Stories from Wednesday, December 14, 2011

The next three months mark the 200th anniversary of the New Madrid quakes which rocked parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee in 1811-1812. Massive tectonic plates deep below began stretching and burping. Rivers changed course and ran backwards. Gaseous crevasses swallowed cattle and buildings...

I'm looking forward to the completion of the Highway 18 realignment project coming to Blytheville over the next couple of years, but not for the reasons you probably think.

Tuesday night, the Blytheville City Council's Animal Control Committee heard several disturbing cases of animal abuse.

The Blytheville City Council's Personnel Committee plans to meet again today to discuss the proposed handbook. The board reviewed the handbook for changes it approved, one of which was not made.

Blytheville Fire Chief Mike Carney has one wish this Christmas season: a new fire truck.

Blytheville firefighters responded to the second fire in about 10 days on Clear Lake Avenue Tuesday night.

One of the last remaining businesses in the path of the Highway 18 realignment/overpass project got clearance to move to its new location Tuesday night during the monthly meeting of the Blytheville Planning Commission.

If all goes well, Continental Utility Solutions Inc. (CUSI) of Jonesboro could be in Blytheville next week, installing the much-anticipated water software.

Cable TV customers in the area may be seeing an increase on their bills after Dec. 31.

The city of Blytheville hopes to take advantage of low interest rates and apparently resolved rate covenant issues to save around $300,000 on a water bond issue.

Mr. Jeffrey Glenn Skinner, 24, of Osceola, died Friday, Dec. 9, 2011, at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis.