Maumelle Charter's Ben Page earns academic honor
Food court, farmers market proposed for Maumelle, Weekly death toll drops, Beethoven concert on April 22, Easter egg hunts this Saturday, Travs play tonight and headlines
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!Weekly death toll drops
The weekly death toll from Covid took a sharp drop to 29 with the total number of dead Arkansans from the ongoing pandemic now at 11,325.
Last week, the weekly death count was 78.
The Arkansas Center for Health Improvement has called for a day of reflection and healing on April 27 and you can read more about that by clicking here.
As for the national trends, the forecast numbers from the Centers for Disease Control are below and through May 7.
Most of the forecasts are still between 11,500 and 12,000 total deaths in the next four weeks.
If you don’t want to get sick and die, there’s some things you can do:
Get vaccinated
Get boosted
Wear a mask
Avoid crowdsThe Headlines
Choral Society to have concert on April 22
The Arkansas Choral Society will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven with a concert at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 22, in the worship center of Calvary Baptist Church, 5700 Cantrell Road, Little Rock.
The concert was scheduled two years ago but was delayed due to the covid-19 pandemic.
The concert will feature Society singers and the University of Arkansas at Monticello Concert Choir and soloists Mary Sandell, soprano; Aubrey Odle, alto; John Darst, tenor; and David Farwig, bass, members of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and conductor Kent Skinner for Beethoven's “Mass” in C major.
The chorus will also sing the so-called “Hallelujah” Chorus from Beethoven's oratorio “Christ on the Mount of Olives.”
The Arkansas Choral Society, made up of amateur singers primarily from central Arkansas, regularly pairs with college and high school choruses and awards scholarships to young choral singers, and has been performing all or part of George Frideric Handel's “Messiah” — pandemic years excepted — since 1930.
The orchestra opens the concert with the Overture to “The Creatures of Prometheus,” Beethoven's only ballet.
Tickets are $20, $15 for students. Visit lovetosing.org for more information.
People’s beliefs about aging have a profound impact on their health, influencing everything from their memory and sensory perceptions to how well they walk, how fully they recover from disabling illness, and how long they live. Read more from Kaiser Health News’s Judith Graham by clicking It’s your choice: You can change your views of aging and improve your life
Upcoming meetings: The Maumelle City Council will meet on Monday night.
Covid toolkit
There’s now a one-stop shop to learn about vaccination sites and other Covid related information. Click here to learn more.
Sports
Travs play tonight
The Arkansas Travelers will host the Springfield Cardinals at North Little Rock’s Dickey-Stephens Park. The game will start at 6:35 p.m., and to buy tickets, click here.
Homestand
Tonight ... 6:35 p.m. ... vs. Springfield; Promotions: $3 Thirsty Thursday and Magnet Schedule Giveaway
Friday ... 7:05 p.m. ... vs. Springfield ; Promotions: Fireworks and Magnet Schedule Giveaway
Saturday ... 7:05 p.m. ... vs. Springfield; Promotions: Fireworks and Clear Bag Giveaway
Road swing
Tuesday, April 19... 6:35 p.m. ... at Corpus Christi; Wednesday, April 20 ... 6:35 p.m. ... at Corpus Christi; Thursday, April 21 ... 6:35 p.m.... at Corpus Christi; Friday, April 22 ... 7:05 p.m. ... at Corpus Christi; Saturday, April 23 ... 7:05 p.m. ... at Corpus Christi; Sunday, April 24 … 1:05 p.m. ... at Corpus Christi
Results
April 8: Frisco 5, Travs 4; April 9: Frisco 8, Travs 7; April 10: Travs 5, Frisco 3; April 11: Travs 4, Springfield 3; April 12: Springfield 6, Travs 3; April 13: Travs 8, Springfield 0
Maumelle: Easter egg hunt this Saturday
Maumelle Parks and Recreation, along with the Peyton family and the Maumelle Youth Council,, will have the city’s annual Easter egg hunt this Saturday at the Rolling Oaks Sports Complex.
The event is free and will start at 9 a.m.
A certain bunny is set to make an appearance as well as eggs, candy and prizes.
