News

Justice Neil Burge, Mississippi County Sanitation Committee chair, opened the Monday committee meeting with a year to date budget review for the landfill. The total revenue through September was $2,474,083.53. Justice Burge said September was a terrible month as far as cash flow. ...

Members of the Arkansas Northeastern College Board of Trustees met via ZOOM teleconferencing for their regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday where they received copies of the Spark Magazine featuring works of art and literature by area elementary schools...

Blytheville native Kadeem Johnson was presented with what he called “the opportunity of a lifetime” and he didn’t hesitate to take it. Working as a team attendant for the Memphis Grizzlies, Johnson received an email from the NBA offering a chance to participate in the league’s restart in Orlando...

On Nov. 11, the newly developed BAFB Exhibition will open on the Arkansas Aeroplex in Blytheville, completing the first phase in creation of The National Cold War Center. The small museum, honoring the vast history of the former Eaker Air Force Base, will cut the ribbon officially at 11 a.m., in a brief opening ceremony. Regular hours will resume each Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. beginning Nov. 13...

In his Wednesday report via Zoom, Blytheville Mayor James Sanders said the White House COVID-19 Task Force has identified Mississippi County, along with 10 other Arkansas counties, as red zones. Since last Wednesday (Oct.14), 89 new active cases have been reported in Blytheville. In the county, active cases have risen from 135 to 224 during the same time period...

Blytheville superintendent Bobby Ashley cuts the ribbon Thursday on the 2,200-seat Chickasaw Arena. The venue will hold up to 3,000. Among those on hand for the ceremony were Rep. Monte Hodges and Rep. Johnny Rye, Blytheville Mayor James Sanders, Blytheville City Councilman and former Chickasaw basketball star John Musgraves, Blytheville School board members Billy Fair, Carlony Lewis, Tobey Johnson and Tracey Ritchey, former athletic director/ longtime Chickasaw boys coach David Hixson, as well as representatives with Baldwin and Shell and Chickasaw supporters.. ...

On Thursday, at approximately 6:30 p.m., officers with the Blytheville Police Department responded to the Kream Kastle, 112 North Division, in reference to an armed robbery. “The victims reported a white male, approximately 5 foot 5 inches, wearing a black hoodie style shirt and dark colored pants, entered the business and brandished weapon demanding money,” Capt. ...

Forty-two Arkansas school districts have had 50 or more new known COVID-19 infections per 10,000 district residents over a 14-day period, up from 26 a week earlier, the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement said Thursday. Twenty-three new school districts were added, a count nearly equal to the previous week’s total. Nineteen school districts remained on the list...

The Gosnell School District is canceling the junior high and senior high football games with Rivercrest this week because of COVID-19. The Junior Pirates were scheduled to travel to Rivercrest tonight (Thursday), while the Pirates were to host the Colts Friday night...

Manila City Councilman Wendell Poteet presided at a Manila City Council meeting on Monday evening in the absence of Mayor Wayne Wagner. Following an executive meeting, with no action taken, Poteet gave Dr. Michael Oldham the floor to discuss the additional condominiums being added to the existing property located in Manila...

Leachville City Council members voted to reimburse Leachville Industrial Development Corporation (LIDC) for a $13,000 loan that helped purchase a rescue truck for the fire department at the regular meeting on Monday night. Ruth Ann Keith, city treasurer, said the loan will be repaid from the franchise tax the city has received. ...

A software issue led to some Mississippi County voters casting ballots for the wrong races Monday. According to Mississippi County election coordinator Melisa Logan, the District 55 state representative race — pitting incumbent Rep. Monte Hodges (D-Blytheville) against challenger Gary Tobar (R-Turrell) — and an Osceola city council race was affected by a mapping issue in the Election Software System media...

At 2 p.m. Monday, the Gosnell School District was on lockdown because of an incident at the Dollar General, according to Gosnell superintendent Bonard Mace. More details will be released as they become available.

