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2024 Arkansas ballot to include vote on stopping planned Pope County casino [Video]
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2024 Arkansas ballot to include vote on stopping planned Pope County casino [Video]

2024 General Election Voter Guide | How To Register | Ballot Issue 1 (Lottery Scholarships | Ballot Issue 2 (Casino Licensing) | Ballot Issue 3 (Medical Marijuana)In November 2024, Arkansans could vote on Issue 2, which would repeal the Pope County casino license and require local elections. Follow this link to read the ballot issue in full.The issue’s placement on the ballot is being challenged in court.If it stays on the ballot and is approved by voters, Issue 2 would stop a planned casino in Pope County near Russellville.In order for another casino to ever open in Arkansas, Issue 2 would require voter approval in a future statewide election and then additional voter approval in the specific county where the casino would be located.Arguments in favorIn 2018, 54% of Arkansas voters approved an amendment that allowed four casinos to be built in the state.According to the Arkansas secretary of state’s office, back then, 60% of voters in Pope County voted against the casino measure.”Issue 2 is based upon a really, a very, very simple premise that local voters, the people within the communities that are potentially affected by casino projects, those are the people who should have the final say on whether the casino project goes forward or not, and it really is that simple,” Hans Stiritz, with Local Voters in Charge, said.The organization Local Voters in Charge is behind the ballot initiative.According to financial filings with the Arkansas Ethics Commission, the Choctaw Nation is behind Local Voters in Charge, with donations totaling more than $5.6 million to the organization trying to stop the fourth casino from opening in Arkansas.”There are folks that want to say that this is just about Pope County, but really, it is a much bigger issue than just Pope County,” Striritz said.Other groups in Arkansas oppose legalized gambling. The Arkansas Problem Gambling Council has seen a 22% increase in calls for help this year, according to KATV, the ABC affiliate in Little Rock.Arguments against”Ironically, a yes is a no vote, and a no is a yes vote,” Pope County Judge Ben Cross said. “Myself and six mayors in Pope County are all going to vote no to this because this is some of the greatest economic development in our generation for Pope County and for the surrounding communities of the River Valley. If you took the word casino out of the equation and said any other industry is going to come into your community and produce a thousand new jobs and invest over $300 million initially that’s just on the front end people would be standing in line for the ribbon cutting.”Cross says many opinions have changed since Pope County voters were against the measure in 2018.”The local voters spoke. 12 out of 13 justices of the peace on the Pope County Quorum Court have voted in favor of a casino resort in Pope County,” Cross said. “That means a new jail for Pope County. That means a new health department for Pope County. That means a new 911 system for Pope County.”According to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, in fiscal year 2024, the three existing casinos in Hot Springs, Pine Bluff and West Memphis contributed $107 million in tax revenue to the state. Out of that amount, the local counties and cities where the casinos are located received nearly $30 million.”It is about another casino operator who didn’t get the license in Pope County, who now wants to make sure that nobody gets any of those dollars and that those dollars stay in Oklahoma,” said Natalie Ghidotti with Investing in Arkansas. The organization opposes Issue 2 and is largely funded by the Cherokee Nation, which received the coveted and heavily contested casino license.”Here’s the truth it sounds good. They’re saying it’s local control. It’s anything but local control, in our opinion, because you have the Choctaw Nation funding that entire campaign,” Ghidotti said.

Medical College of Wisconsin launches new program to tackle doctor shortage in Milwaukee [Video]
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Medical College of Wisconsin launches new program to tackle doctor shortage in Milwaukee [Video]

The Medical College of Wisconsin is launching a scholarship program, giving full-ride scholarships to five medical students and training them to work in Milwaukee communities in need of doctors.The four-year “Health Equity Scholars Program” aims to funnel more health care providers into Milwaukee’s historically underserved neighborhoods, many of which are in the inner city.Twenty-five-year-old Dalicia Simpson is one of the medical students in the inaugural cohort.”I’ve worked so hard to get to this point,” Simpson said. “Every step that I’ve taken up to this point has been for this moment.”Simpson grew up in Milwaukee and attended Rufus King High School. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus, but always planned to come back to Milwaukee to be a doctor.Simpson said her lived experience led her to want to start her own health care practice in Milwaukee.”Being in an under-represented minority group, I got to see (the) different types of healthcare we got, versus communities that are the majority,” Simpson said.Of Milwaukee’s 33 zip codes, 12 are designated “health professional shortage areas,” according to the Medical College of Wisconsin. That means there is only one primary care doctor for every 3,000 to 3,500 people.”I knew that I wanted to come back to make a change to that,” Simpson said.”To seek out help, there’s so many barriers. There’s transportation barriers. There’s cultural barriers. There’s trust,” said Michael Levas, the Health Equity Scholars Program co-director.The students won’t just be working in the community, they’ll be living there too. Once construction is complete, Levas said the students can live in historic Bronzeville in the ThriveOn King building. The students also meet in the part-office space, part-residential ThriveOn King building for mental wellness workshops and other program-specific curriculum.”We’re going to train a portion, a cohort, of our students here to build those roots and build those connections,” Levas said. The Medical College of Wisconsin has philanthropic funding secured to bring in three new groups of students over the next three years, but by that time, Levas said, he is hoping to have secured a more permanent funding source for the program.

