle Middle and High School.
That report shows a total of 49 students and staff in quarantine. Last week, it was 45 students and staff in quarantine.
The school breakdown follows.
School ... Student Positive ... Staff Positive ... Student Quarantine ... Staff Quarantine ... Total Out
Crystal Hill Elementary ... 8 ... 0 ... 15 ... 2 ... 25
Oak Grove Elementary ... 0 ... 1 ... 1 ... 0 ... 2
Pine Forest Elementary ... 1 ... 0 ... 1 ... 0 ... 2
Maumelle Middle ... 2 ... 0 ... 10 ... 3 ... 15
Maumelle High ... 0 ... 0 ... 4 ... 1 ... 5
The Arkansas Department of Health report from Monday, Sept. 6, shows a total of 120 active cases across the Pulaski County Special, North Little Rock and Academics Plus school systems. Last week it was 88. The previous week it was 50.
District … Active Cases … Cumulative Faculty/Staff … Cumulative Student … Cumulative Total
PCSSD … 75 … 20 … 115 … 167
North Little Rock … 39 … 12 … 74 … 104
Academics Plus … 6 … 0 … 27 … 38
North Little Rock School District is doing a daily dashboard that can be found by clicking here, and these are numbers from this afternoon:
Total Number of Employees Testing Positive ...8
Total Number of Employees in Quarantine ... 5
Total Number of Students Testing Positive ... 24
Total Number of Students in Quarantine ... 107
Crestwood Elementary and Amboy Elementary have, respectively, 30 and 22 students in quarantine. North Little Rock High School has 21 students in quarantine. They are the only North Little Rock campuses in double figures in terms of quarantine.