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I was going to give up the ghost tonight. But driving home, I heard Wally Hall commenting on KARN about the new Razorback football media guide, which, the talkers said, omitted War Memorial Stadium from the list of Hog athletic facilities, though some minor venues, such as a golf center, were included.

Wally detected a furtherance of the conspiracy to move all Razorback games to Fayetteville.

Makes sense. (Though I should add that I doubt this is in Jeff Long's first-year plans at UA.)

Sorry fellow Little Rockers. War Memorial, with its golf course tailgating and the bowl's acoustics and the more diverse crowd, has always been a better football setting to my way of thinking. But it makes no sense in terms of dollars, the only barometer in sports any more. They can sell thousands more seats -- regular seats and the super-pricey premium seats -- in Fayetteville. There's no cost to travel to the games or bring the band. And, small point, Fayetteville is where our young scholar-athletes occasionally attend class. That's why they call them home games.

I have no idea what the future holds. I'd prefer they play some games in Little Rock, particularly LSU. But, rationally, I can't argue with a move to Fayetteville. The statewide university argument doesn't fly as it once did. In terms of political control, it's Northwest Arkansas's university now.

Anybody care to disagree? Or agree?

UPDATE: Contrary to what was being batted around on KARN for a time this afternoon (and it might have been corrected after my drive time ended), reader Arky says the media guide DOES include War Memorial. That's neither here nor there, of course, for the underlying argument, which I still think weighs in favor of Frank Broyles' old dream of moving all the games to F'ville.

And I'm in flight to the sofa. You're on.

NEWS NOTE: Iron Fortified, our Decatur bureau chief, notes the arrest of the ill-fated school district's former bookkeeper. Guess it wasn't just stupidity.

Jacksonville authorities cleared people from a section of downtown about 1:30 p.m. today because of an anhydrous ammonia leak at Coleman Heat Treating, a metal processor at 2500 W. Main. A haz-mat team was called in to stop the leak and the fire department participated in a cleanup before the evacuation was lifted. No injuries reported.

Add these applicants to the list for the hot Central Arkansas Water Commission seat:

Laywer Marie-Bernarde Miller and civic activist Kathy Wells.

As promised, U.S. Sens. Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln were part of the announcement of a bipartisan energy bill.  Here's an audio file of Pryor-Lincoln announcement. Mostly mush. Their proposed legislation calls "for a focused effort to transition the nation’s motor vehicle fleets to fuels other than gasoline and diesel. To ease gas prices in the interim, the proposal includes significant conservation provisions, consumer tax credits, and responsible measures to increase domestic production of oil through responsible drilling." On the last, they mean opening up further offshore drilling in the Atlantic and Gulf. Not that that could have any impact on oil supply or prices for 15 years or so.

SPEAKING OF DRILLING: Remember when some Ark. Republicans announced their support for Newt Gingrich's "drill here drill now" effort. Here's some backstory on the billionaires backing that little front group.

Will Republicans really persuade voters that it's in their interest to back the candidates who are tools of Big Oil, oil speculators and assorted greedy fat cats? Could happen, history tells us. Pryor and Lincoln seem to be on board with the general notion.

^{Redjar photo}

Everybody's buzzing about the Washington Post story today (link fixed) that, in the name of Homeland Security, airport security officers can now seize laptops, hard drives and other electronic devices of anyone entering the country and keep them as long as they want for perusal, no probable cause necessary. They may share contents with other agencies, too.

This not a law, but another liberty-infringing rule foisted upon U.S. citizens by the so-called conservatives in control of the White House. What he said:

"The policies . . . are truly alarming," said Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), who is probing the government's border search practices. He said he intends to introduce legislation soon that would require reasonable suspicion for border searches, as well as prohibit profiling on race, religion or national origin.

UPDATE: The ACLU, in fact, is on record. It's also all over the wild tale that the TSA has considered braceletting air passengers for purposes of ID and, when necessary, Tasering. No kidding. There is no bottom to the Bush administration.

I don't know about the Public Service Commission's timing, but you won't be able to say they didn't warn you. With temps soaring -- and electric bills with them -- the state PSC issued a news release today to warn us to get ready for punishing heating bills this winter because of the rise in natural gas prices.

Bottom line: CenterPoint customers can expect a 24 percent increase. Arkansas Western bills will rise 31 percent. Arkansas Oklahoma bills will rise 48 percent. These are estimates only. Could be better. Could be worse. Winterize, levelize, etc. But be prepared to hurt. Or shiver.

The gas suppliers will only be recovering  the cost of gas, suffering customers are reminded by the PSC. But if you don't believe somebody's making a profit along the way just pick up any business section with reports on record profits by energy producers.