St. Tammany Parish Animal Shelter calls off mayday status [Video]
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St. Tammany Parish Animal Shelter calls off mayday status [Video]

SHELTER IS TAKING A DEEP SIGH OF RELIEF AFTER THIS WEEKS MAY DAY SCARE. WELL, THE SHELTER WAS SET TO START EUTHANIZING ANIMALS TODAY. IF THOSE ANIMALS WERE NOT REHOMED IN JUST A MATTER OF DAYS. OUR NORTH SHORE BUREAU REPORTER TAWANDA JONES HAS BEEN UPDATING US ALL WEEK ON THE SHELTERS PROGRESS. SHAWANDA. YEAH, GINA, THE SAINT TAMMANY PARISH ANIMAL SHELTER SAYS THE NORTH SHORE COMMUNITY PULLED OFF A MIRACLE AND PULLED THEM OUT OF MAY DAY MODE AND HAD THEM ABOVE WATER. THE WHOLE COMMUNITY, THE PUBLIC, THE NEWS MEDIA, ALL OF OUR PARTNER ANIMAL ORGANIZATIONS, ALL RALLIED BEHIND US. WE SAVED SOME LIVES. THAT WAS ROB BREMER, THE DIRECTOR OF THE SAINT TAMMANY PARISH ANIMAL SHELTER. REACTING TO THE SUCCESS THE SHELTER SAW OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF DAYS. OVER 150 DOGS AND CATS FOUND NEW HOMES, AVOIDING THE DREADED EUTHANIZATION THAT WAS SET TO OCCUR TODAY STEMMING FROM OVERCROWDING. TIFFANY OWNS ALL KINDS OF ANIMALS FROM HORSES AND LIZARD DRAGONS TO DOGS AND CATS. SHE SAYS HER LOVE FOR WILDLIFE BEGAN AT. PLACES LIKE SAINT TAMMANY PARISH ANIMAL SHELTER. IT ACTUALLY STARTED IN PLACES LIKE HERE, WHERE I GOT TO VOLUNTEER AND GET TO MAKE THOSE INTERACTIONS WITH PEOPLE WHO LOVED ANIMALS. JUST THE SAME, AND THEY TAUGHT ME A LOT. AND, YOU KNOW, HAVING PLACES LIKE THIS OPEN AND HAVING A BUDGET TO BE ABLE TO DO THINGS AND OUTREACH WITH THE PUBLIC, ITS VERY IMPORTANT. SUSAN MCGEE HAS RESCUED FOUR DOGS AND TWO CATS. SHE SAYS PLACES LIKE THE ANIMAL SHELTER SERVES THE COMMUNITY IN A SPECIAL WAY. THEY TAKE GOOD CARE OF THE ANIMALS WHEN THEYRE BROUGHT IN, AND THEY DO THEIR BEST TO GET THEM ADOPTED. THEY PROVIDE, YOU KNOW, WHATEVER KIND OF CARE THAT THEY NEED WHEN THEY BRING THEM IN. AS AN OPEN ADMISSION SHELTER. WERE NEVER QUITE OUT OF THE WOODS, BUT ALL OF MY STAFF AND ALL THE VOLUNTEERS HERE WERE DEFINITELY ABLE TO BREATHE A SIGH OF RELIEF. THE SAINT TAMMANY PARISH ANIMAL SHELTER STILL NEEDS MORE HELP. THEY STILL NEED MORE FUNDING TO AVOID SITUATIONS LIKE THE MAY DAY SCARE. THEY HAD EARLIER THIS WEEK. SEE OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE WAYS YOU CAN DONATE. REPORT

Site of historic former Sears store an illegal dumping ground [Video]
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Site of historic former Sears store an illegal dumping ground [Video]

The site of a historic former Sears store in Milwaukee has become a massive site for illegal dumping. The once bustling retail area anchored by a Sears at Fond du Lac and North Avenue is now two large vacant buildings and an approximately 6-acre parking lot, littered with dump truck loads of construction waste and other garbage. Who allows this to happen or anything? This is just terrible over here, said Lawrence Harris on Friday as he looked across the piles in the parking lot, which included shingles, toilets, furniture, and discarded mail.Pre-pandemic plans for redevelopment of the site have seemingly fallen through. Harris, who frequents a clubhouse nearby, says a fence that surrounded the site was removed by the owner a few years ago.Thats when people started dumping, Harris said. Inspectors with the Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services this week issued several violations to the property owner. They focus on the illegal dumping, and the condition of a building that was once used for auto repairs. Terrible. It looks really bad, Harris said. The owner, HG Sears LLC, is ordered to remove the waste, including “multiple piles of dirt, concrete and furniture,” and secure the auto care building, which is under consideration for a condemnation order. Harris says the people dump there under the cover of darkness.I’ve never seen anyone dumping. I would say something to them if I did. This is not a dumping ground. You’re making it look bad around here, he said.According to DNS, the owners have ten days to clean it up, or the city will do it and send them the bill. WISN 12 News reached out to HG Sears LLC in person, by phone, and via email, but received no response. As for the status of the renovation of the site, the Milwaukee Department of City Development told 12 News they continue to have productive meetings with the development team while they pursue financing for the project.

Video: Sept 20th Bernews Morning Newsflash [Video]
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Video: Sept 20th Bernews Morning Newsflash [Video]

Financing closes for Fairmont renovations, House of Assembly in session today, C36 by-election nomination day, Independent candidate Dwight Jackson, Bermudians in UK invited to networking event, MS Nautica cruise ship visits island, Marilyn Cameron celebrates 50 years of service and Xavier Thomas-Bassett continues to shine in goal are some of the stories in this mornings [Sept 20] Bernews Newsflash.