Opinion

This week, we announced an economic development win for Arkansas that is the largest single project investment in state history. Today, I’d like to share some details about the new U.S. Steel plant, which eventually will create more than 900 high-paying jobs and will make Mississippi County the Number 1 steel-producing county in the nation.

Today I’d like to talk about how Arkansas has grown stronger over the last year and my plan for continuing that growth into the future. Thanks to the people of Arkansas, we have made this state one of the premier locations for business owners to put their roots down and conduct business that gives well-paying jobs to hard-working Arkansans and puts more money into our state.

January is known as Human Trafficking Awareness Month. It is a time for us to educate ourselves about human trafficking and learn to spot the signs of trafficking.

The good people at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan for decades have tried to keep us on the straight and narrow because someone should at least try.

On a frozen lake in Northern Minnesota, Rob Perez met with Jack Frost. They chatted while ice skating for the better part of an hour.

Home, a simple word that strikes a chord deep inside of us. As they say, “Home is where the heart is.” Sometimes home isn’t a physical place any longer. It’s a place in time we long to return to again. Curly Putman wrote a song that has been sung by many people, that Porter Wagoner made popular in 1965, called, “Green, Green of Home” about a man sentenced to die in prison dreaming of home. Is there anything better than the feeling of coming home where your people love you just as you are? Home is forever in our memory. People in prison, hospitals, soldiers serving their country, nursing homes, kids away at camp, anyone physically away from their home place rely on their memory and recognize that deep desire for home. They know that home is often, people.

Little Rock- This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Arkansas Supreme Court’s landmark decision in the Lake View school funding case. In 2002 the court ruled that the state’s system of funding public school was unconstitutional.

LITTLE ROCK –Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge today announced an almost $8 million-dollar civil settlement with Empower Healthcare Solutions, LLC (Empower). The false claims settlement was based on a joint investigation conducted by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) of the Attorney General’s Office and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. The investigation was initiated after the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Arkansas Medicaid Inspector General raised questions concerning how Empower was reporting expenses in 2020.

Congress ended 2021 by strengthening national security and improving resources to our servicemembers and their families with passage of the bipartisan Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which will allow us to be better prepared for threats from our adversaries and protect our interests at home and abroad. The bipartisan support for this bill was a big accomplishment considering Congress spent much of the year debating the partisan agenda driven by the president and his allies in Congress. It’s time to leave that agenda behind and instead advance policies where consensus is possible, and members of both parties are invited to participate. I’ve introduced and championed legislation that gives us a good starting point.

Little Rock– When the new year begins, the Arkansas Works program will have a new name and will operate under new rules. ARHOME is the new Medicaid program.