SHINE-ola to be July 14
Maumelle Charter, CAC mostly together for spring sports, All-Star games next week, All-Inclusive playground meeting set, Education news 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!Death toll ticks down
The weekly death toll from the ongoing pandemic slowly ticked down as the total number of dead Arkansans was at 17.
The previous week it was at 23
The total number of dead Arkansans is now at 11,528
As for the national trends, the forecast numbers from the Centers for Disease Control are below and through July 9.
As the weekly death toll has stayed relatively steady, the forecasts are calling for more as all show an increase over the next four weeks with numbers approaching 12,000 total deaths.
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
ICYMI: AARP’s Billion-Dollar Bounty
Upcoming meetings: The North Little Rock School Board will meet tonight, while the Maumelle City Council will meet next Tuesday night. The agenda, a light one, can be viewed by clicking here.
Upcoming events: Monday is Juneteenth, the new federal holiday signed into law last year.
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
The Arkansas High School Coaches Association All Star games return to live competition next week for the first time since 2019. The games in 2020 and 2021 were all cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic. For more, click All Star Games back at UCA next week
Travs on the road
The Arkansas Travelers are on the road this week in Springdale for a series against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals but the Travs return to North Little Rock next week with a six-game series against Frisco.
Road swing
Today ... 7:05 p.m. ... at NW Arkansas
Friday ... June 17 ... 7:05 p.m. ... at NW Arkansas
Saturday ... June 18 ... 6:05 p.m. ... at NW Arkansas
Sunday ... June 19 … 2:05 p.m. ... at NW Arkansas
Homestand
Tuesday ... June 21... 6:35 p.m. ... vs. Frisco; Promotions: Mug Club
Wednesday ... June 22 ... 6:35 p.m. ... vs. Frisco; Promotions: Dog Days Of Summer
Thursday ... June 23... 6:35 p.m. ... vs. Frisco; Promotions: $3 Thirsty Thursday
Friday ... June 24 ... 7:05 p.m. ... vs. Frisco; Promotions: Fireworks and Noche De Diamantes
Saturday ... June 25 ... 7:05 p.m. ... vs. Frisco; Promotions: 501 Hat Giveaway and Kids Run The Bases
Sunday ... June 26 … 1:35 p.m. ... vs. Frisco; Promotions: Operation: Military Appreciation and Family Sunday
Education
UALR honors top graduates
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock recently honored a number of North of the River students in various academic programs.
The area of academic interest, student and honor are listed below.
Department of Information Science: Kevin Chappell, of Maumelle, received the Outstanding Ph.D. Research Award in UA Little Rock/UAMS Bioinformatics Graduate Program.
Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics: Ibrahim Suid, of Sherwood, received the Dean's Award of Merit.
Department of Engineering Technology: Elias Perez Reyes, of Sherwood, received the Outstanding Senior Project in Mechanical Engineering Technology for crossbow drawing mechanism.
Department of Mathematics and Statistics: Jason Hulsey, of Sherwood, received the Linda and Tom McMillan Award and Ma Endowed Family Scholarship.
Department of Earth Sciences: David Hough, of Maumelle, received the Award for Best Presentation at a Professional Meeting, Outstanding Service Award, Outstanding Graduate Student Research Award, and Sigma Gamma Epsilon Honoree.
Department of Chemistry: Ruby Trotter, of Maumelle, received the AIC Outstanding Graduating Senior Award.
Department of Computer Science:
Mohamed Albeik of North Little Rock, received the Top Junior Award.
James Bromley of North Little Rock, received the Top Master's Student Award.
Ethan O'Leske of Maumelle, received the Best Undergraduate Assistant Award.
Central Arkansas and most of the state have seen heat indexes well over 100 degrees triggering heat warnings and advisories this week. The high temperatures seem to have no end in sight with forecasts calling for high 90s to 100 degree days over the next two weeks. So It’s hot outside — and that’s bad news for children’s health
Meeting on All-Inclusive playground set
The city of Maumelle will have a public meeting on the proposed All-Inclusive playground on Thursday, June 30.
