Farmington Daily Times · Little Rock, AR
Nearby: Little Rock, ARNEW YORK (AP) — Before the screams started, Dervie Mapp heard loud popping noises outside her Brooklyn apartment. She bolted out of bed to the kitchen window and watched as a neighboring building came crashing down, raining three stories of bricks and twisted metal. Stunned survivors cried out amid thick dust and piles of rubble that moments earlier had been people’s homes. “I saw the whole thing come down,” Mapp, a 67-year-old retiree, told The Associated Press on Thursday. “People were running up out of the pit, screaming and hollering. I couldn’t believe it — I froze.” The deadly collapse that occurred without warning Wednesday afternoon took down a building that housed a store selling medical uniforms on the ground level and four apartments on the floors above. Eight people perished, including two children who were Colombian nationals, according to the Colombian consulate in New York.

Arkansas Times · Little Rock, AR
Nearby: Little Rock, ARA White House official announcement late Tuesday heralded news that Lee Rudofsky, a U.S. District Court judge in Little Rock, is no longer in the running for a promotion to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. It looks like Cody Hiland will be the nominee instead. Hiland joined the Arkansas Supreme Court as an appointee of Gov. Sarah Sanders in 2023 and was elected to the state’s highest court in 2026. Hiland served as chair of the Republican Party of Arkansas from 2022 until his appointment to the state Supreme Court. Rudofsky has been a federal judge in Little Rock since being appointed during the first Donald Trump administration in 2019. A conservative Federalist Society type, Rudofsky earned some infamy in 2022 when he issued a landmark ruling in Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP v.

Arkansas Times · Little Rock, AR
Nearby: Little Rock, ARThe escapades of Ashlie Atkinson, a big-time actress from Little Rock whose ample credits run the gamut from niche New York City theater to Spike Lee joints, are sure fun to watch.

Arkansas Times · Wrightsville, AR
Nearby: Wrightsville, ARChris Jones said we haven’t heard the last of him and his political aspirations, but for the time being, he’s going to work Jan. 1 as Pulaski County Judge-elect Wendell Griffen’s planning and development director. Most recently, Jones, a Democrat, fell just short of beating incumbent Republican French Hill for the 2nd District Congressional seat. Having been given enough time to process the loss, he said Griffen called him last week and said, “OK, let’s get to work.” On paper, it would seem that Jones is remarkably suited to take on the job, which will likely take him into combat with high-end industrial operations, like the AVAIO-Digital data center being built near Wrightsville.