Blytheville police are investigating a shooting Sunday evening at apartments in the 800 block of South Ruddle. "On October 18, 2020, at approximately 5:00 pm, Officers of the Blytheville Police Department responded to the apartments in the 800 block of S. ...

Due to the recent increase in COVID-19 cases in the Blytheville area the Blytheville Police Department is discouraging citizens from participating in the traditional door-to-door trick-or-treat activities this year. "The number of identified locations in our area, with positive COVID-19 residents, has more than doubled since October 1st," Blytheville Police Chief Ross Thompson said. ...

On Saturday, Blytheville police officers arrested 25-year-old Keyvona Hughes of Blytheville on negligent homicide and endangering the welfare of a minor, after her three-year-old perished in an incident on Friday, Oct. 9, at Chickasaw Courts. "On Friday, October 9th, 2020, at approximately 4 p.m, Officers of the Blytheville responded to a 911 medical emergency call at the Chickasaw Courts Housing area on South Division in Blytheville," Blytheville Police Chief Ross Thompson wrote in a press release. ...

Blytheville Police are investigating a pair of robberies at Dollar General on North 6th Street. "On Wednesday October 14th 2020, at approximately 1:15 pm, Officers of the Blytheville Police Department responded to the Dollar General store in the 1500 block of North 6th Street in Blytheville in reference to a robbery," Blytheville Police Chief Ross Thompson wrote in a press release. "On arrival officers viewed the offender on Video who appeared to be a young black male armed with a handgun...

Via its Facebook page, the Blytheville School District announced Saturday night that it will be fully virtual for the next two weeks. "Blytheville School District will be pivoting to virtual instruction for all students in K-12 starting Monday, October 19th through Friday, October 30th due to multiple positive cases and probable close contacts associated within the district," the post reads. ...

The city of Gosnell has put in place safeguards to ensure proper use of city credit cards, Gosnell Mayor Teresa Walker told the city council Tuesday night. Gosnell City Councilman Steve Nelson asked what measures have been taken to prevent a repeat of city employees using city credit cards for personal use as the 2018 audit indicates...

Beginning Friday, Oct. 23, Blytheville School District will have “Virtual Fridays” for students in grades 3-12, with students working from home on Fridays, according to a calendar revision approved by the Blytheville School Board Wednesday night. Students in grades 3-12 needing additional help will still have the option to attend in person on Virtual Fridays...

In their Oct. 13 meeting via Zoom, the Blytheville City Council’s Finance Committee discussed the sales tax revenue for the city and county. Finance director John Callens reported that compared to September of 2019, the 1.5 cents sales tax was up about $68,000 for this past September. For the entire year, the sales tax revenue is up around $212,800 as compared to this point last year...

James David Ross, a Kennett, Mo., businessman, was convicted by a federal jury of defrauding Mississippi County and the state by bribing a landfill director allowing him to dump demolition debris free. The jury began hearing the case on Tuesday, Oct. 6, and it ended on Thursday, Oct. 8, in Little Rock. Ross was convicted on two counts of aiding and abetting honest services mail fraud...

Due to two positive cases in his administrative office, Blytheville Mayor James Sanders’ weekly COVID-19 report was held on Zoom Oct. 14. Mayor Sanders reported that Northeast Arkansas is still one of the leading areas in the state for COVID-19 growth rate. While Mississippi County specifically isn’t experiencing spiking numbers, Sanders did report that there are 135 active cases in Mississippi County. Police Chief Ross Thompson stressed the importance of continuing to exercise caution...

Early voting in Mississippi County will begin on Monday, Oct. 19. Hours will be 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Saturday hours, Oct. 24 and Oct. 30, will be 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday, the day before election, polls will close at 5 p.m. Election Day, Nov. 3, voters will vote at their regular polling locations from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m...