The meeting will be held at the Jess Odom Community Center and is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
City Clerk Tina Timmons said in an email that, “the purpose of the meeting is to identify potential inclusive playground needs and priorities. Following the identification process, city officials will select those priorities to be submitted to the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism for an Outdoor Recreation Matching Grant application. Ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, senior citizens, and special interest groups are encouraged to attend and participate.”
Comments can also be emailed to the city’s Park & Recreation Department at Phillip@maumelleparksandrec.com.
Maumelle Charter, CAC mostly together for spring sports
Maumelle Charter and Central Arkansas Christian are only a few miles apart in North Little Rock and now the two high schools will be competing against each other in spring sports for the next two years.
The Arkansas Activities Association announced on Wednesday that the conference alignments for the 2022-24 competition cycle have been set for tennis, golf, baseball, softball, track & field and soccer.
Conferences won’t be finalized until later this year for baseball, softball, soccer and track & field as schools have until Dec. 1 to declare their intent to play that sport in Spring 2023.
Maumelle Charter and CAC are both currently set to play all spring sports, but the Lady Mustangs won’t be facing the Falcons in softball, at least in conference action.
That’s due to the new competitive equity rule for private schools. There’s been a multiplier applied to private schools that generally pushes them up a classification. The team’s wins and losses are given points and if they haven’t scored more than two points over the last four years, that would cause a school to drop down.
So for softball, CAC will be in Maumelle Charter’s old turf, the 2A-5 and will face the likes of Bigelow, Conway Christian and Episcopal Collegiate. While the Falcons will be in the 3A-5 with Mayflower, Baptist Prep, mostly along the Interstate 40 corridor.
Soccer is a bit different as Maumelle Charter and CAC will be together but the conference won’t have that I-40 flavor as it stretches from Lake Village in the state’s extreme southeast corner, over to Hermitage then north LISA North and Jacksonville Lighthouse with Baptist Prep and Episcopal in between.
Baseball is somewhat more compact and will feature Lamar as the westernmost school and, again, mostly along the I-40 corridor as CAC and Maumelle Charter will be joined by Atkins, Baptist Prep, Dover, Mayflower and Perryville.
As for North Little Rock and Maumelle, nothing really much changes. As previously reported, Jonesboro will be in the 6A-Central, but Fort Smith Northside will be in the 6A-West, as they should.
The Hornets will play most familiar faces but will now include eStem along with Vilonia besides the likes of Beebe, Jacksonville, Little Rock Christian, Parkview and Sylvan Hills.
Click here for the complete list of conference assignments by sport.
SHINE-ola to be July 14
The Inaugural SHINE-ola will be held on Thursday, July 14 at South on Main.
The show will start at 6 p.m. and is scheduled to run for four hours. The address for South on Main is 1304 Main St., in Little Rock.
Headling will be Jason Lee Hale and The Personal Space Invaders with The Mark Simpson Trio featuring Jure Baloh and Dave Hoffpauir, Cliff and Susan, Texas Rikki D, The Brian Nahlen Band, Griffen and Friends, Mark Curry, Paul Tull, Cherise Martini and The Peacekeepers, Billy Jeter and The Shine Eye Band and Monsterboy performing as well on a packed bill.
Tickets are $7 and can be purchased by calling 501-244-9660 or at the door the day of the show.
SHINE-ola is billed as a “good time with good folks” and will be a benefit to the state’s children who are abandoned, abused, neglected and struggling with psychiatric, behavioral, emotional and spiritual issues.
Proceeds from the concert will go to Methodist Family Health Foundation, which provides for necessities, therapeutic resources and other essentials for the Arkansas children and their families in the care of Methodist Family Health.
“Methodist Family Health has been helping Arkansans since 1899 when they began as the Arkansas Methodist Orphanage,” said Jason Hale, whose band is headlining the event. “In the more than 120 years since they were founded, Methodist Family Health has become a complete continuum of care for children who are struggling with mental health, behavioral and emotional issues. I had no idea of all the ways Methodist Family Health helps in the community, and it’s my honor as well as the performers on this slate to work with them anyway we can.”
