Andanh.com

.... that state Rep. Jon Woods, the Springdale Republican and scourge of immigrants, gays, women seeking abortions, etc., plays in a pop-punk rock band? A band that even a liberal Democrat of my acquaintance says is pretty good?

He's hitting national TV this week. I'd been trying to run the details down, but The Arkansas Project got the job done. MTV, 1 p.m. Sunday. And a Little Rock club date next weekend. Go, by all means. Just don't sign any anti-gay-adoption petitions.

Want to hear some tunes from "A Good Fight"? Here's their MySpace page.

Want some yuks? Remember when Woods was floating the idea that local Hispanic ganglords were earning a little extra money by doing wacks-for-hire around the country? Gang colors presumably will not be allowed at the coming Sticky Fingerz show.

Three doctors were barred from research at the Little Rock veterans hospital as a result of testing deficiences reported this week in procedures for conducting human research.

One was former associate chief of staff for the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, Philip Kern. Kern is widely known for his work in obesity. He directs the weight control program at UAMS. Then-Gov. Mike Huckabee allocated general funds in 2007 to endow a chair in Kern's honor. Huckabee attributed his weight loss to participation in the UAMS program.

UAMS this week has defended its staff and said shortcomings found in the VA study were generally small matters with no impact on patients.

Oh, man. First it was the dog pound. Now Helena-West Helena Mayor James Valley has more or less imposed wartime conditions on a portion of the city. Thanks to Andrew Bagley's Blog for the news.

The mayor has declared an "emergency curfew zone" in a portion of the city, described on the link.

Says his order:

The Police Department has been directed to treat the Curfew Zone as a zero tolerance zone. No loitering, standing or “hanging-out” will be permitted. All traffic on foot, bicycle, automobile, horseback, moped, motorcycle, riding mower or other mode of travel will be subject to stop and investigation.

Why? Quoting the mayor verbatim:

Whereas, certain areas of our city has been under seize with repeated gunfire, loitering, drug dealing and other general mayhem; and ....

More, much more, to come on this, I'm sure.

Keep hope alive.

Murray Waas is reporting on the Huffington Post that the Justice Department is investigating whether high White House officials provided false information to Congress about the matter of that controversial U.S. attorney appointment in Little Rock, when Bud Cummins was shoved aside for former White House political operative Tim Griffin.

Special prosecutor, anyone? It is too sweet to contemplate the image of Rove in cuffs. Book 'em Dan-o.

Sorry, Bud, but this is still more indication that the political machinations in Justice weren't just the work of an overmatched God squadder operating without knowledge or input from the White House.

The Central Arkansas Water Commission went through 17 applications for the seat being vacated by lawyer Jane Dickey and chose three to interview. They'll meet Aug. 12 to choose one to recommend to Little Rock and North Little Rock for approval.

The finalists: Lawyer Marie-Bernarde Miller; Adrienne Bradley, an economist at the PSC, and Twin City banker Jeff Hildebrand.

The Walton-endowed professor of teacher union busting up at Walton U. in Fayetteville pronounced Little Rock's merit pay experiment a success in a study released back in January.

A reader today passed along a quick review of the Walton U. study from the What Works Clearinghouse of the Institute of Education Sciences.

It says the study in question "is not consistent with WWC evidence standards."

The study reported higher student test score gains for students in schools that implemented the performance-pay program than for students in schools without the program.

The WWC does not consider these results to be conclusive because the two groups of schools were not initially equivalent. The higher test score gains in the schools that implemented the program may reflect other characteristics of these schools not controlled for in the analysis.

FYI.

And will he speak at Dem. National Convention? Hometown paper says he has to clear the air first.

Oh, and now there's film. Sort of.

The UCA Board of Trustees keeps vowing to do better and it keeps falling short.

Yesterday was a case in point. It met in private session with President Lu Hardin for reasons never clearly enunciated. A brush-up on state law:

Executive sessions will be permitted only for the purpose of considering employment, appointment, promotion, demotion, disciplining or resignation of any public officer or employee. The specific purpose of the executive session shall be announced in public before going into executive session.

Based on what I've read, a specific purpose among those specified by law was not announced. Sounds like a law violation to me. Legal or not, transparent it wasn't.

Class dismissed.

UPDATE: President Hardin's publicity blitz continues. He'll be interviewed by Steve Barnes at the top of this week's Arkansas Week on AETN, then the customary panel discussion will follow. Podcast will be available at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow. Show airs at 8 p.m. and again Sunday morning at 10 a.m.

John W. Hall, a Little Rock lawyer, is president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He issued a statement on news yesterday of the first verdict in a trial of a Guantanamo detainee. The nub:

“The Pentagon must be very proud of itself today.  It was able to obtain a conviction of arguably the least-culpable among the 80 detainees it intends to prosecute as war criminals.  It convicted a truck driver of being guilty of driving a truck.”

Know a legislator or, better yet, a member of the Arkansas Farm Bureau? Send this column by John Brummett about a videotaped episode of animal cruelty and ask them again how they can oppose making animal cruelty a felony.

ALSO: The Iconoclast is on the case, too, and rounds up some gruesome animal cases of yore.