Andanh.com

Can't help but watch my home state:

At 9:10 p.m., wackjob rightwinger Republican Woody Jenkins had a healthy lead over a Democrat in the race for 6th district Congress around Baton Rouge with about half the precincts in. The pre-election word was that the Dem. was favored. Maybe it's a heavily split district and the late vote will decide. Sad news.

The Jazz and Heritage Festival continues in New Orleans and Sunday is the climax. It includes some Little Rock flavor. From the Times-Picayune:

DON'T MISS

Food Demo

New Orleans native Lee Richardson, a former chef de cuisine at Restaurant August, will be making rice-fried catfish with pickled green tomatoes and corn pudding. Richardson has been getting excellent reviews as the executive chef of The Capital Hotel and the reinvented Ashley's restaurant in Little Rock, Ark. (Noon, Zatarain's Food Heritage Stage)

What a disaster for Eight Belles.

I didn't see it, I'm happy to say.

I was at the fund-raiser for Arkansas Families First, the grassroots coalition formed to oppose the ballot initiative to make it more difficult to adopt or be a foster parent.

Work proceeds apace. About 50 people donated $250 to be sponsors of the event and dozens more paid $100 each. They got a small taste of the campaign that is being developed with the help of public opinion polling. That polling, by the way, apparently offers encouragement to the notion that Arkansas voters have commonsense. Defeat of this initiative, which is driven by animus toward gay people, could be a national watershed.

Talking point: "We oppose the initiative because it works against the best interests of children who need loving homes."

There will be lots more to come on this subject if the Religious Right crowd succeeds in placing this initiative on the ballot. Presumably, petitions are available to sign in select churches this Sunday.

On an unrelated topic: Central Arkansas Library System Director Bobby Roberts was in the crowd. He says if a suit isn't filed shortly over a legal question that has arisen over the library's new property tax increase, approved in December, he'll file one himself to get the issue resolved.

The Democrat-Gazette has raised the question of whether taxes approved after November can take effect in the next calendar year, as is the case with this tax. I went to the polls expecting the tax to appear on my bill this year. Roberts acknowledges the argument against adding millages after November (a provision in the law seemingly meant to give counties time to put new levies on the books), but said the library acted on advice from multiple attorneys that it was not prohibited.

Roberts said the issue doesn't jeopardize the building program to be financed by the bonds, though the loss of collections in 2008, on top of a delay in bond issuance, could be costly. The key issue is the half-mill for operations, which will produce $1.5 million this year. He's hired 15 new employees expecting that income. He's already frozen hiring, cut book orders and taken other steps to be sure the budget balances if the money isn't forthcoming.

So much for my evening report. Take this as an open line.

When the "real" reporters won't do their jobs, sometimes average citizens step up to the microphone. And then get rousted by the Secret Service.

By way of comparison: How much of this uncomfortable question asked of John McCain -- about his own reported poor behavior -- have you seen reported in regular news outlets, such as daily newspapers? And think back about whether you've read in daily newspapers about uncomfortable questions posed to Chelsea Clinton in open forums -- questions not about her behavior or her mother the candidate's behavior but about her father's behavior?

The question for the fall remains: Will McCain continue to receive a media pass because of his popularity with the Washington press?

Inspection begun by Argenta News has produced some changes in the expropriation of public parking spaces on Willow Street by NLR's ballpark. The sudden change in setup puts further lie to the notion that this was somehow the work of a lone homeless man, as the D-G suggested. But the change has come with some new annoyances on Broadway traffic, Scott Miller now reports.

Eternal vigilance is the price of free parking. And a noisy blog like Argenta News.

Scanning my hometown paper in Lake Charles, La., today I came across articles relevant to Arkansas:

First this:

BATON ROUGE — A bill that would allow people holding concealed handgun permits to carry weapons onto college campuses cleared a House committee Thursday. It moves to the House floor for debate.

Then this:

A juvenile was arrested for carrying a loaded handgun during the rowdy aftermath of Thursday's Just for Jesus rally at the Lake Charles Civic Center, authorities said.

Another teenager was reportedly arrested after threatening to retrieve a gun and shoot someone.

It seems like the weather is always this way after terrible storm systems. Small comfort.

Busy day.

There's the adult spelling bee of Pulaski County, with spellers facing off at 2 p.m. at Pulaski Heights Christian Church. State Rep. Dan Greenberg won last year. UPDATE: Emily Paul, a Little Rock lawyer, won this year's competition. (Rep. Greenberg was a judge. Winners must sit out a year before competing again.)

There's the Kentucky Derby. My choice: Eight Belles. Why? Sex preference and the evocation of a pub (pictured above) in the Cotswolds, Chipping Campden, where Ellen and I once spent a pleasant Sunday afternoon. We joined the after-church crowd for braised lamb, ale and rasperries-and-cream ice cream.

A fund-raiser for the group that has organized to oppose the ballot initiative to punish gay people by putting new restrictions on adoption and foster parenting.

Anything else? Strawberries, of course.

The Democratic Party apparently has sent a letter to Democratic officeholders urging them not to support Republicans in election contests. Pitiful that this is necessary, but it is, thanks to people like Rep. Robbie Wills, who was willing to do just about anything to line up Republican votes necessary to be elected House speaker in 2009.

And, Wills tells John Brummett, he's not the least bit sorry about it.

One comment on the bipartisan blather issuing forth from Wills: You can work cooperatively with all members of the legislature without contributing your name and money to their re-election campaigns. If it takes campaign contributions to win their votes, there's a word for that and it isn't bipartisanship.

Rep. Wills responds on the jump

Two weeks into trial in Circuit Court here, the lawsuit against Arkansas Children’s Hospital's insurer over surgery on the wrong side of a boy's brain was dismissed today at the request of the plaintiffs.

The request was for a "voluntary nonsuit." The case could be refiled within the next year.

The parents of Cody Metheny argued he suffered permanent damage because a surgeon mistakenly began the operation on the wrong side of the brain. The doctor has settled out of court.

A bit more here.

By interest -- four candidates -- and likely by money, the race for House District 38 is one of the most interesting this spring. It features John Edwards and Jeff Dailey in the Democratic primary and Kelly Eichler and Ed Linck in the Republican primary.

Perhaps for that reason, and probably also for the familiarity of these candidates, the Political Animals Club and Central Arkansas Library System are sponsoring a debate in the race from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 13.

You can't please everyone. A correspondent is unhappy that the library has chosen to provide a forum for a debate in this race but isn't doing others. Some of those comments are on the jump. (Any group want to arrange debates for other races?)

I'm happy to pass along news that both of Arkansas's presidential scholars this year were members of the Arkansas Times Academic All-Star Team.

They are Cyrus Bahrassa and Anne Ye, both of Little Rock Central High School. They are both Stephens Award winners, too. I think their college choices have firmed up to be Washington University in St. Louis and MIT, respectively.