CAMDEN — Commission completes draft plans for school safety
LITTLE ROCK (AP) — A commission studying school safety in Arkansas has completed its draft of recommendations it will include in a report to Gov. Asa Hutchinson on ways to prevent, defend and recover from school-related violence.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that the School Safety Commission on Friday completed the draft after focusing on school building and bus security and ways to pay for the measures.
The recommendations include allowing schools to receive state funding for fully enclosed walkways between buildings, video surveillance and a statewide school bus safety plan. It also calls for the state’s congressional delegation and others to help continue and expand federal grants for building security features.
The final report is to also include recommendations for mental health programs and hiring armed law enforcement and security officers when staff and children are attending class or extracurricular activities.
Hunter is fatally shot by another hunter in W. Ark
OARK (AP) — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission says a woman was shot and killed by a hunter in western Arkansas.
Officials had first reported both were hunting when the woman was fatally shot Sunday by a man near Oark in Johnson County, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) northwest of Little Rock.
Commission spokesman Keith Stephens said Monday that it’s now not certain that the woman was hunting, but the man who shot her was hunting.
No names or other details of the shooting were released.
Military spouses set to come 1st in Walmart jobs
BENTONVILLE (AP) — Walmart says it will begin giving hiring preference to military spouses under a new initiative the retail giant is launching.
Walmart announced Monday the start of the Military Spouse Career Connection, an effort to recruit and hire military spouses.
Walmart says the initiative complements an effort it launched in 2013 to hire 250,000 military veterans by 2020, a goal the company says it’s on track to surpass next year.
Walmart already offered military spouses and veterans the ability to transfer from one Walmart or Sam’s Club location to another when a spouse is transferred because of the military. The company says that beginning Monday, it will offer any military spouse with a current Uniformed Services Identification Card hiring preference when they apply.
All candidates must meet the standard hiring criteria.
FDA seizes items exposed to animal feces in Alma
ALMA - An Arkansas grocery store has been shut down after the Food and Drug Administration found animal-infested food and expired medicine during an inspection of the business’ warehouses.
The seizure occurred Wednesday and Thursday at J&L Grocery off U.S. 71 in Alma following an inspection in September and October, according to a news release from the FDA.
The inspection revealed unsanitary conditions in which dead opossums, dead rodents, rodents’ nests, live raccoons, live cats and animal feces were found in sheds and warehouses used to store food, cosmetics and medical products, officials said.
The discount grocery store — which receives, stores and distributes products through brokers in the salvage market — has seven warehouses in Arkansas, according to the FDA.
The agency issued two detention orders on Oct. 9 and 19 to allow for the seizure of drugs and food stored in plastic, paper or cardboard packaging. Seized products included food, expired over-the-counter drugs, cosmetics and medical devices, the release states.
J&L Grocery posted Thursday on its Facebook page that the business would close until further notice but that its liquidation stores would remain open.
“J&L Grocery has been a valuable member of the local community for years, serving the needs of many by offering discount groceries to those who are unable to afford shopping elsewhere,” the store’s attorney J. Dalton Person said.
“J&L Grocery complied completely with the FDA through the laborious inspection process. Instead of continuing to work with J&L Grocery, the federal government has now instituted legal proceedings to cripple this local business.”
Person added that the store had already voluntarily destroyed more than $60,000 worth of goods and had spent money this year to improve the safety and cleanliness of its products.