A ruling by a federal judge has halted Arkansas’s work requirement for some recipients of the state’s Medicaid expansion program. That was the top story this week, which led the roundtable discussion on AETN’s Arkansas Week. I joined reporters Benji Hardy of the Arkansas Nonprofit News Network and independent journalist Steve Brawner to talk about that with host Steve Barnes. The ruling came down just as lawmakers are considering funding for Medicaid and this is expected to complicate the debate.
We also discussed school voucher proposals, the withdrawal of a bill concerning waste from a hog farm in north Arkansas, a term limits proposal that appears on track to go before voters, and as Steve was starting to wrap up the show, I had to toss in my favorite bill of this legislative session, which is now headed to the governor’s desk. Every state has two statues in the U.S. Capitol and legislation approved by the House this week would replace Arkansas’s with singer Johnny Cash and civil rights leader Daisy Bates.
Director of Public Affairs at Arkansas PBS, 35-year broadcasting veteran, photographer, interested in radio, TV and railroad history, author and host of the book and podcast series Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas.
