Opinion

September is National Recovery Month. It is a national observance held every to promote and support new evidence-based treatment and recovery practices.

This week, President Biden signed an executive order to cancel up to $10,000 in student loan debt per recipient and up to $20,000 for those who received the Pell Grant. There is no such thing as canceling or “forgiving” student loan debt.

Many federal agencies continue to fight backlogs as they dig out from pandemic shutdowns and two years of limited staffing. Having agencies like the Social Security Administration open in person again is welcome and I am pleased to see progress being made on getting caught up, however, I continue to hear the frustration of Arkansans every day who are working through bureaucratic processes that, unfortunately, are taking longer to resolve than in prior years.

As Arkansas students head back to school, we want to take this week to remind drivers to be mindful of student safety when approaching school buses. It is estimated that close to 350,000 students in our state ride a bus to school.

Today I’d like to talk about a recent partnership with the state of Oklahoma. On Wednesday, I joined Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt on the Oklahoma State University-Tulsa campus to sign a Memorandum of Understanding stating that we are working together to make the Arkansas-Oklahoma corridor a center of excellence in advanced mobility.

Arkansas businesses are realizing the benefits of using drones and implementing this advanced technology in their operations. It’s improving efficiency and safety for us all and I’m championing efforts to build on this momentum.

Little Rock – Arkansas has begun the process of expanding Medicaid services so that more pregnant women can qualify for the government health care program. The expanded services should be available to thousands of women by the beginning of next year, if the federal government approves the proposals submitted by the state Human Services Department.

courtesy of StatePoint Media (StatePoint) Did you know that everyone inhales nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) into their lungs as part of daily life? NTM is a group of over 200 types of bacteria. While most of these types of bacteria do not cause harm in humans, some do.