For more information, call 501-851-6990.
North Little Rock is also having an Easter egg hunt on Saturday at Burns Park. Registration is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. For more details look below.
Maumelle Charter’s Ben Page earns academic honor
Maumelle Charter junior Ben Page was recently recognized as a National Merit Scholar.
Page, above, scored in the top three percent on the PSAT exam, with the next step being National Merit semifinalist, which will be announced later this year.
He was the only student at Maumelle Charter to be recognized but school principal Katie Johnson said many other students have gotten noteworthy attention.
They include:
Milton Canas, Abigail Cavalier, Cheyenne Cossey, John Jones and Oaken Pool, who were accepted into this summer’s Governor’s School
Jordan Bures and Oaken Pool both qualified for the National Beta Club convention summer after placing in Math and Social Studies at the state Beta convention
Anant Borad, who is also a chess champion, was invited to compete in the national science fair competition, after winning the state event.
Johnson also said the school had a 100 percent college acceptance rate, with Maumelle Charter being selected as an AP capstone school for the coming academic year.
Maumelle: City Council report
Funds approved for Club Manor redesign; Food Truck park and Farmers Market proposal
There was a lengthy agenda of new business items at the April 4 meeting of the Maumelle City Council, so I’m going to focus on those in my review since there wasn’t any action taken on old business this week.
Much of the council agenda was focused on growth in our city and new projects that will be taking place in the coming years. The first item we reviewed was a new phase of Osage Terrace that will be constructed where Maumelle Valley Drive currently ends. This phase will include 17 new lots for homes. This project was approved by the council.
The second item we reviewed was a project called The Reserve at Country Club. This development will be located at the far eastern end of Country Club Parkway where the roadway currently ends. This project will include lots for 141 homes. This project was approved by the council.
The next item was a request by Maumelle Country Club to build a shed or “lean-to” structure on their property to protect one of their storage areas from the elements. This request was approved.
Next on the agenda, Sarah Smith, from the Mayor’s office, gave a presentation on a proposed food truck park and farmers market area that would be built on city-owned property on the southwest corner of Millwood and Maumelle Boulevard, as seen above.
This is the site where the old fire station and courts building is currently located.
If you’re like me, you’ve become a fan of food trucks over the past few years, and I enjoy visiting various trucks in the area. This project would allow for a central park in Maumelle for food trucks to locate so that our residents can visit. Additionally, it could be used for a farmers market or other events.
This project is in the beginning phase and the mayor wants to solicit feedback from residents on what they’d like to see included in this park. This location would also tie into the new Central Arkansas Greenway that will run through Maumelle as well as be connected to the proposed pedestrian pathway that will run down Club Manor Drive.
Moving on to the Club Manor redesign, the council approved appropriating $300,000 to begin engineering and design work on a redesign of the entire length of Club Manor. This project would change the current 4-lane vehicular roadway to a 2-lane roadway with a median and large pathway for pedestrians.
This project is designed to incorporate the Central Arkansas Greenway as it runs north along the river on its way to Conway. This would pull the greenway off the boulevard and have it run down Club Manor to benefit our city’s businesses and future growth along this important commercial corridor. It will also allow much greater access for pedestrians wanting to cross over Club Manor from
Lake Willastein and the residential areas located to the west of Club Manor. At the northern end of Club Manor, the greenway would then move east onto city property and head directly through the proposed food truck park and farmer’s market.
Next on the agenda were two companion ordinances that would update Maumelle’s Land Use and Zoning maps. This is simply an administrative ordinance that updates our current maps to reflect all the changes that have been approved over the last few years. Going forward, when a land use or zoning change is approved, we will run companion ordinances at the same time to update our maps at the same time.
The last item on the agenda was an ordinance to update notification and advertising requirements for proposed changes to the use of real property in the city. This ordinance would standardize our notification requirements and update existing code to modernize how reporting is done for property changes.
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns and I’d especially enjoy feedback regarding the proposed changes to Club Manor as well as the proposed food truck court and farmer’s market.
Thanks, Chad. 501-529-1336, chad4maumelle@gmail.com