With Arkansas leading the nation per capita in new coronavirus cases, blamed on the spread of the especially vicious delta variant and the state’s low vaccination rate, I spoke with state Epidemiologist Dr. Jennifer Dillaha on Arkansas PBS about the situation.
“This variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 is highly infectious. It causes more severe disease, it’s more quick to put people in the hospital and at younger ages,” Dillaha said. “For these reasons, we are experiencing a large number of new cases because the younger people are not the ones who’ve been getting the vaccine. It’s been the older adults who are now protected.”
She said health officials are “trying to communicate the urgency of the situation” and that people who are not vaccinated need to do it as quickly as possible since it takes five or six weeks to develop full immunity.
Over the last week, Gov. Asa Hutchinson held a series of town hall meetings around the state in Cabot, Batesville, Blytheville and Texarkana. These are smaller towns and cities where people are less likely to be vaccinated. Participating in these meetings have been community leaders, including church pastors, with the governor specifically calling on them to encourage their congregations to get vaccinated.
Dr. Dillaha praised Hutchinson for going into areas where people are less likely to be vaccinated. She said for many people, the decision on whether to get a vaccine largely depends on their social network.
“If there are a lot of people in a rural area that are not vaccinated, it’s harder for individuals to go against what their community is doing. It takes a lot of courage for people to do that. And so, by addressing this at a community level in the smaller rural areas, that enables the community to get vaccinated together,” Dillaha said.
“I think that’s an important strategy because we are influenced by who we associate with and those are the people we trust. So, if we can get good information into those communities so that they can make informed decisions, I think more people will get vaccinated.”
Director of Public Affairs at Arkansas PBS, 36-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.
With just over two weeks before Arkansas takes part in Super Tuesday on March 3, presidential politics, including race, dominated most of the conversation on this weekend’s episode of Arkansas Week. We also discussed Little Rock getting its first medical marijuana dispensary, nine months after they began opening elsewhere in the state. I joined state Rep. Fred Allen (D-Little Rock) and Hendrix College political science professor Jay Barth to talk about the issues with host Steve Barnes.
This show was aired just as AETN (Arkansas Educational Television Network) announced it will be adopting a new name, Arkansas PBS, which Barnes discusses at the end of the program. The rebranding reflects the growth of digital platforms to watch programming beyond the six broadcast television signals that make up the network. The new name officially goes into effect on Feb. 28.
Director of Public Affairs at Arkansas PBS, 36-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.
This weekend I was among the panelists on AETN’s “Arkansas Week” discussing the ongoing impeachment trial of President Trump in the U.S. Senate. I also talked about covering presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg’s visit to Little Rock on Monday, Jan. 20. He entered the race too late to take part in the first four states holding primary elections and is focusing efforts on Super Tuesday states like Arkansas.
Director of Public Affairs at Arkansas PBS, 36-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.
While the impeachment of President Trump dominates national news, the roundtable discussion on AETN’s Arkansas Week opened with us discussing a new report regarding the state’s child welfare system. A few years ago officials described the system as being in crisis and began major reforms. On Wednesday I covered leaders of the state Department of Human Services discussing a report that suggests major improvements have been made, though much more work still needs to be done. The state says over the past three years the number of kids in foster care is down, as is the average caseload for frontline workers.
We also talked about the announcement Thursday that after 63 years of greyhound racing at Southland in West Memphis, the races will be phased out over the next three years. It comes after Arkansas voters last year approved a constitutional amendment allowing Southland and Oaklawn in Hot Springs to become full-fledged casinos. Finally, we talked about the different reactions from members of the state’s congressional delegation to the ongoing impeachment of President Trump.
Director of Public Affairs at Arkansas PBS, 36-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.
Six years after a large-scale hog farm opened near the Buffalo National River, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced that C&H Hog Farm would receive $6.2 million to shut down. That was the top story on AETN’s Arkansas Week. I joined reporter Benji Hardy for the round-table segment that opened the show. By chance I had made my first visit in 35 years to the Buffalo River the previous weekend. As a Boy Scout, I used to canoe the river once a year. Seeing it again, I was reminded of the river’s grandeur with the incredible bluffs and pristine water. I normally try not to express my opinions on radio or television, but I couldn’t help but share that I was happy that the hog farm and the risk it posed to contaminate the watershed would be going away. As Hutchinson noted, the farm’s operators never did anything wrong, but said the state never should have granted a permit for the facility to open.
Another key story I had reported on that week was an ethics complaint being dropped against Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen. The often outspoken judge had sparked controversy in 2017 by taking part in an anti-death penalty demonstration just hours after blocking the state from using a lethal injection drug. The Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission said too much time had passed between the complaint being filed and the case being heard. In an exclusive interview with me, Judge Griffen said the action showed the complaint was “baseless, cowardly, malicious and utterly political.” So I also discussed that on the program.
Director of Public Affairs at Arkansas PBS, 36-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.
The gurney inside the Arkansas Death Chamber which inmates are strapped into for lethal injections at the Cummins Unit. Credit: Arkansas Department of Correction.
For almost two weeks I covered a federal trial with a judge considering a lawsuit by 18 Arkansas death row inmates challenging the state’s use of the sedative midazolam in lethal injections. Attorneys representing the inmates argued the drug doesn’t do enough to keep inmates unconscious when subsequent drugs paralyze the muscles and stop the heart. The plaintiffs’ attorneys suggested inmates suffer excruciating pain, but that’s masked by the paralytic.
Attorneys for the state countered that there is no legitimate proof to back up the claims. Much of the arguments and testimony focused on the execution of Kenneth Williams, one of four inmates Arkansas put to death in 2017. He lurched repeatedly for about 10 seconds during his lethal injection. But depending on which side the witness was testifying for was a factor in whether it was described as Williams violently hitting against the restraints of the gurney or was simply an involuntary muscle spasm.
In federal court, reporters are not allowed to record audio for broadcast, so much of my reporting went into detailed online stories. I also recorded longer than normal radio reports and joined KUAR’s local All Things Considered host a couple of times to talk about the proceedings. I also spoke about the trial on AETN’s Arkansas Week. Below are links to my reports and segments from the television program.
At the end of the trial, Judge Baker said she will consider the arguments and testimony. She did not give a time frame for when a written ruling will be issued. I spoke the following day, Friday, May 3 on AETN’s Arkansas Week about trial.
Director of Public Affairs at Arkansas PBS, 36-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.
On the web since 2002, this is the online home of broadcasting news veteran Michael Hibblen. I've worked for newspapers, radio and TV stations around the country, with this website telling the story of my career, including audio, photos and videos. Also featured are various interests I've researched, primarily about radio and railroads. Today I'm Director of Public Affairs at Arkansas PBS, overseeing production of the program "Arkansas Week" and the streaming of events on the Arkansas Citizens Access Network.
My Book
Released by Arcadia Publishing in 2017, Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas delves into the history of the railroad which once had a huge footprint in Arkansas, as well as other states in the middle of the U.S. The book features historic photos and tells the story of the Rock Island, which was shut down in March 1980. READ MORE
For 13 years, from May 2009 to December 2022, I worked for NPR station KUAR-FM 89.1 at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. That included 10 years as News Director while continuing to anchor and report. You can read and hear reports from that time on Little Rock Public Radio's website.