On Friday, Gosnell superintendent Bonard Mace said, starting Monday, all face-to-face kindergarten classes will be at home with Google classroom. At this time all other grades and classes schedules remain normal. Thursday evening, Mace said one kindergarten class would pivot to a home virtual (Google) class from Oct. 16 through Oct. 25, with the return date for the single Kindergarten classroom to be Oct. 27...

The highly-anticipated Blytheville-Gosnell high school football game was cancelled by Blytheville Friday night because of COVID-19 related reasons. The game would have been the first ever regular season game between the two schools whose campuses are just five miles apart. It was also a 4A-3 conference game...

Blytheville police are investigating the death of a three-year-old who was shot. On Friday, at approximately 4 p.m., officers of the Blytheville responded to a 911 medical emergency call at the Chickasaw Courts Housing area on South Division in Blytheville...

The Blytheville City Council continued the discussion on the issue of illegal dumping around the city Monday in their monthly Code Enforcement Committee meeting. Assistant Police Chief Ricky Jefferson also noted that 238 code enforcement violation notices were sent out in the month of September. Blytheville Mayor James Sanders spoke about the different things being dumped around town...

Caraway Mayor Bo James was pleased to announce the future opening of a grocery store in Caraway at the Oct. 8 city council meeting. The new owner of Faulkner Grocery in Arbyrd, Mo., Tracey Reinhart, will be expanding and opening a second grocery store in the former Roach’s Grocery building in Caraway...

Gosnell Junior High School seventh grader Kyleigh Hinson raised money to purchase 600 cans of food to donate to the school’s food drive. The school is collecting items such as box stuffing, canned yams, macaroni and cheese, canned cranberry sauce, canned chicken broth, cooking oil, boxed powdered milk, cornbread mix, canned corn, canned green beans, canned peas, instant potatoes, marshmallows, and aluminum foil. ...

The much anticipated football game between Blytheville and Gosnell is scheduled for 7 p.m., Friday at Haley Field. As with all games this year, there will be a limited number of tickets available to allow for social distancing guidelines. According to Blytheville High School athletic director Donald Davis, tickets will be pre-sold and they are $5 each...

Members of the Manila Volunteer Fire Department wore their “fighting for a cure” tee-shirts at their first meeting in October in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The meeting was held at the fire station on Thursday, Oct. 1. The Fighting for a Cure tee-shirts were designed and worn in honor and memory of family members of the firefighters as well as others throughout the community who have been diagnosed with breast cancer...

Blytheville police are conducting a death investigation after a 3-year-old perished Friday afternoon at Chickasaw Courts in Blytheville. More information will be released as it become available.

In his Wednesday COVID-19 update, Blytheville Mayor James Sanders reported that the Armorel School District will be transitioning all classes to online as of Thursday, Oct. 8 The district’s target return date for face-to-face learning is set for Monday, Oct. 19...

The city of Blytheville’s cleanup efforts have remained intact despite the coronavirus outbreak slowing their progress. The plan to beautify the city focuses on abandoned homes as well as commercial buildings. Code Enforcement’s Janice Smith said the plan to remove abandoned and damaged stricken buildings around the city was brought about by Mayor James Sanders...

Riverside School Board members heard an annual report to the public at the Monday, Oct. 5, meeting. Superintendent Jeff Priest said the school year to date has a total enrollment of 764 students with 161 choosing to use the Riverside Online Classroom (ROC); 71 certified employees; 36 classified employees and eight bus routes...

(This is the first of a two-part series in recognition of October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month.) Jackie May of Manila recently underwent a double mastectomy and is working through reconstruction. Breast cancer, as well as other cancers, is not something one goes through alone. Spouses, children, family members and friends make up the support group...

Mississippi County Office of Emergency Management director Wayne Reynolds anticipates the county will have enough COVID-19 related expenditures to be reimbursed the full $670,000 allocated by the state for CARES Act funding. During Monday’s special Finance Committee meeting, Reynolds told the board he is currently scanning receipts to submit, with the deadline for submittal set for Dec. 15...

