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The Democrat-Gazette reported a while back, I believe, that CAT would be dropping bus shuttles to Alltel Arena events on account of federal rules meant to help private bus companies. Alltel and CAT are bidding farewell with a full recitation of their case -- that their government-subsidized service could provide better service, with more handicapped equipped buses, for much less than the one private operator that was interested.

Net effect: no more shuttles. Lots of people rode them from remote parking places. I did.

Read the case on the jump and report.

I'll leave the snark (and everybody's seen this one) to you. News release:

Media Advisory

The Peabody Little Rock

WHO/WHAT:  Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, of Springdale, Ark., and their 17 children ­ Joshua, Jana, John-David, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy-Anna, Jedidiah, Jeremiah, Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah and Jennifer ­ will celebrate Mother¹s Day with a duck march and brunch at The Peabody Little Rock. The Duggars will arrive at the hotel Saturday evening. They will be joined by Discovery Health/TLC documentary producers, who will capture this special day for Mrs. Duggar. The entire family will receive a lesson in caring for the Peabody Ducks by Duck Master Lloyd Withrow and will serve as honorary duck masters for the day.

WHEN:  Sunday, May 11, 10:45 a.m. (The duck march begins at 11 a.m. sharp.)

WHERE:  The Peabody Little Rock Lobby

^{Arkansas Business}

Donald Trump was in NWA today. Arkansas Business has coverage. Sounds like a snore. But the hair was rather electrifying.

We've all heard about deer-auto collisions. But what about bear-car accidents? Deputy Prosecutor Jonathan Ross, who took this photo, said the 6-foot, 400-pound bear was hit yesterday by a car on Highway 60 in western Perry County. Game and Fish officers were called. They shot the bear to end its suffering after finding it in brush with broken back legs. Ross said he was told the bear might be mounted for display in the new nature center under construction in Riverfront Park.

The Central Arkansas Library board decided today to file a friendly lawsuit to remove a cloud over 2008 collections of millage increases voters approved for library improvements last November. 

A lawyer who studied the issue for the Democrat-Gazette has questioned whether the library can collect money in 2008 on an increase approved after November 2007. He said the library must wait until 2009. Other lawyers have said they think 2008 collections are permissible. Library Director Bobby Roberts characterized it as an issue of voters versus taxpayers -- though voters approved the raise for 2008, the law may say that taxpayers are entitled to keep their money until 2009. Property tax collections are already underway and the increased millage will produce about $4.2 million per year. More on the jump on fallout.

Oops. They don't have a new superintendent in Fayetteville after all. News release:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.--After lengthy discussion between the Fayetteville Board of Education, Fayetteville School District staff, and the Fayetteville community, Dr. Richard Abernathy he has decided to remain in Bryant. "We wish him all the best in his career and appreciate the opportunity to have considered his application," said Steve Percival, president of the Fayetteville Board of Education.

Here's sad news for the old-timers, like me:

Former Little Rock Mayor and City Director A. M. "Sandy" Keith died Wednesday at 84. He was a character.

My neighbor Sandy's death prompts me to take a point of personal privilege. Pauline Lindsey Davis Watson, widow of Dr. Robert Watson (who pioneered neurosurgery in Arkansas), also died yesterday in Little Rock, at her home on Edgehill. Known to one and all as PLD, Mrs. Watson wasn't a public figure. But she certainly was well-known at the local institutions she cherished -- among them the Aesthetic Club, First United Methodist Church and Mount Holly Cemetery. She was, as the obituaries used to say, from an old Little Rock family. She was also my friend. I came to Little Rock for the first time in 1970, to visit her daughter Olivia, a college pal. Mrs. Watson's hospitality then and later -- along with the Arkansas Gazette I read alongside Dr. Bob in the morning -- were no small factors in my decision to settle here. Her warmth never diminished, nor mine for her.

Far from the civilizing influences: Jonesboro Sun readers got a change of pace today from the usual sober accounts of quorum court and school board business.

REALITY TV: The Sun today also reports on a domestic fracas involving Diana Davis, 43, long-time news anchor on KAIT. The newspaper hasn't put the story on its website. A reader has sent a scan of it. I'll try to see if it'll work here. (also now on the jump). The nub of it: Her husband, Mitchell Wright, 42, filed a third-degree misdemeanor domestic battery charge against her Tuesday for allegedly hitting him and breaking his nose. (Wright is widower of a teacher killed in the Westside school shootings.) Davis Wright accused him of filing a false police report. They apparently had words over discipline she administered to their children in a restaurant on Sunday. Here's her bio.

The secretary of state says only six independents submitted sufficient petition signatures for the November ballot, all state House candidates:

Mal Stokes Jr., Dist. 13; Trent Eilts, Dist. 15; Robert "Bob" E. Philyaw, Dist. 54; and Jeffrey D. Hall and Marjorie LeClair, both Dist. 70.

Arkansas newspaperman Rick Fahr, currently doing citizen soldier duty with the 39th Infantry Brigade, has distributed this photo of a member of the Guard whose Mother's Day won't include a pass down the buffet line at a fancy hotel. His caption:

Sgt. Michelle Pierce of North Little Rock dons her gear before close marksmanship training in Kuwait recently. Pierce -- mother of two sons, Ethan, 7, and Tyler, 4, of Cabot -- is a member of Delta Company, 39th Brigade Support Battalion, which is attached to 1st Squadron, 151st Cavalry Regiment of the Arkansas Army National Guard. The Squadron is serving in southern Iraq and provides security for supply convoys.

Thanks, Mom.

The widely read Reliable Source gossip column in the Washington Post gives Mike Huckabee a strong review for his paid speech to a corporate meeting on diabetes. It notes that Novo Nordisk -- a diabetes drug supplier that, controversially, does some stem cell research -- was paying the tab. It has paid Huck before, plus bought a stack of his books. (Photo at the event from the National Changing Diabetes Program shows him with Access Hollywood interviewer. Can a talk show be far behind?)

Deep down, every politician must secretly love that moment when he can leave the grueling campaign trail and start collecting those sweet speaker's fees. (Ask Bill Clinton!) It helps if the topic is one that the pol is truly energized by -- and a diabetes diagnosis was the nudge for Huckabee's legendary 110-pound weight loss a couple of years ago. Plus, the man's a great storyteller. So his appearance at the Newseum, on behalf of pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, was like an outtake from a really inspiring episode of "The Biggest Loser."

Also on the Huck front, article quotes him as saying "math favors Hillary."

He said that even if Sen. Obama gets a majority of the delegates, "the smart money is still on Hillary."

"The only difference between majority and minority is spelling," he said. "And I didn't major in spelling."

(No calls please. I am familiar with the author of this piece, Andy Borowitz.)

Mike Huckabee says Hillary Clinton should keep running.

Brummett theorizes on reasons for Bill Clinton's shortcomings as a campaigner for his wife.

The New York Times web front has at least five articles or columnists blowing taps.

Karen Tumulty of Time has a pretty good assessment of where the Clinton campaign went wrong.

Do tell. The industry-financed study by the expert shills up at Walton University (meant to blunt the drive for a severance tax) overstated the impact of the Fayetteville shale exploration on state tax revenues.

Ernest Dumas previously did some debunking of this for us.

Even if gas company expenditures and gas sale revenues exceed original forecasts in Arkansas, that doesn't mean taxes will be paid on the overly generous formula used by the shills. The impact will be positive, economically, of course. The severance tax will help. The future will tell about costs.