During a special meeting Monday night, the Gosnell School Board expelled a student accused of having a gun on campus. A Gosnell Junior High School student was arrested Wednesday, Sept. 23, after authorities found a weapon on campus. "The Gosnell School District takes pride in maintaining a safe learning environment," Gosnell superintendent Bonard Mace told the NEA Town Courier at the time. ...

Harrisburg Elementary School teacher Susanne Michael lost her battle with COVID-19 on Oct. 2, the Harrisburg School District announced. Michael had been receiving antiviral and convalescent plasma at a local hospital on Sept. 23 and had been placed on a ventilator with some hope she would recover...

The second annual Cheer for a Cure fundraiser was held Saturday evening at Gosnell High School and raised over $5,200 for the American Cancer Society to help battle against breast cancer. Various cheer teams from Armorel, Blytheville, the Delta School, Gosnell and South Pemiscot were participants in this year's event...

Blytheville police are investigating a shooting around noon Saturday in the area of Ruddle and Cherry Streets. "Dispatch was advised the suspect vehicle was a dark in color Range Rover, but officers were unable to locate the vehicle in the area," Capt. ...

In his Wednesday COVID-19 update, Blytheville Mayor James Sanders reported Northeast Arkansas’s case count is still on the rise. He reported that from Sept. 20 to 26 Northeast Arkansas had the highest growth rate in the state at 9.4 percent. Despite the admitted inconvenience of social distancing and wearing a mask, Sanders pushed for continued support of the guidelines presented by the CDC when interacting with the public. ...

Manila principals Sherry Mason (elementary) and LeAnn Helms (high school) addressed the Manila School Board at the September meeting on Tuesday. Each gave a report on the first weeks of the 2020-2021 school year. Superintendent Jason Evers opened the meeting with all school board members — Jeremy Jackson, Tracey Reinhart, Monte Middleton, Johnny McCain, Tommy Wagner, Danny Robbins and Casey Wells — present...

Blytheville police are investigating a shooting at Pear Tree Apartments Thursday. "While on scene, officers learned the victim, 33-year-old Jermeko Cooper of Blytheville, was transported to the Great River Medical Center via personal vehicle," said Capt. John Frazier, the Blytheville Police Department CID commander. "Officers were able to contact him at the hospital and get a statement. He was later flown to the Med in Memphis and is expected to survive his injuries."...

Caraway Drug was welcomed with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday, Sept. 29. Owners Bradley (pharmacist) and Leah Hamilton were pleased to open the doors inviting community leaders, citizens, friends and family to be a part of the ceremony. The Hamiltons are excited about being a part of the Caraway and surrounding communities...

Two October staples in downtown Blytheville have been cancelled because of COVID-19. On Wednesday, Main Street Blytheville announced on its Facebook page that the annal Chili Cook-off and Trunk or Treat have been cancelled. Both events draw large crowds to Main Street each year...

A jury sentenced Andra Crockett to a total of 130 years in prison in the March 2019 slaying of 37-year-old Priscilla Aldridge, who was shot to death over a fast food order on West Ash in Blytheville. On Wednesday, the Mississippi County Circuit Court found Crockett guilty of the crime, which also included the shooting of Crockett's brother, Kelvin Thomas, who survived...

During Blytheville Mayor James Sanders’ Monday COVID-19 press conference, Blytheville Police Chief Ross Thompson warned citizens that charges may be made against those that host residential gatherings irresponsibly. Thompson said, “Unfortunately, this weekend we experienced several large, I’m going to call them obnoxious, residential house parties that were not only a breach to the peace but put several hundred people at risk for COVID-19. ...

The September Blytheville School Board meeting was held Monday, live on YouTube. Board president Erin Carrington opened the meeting. Kris Williams, director of technology, and Sally Cooke, director of curriculum, gave reports to the public. Williams said all of the Blytheville District Schools were accredited by the Arkansas Department of Education for 2019-2020 school year...