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Arkansas PBS hosts Debate Week 2024

by | Oct 13, 2024 | Arkansas PBS, Arkansas Week, News

I speak with the three journalists who would be asking questions of candidates in the 1st district congressional debate before the broadcast began on Oct. 8, 2024. Photo: Arkansas PBS

Each election cycle, Arkansas PBS hosts a series of debates with candidates running for Congress, and when applicable, state constitutional offices. This year we featured the races for the state’s four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. With a special election being held for treasurer, all three candidates also took part in a forum discussion on our program “Arkansas Week.” 

Now in my role as Director of Public Affairs at Arkansas PBS, this was the first time I helped organize the debates, learning the extensive steps that begin months ahead of time to ensure a fair format, participation by all candidates, and the that technical logistics of making the live broadcasts happen run smoothly. In previous election years, beginning in 2010 while working at Little Rock’s KUAR-FM 89.1, I served in the panels of journalists who would question candidates. Having that background proved to be beneficial for me. Even more important was seeing how my colleagues, who have been organizing decades for decades, did their jobs.

The debates, moderated by Steve Barnes, generated news stories around the state as these were the only matchups among the candidates. The debates took place over the span of a week one month before Election Day in one of our three studios. They were broadcast and streamed live at 10 a.m. or 2 p.m. each day, and we reaired one each evening that week. All four were rebroadcast in a marathon the following weekend. The debates also aired on Little Rock Public Radio, while KASU-FM 91.9 in Jonesboro broadcast the 1st district debate. 

 

1ST DISTRICT CONGRESSIONAL DEBATE

Incumbent Republican Rep. Rick Crawford, Democrat Rodney Govens and Libertarian Steve Parsons were questioned during the Oct. 8 debate by KAIT-TV 8 news anchor Diana Davis, Talk Business & Politics reporter George Jared and KASU-FM 91.9 News Director Brandon Tabor.

 

2ND DISTRICT CONGRESSIONAL DEBATE

Incumbent Republican Rep. French Hill and Democrat Marcus Jones were questioned during the Oct. 7 debate by reporters Steve Brawner, Arkansas Business Editor Hunter Fields and KARK-TV 4’s Caitrin Assaf.

 

3RD DISTRICT CONGRESSIONAL DEBATE

Incumbent Republican Rep. Steve Womack, Democrat Caitlin Draper and Libertarian Bobby Wilson were questioned during the Oct. 8 debate by reporters Steve Brawner, Talk Business & Politics reporter George Jared and Yuna Lee, an anchor with 40/29 News in Fayetteville.

 

4TH DISTRICT CONGRESSIONAL DEBATE

Incumbent Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman and Democrat Risie Howard were questioned during the Oct. 10 debate by Brandon Evans with 40/29 News in Fayetteville, Little Rock Public Radio Politics and Government Reporter Josie Lenora and Pine Bluff Commercial Editor Byron Tate.

Following each debate was a press conference, which all candidates were invited to participate in. We included the press conferences in the live streams of each debate. Arkansas PBS is located on the edge of the University of Central Arkansas campus, and one instructor saw the learning opportunity for his students. Journalism professor David Keith, who was teaching a class on political reporting, had his students watch the debates, then attend the press conferences, with many asking questions of the candidates.

Incumbent U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman speaks during the Oct. 10, 2024 press conference. Journalism professor David Keith and his students took up about half of the seats in the room where it was held after the 4th district debate. Photo: Michael Hibblen

 

FORUM FOR TREASURER CANDIDATES ON ‘ARKANSAS WEEK’

The appearance by the candidates for Arkansas treasurer on “Arkansas Week” was the only time the three sat down together for any kind of public forum. Democrat John Pagan, a former state legislator, Libertarian Michael Pakko and Republican John Thurston, who is currently Secretary of State, joined host Steve Barnes on Oct. 11. The special election was necessitated by the death of previously elected treasurer Mark Lowery.

Boys and Girls Club mural nearly complete

by | Jun 15, 2024 | Arts, News

After more than a year of work, artist Kevin Kresse says he expects to finish a mural on the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Arkansas building in North Little Rock by the end of this weekend. He has been a familiar sight for drivers passing by on Main Street during late afternoon and evening hours once the sun sinks behind the large brick structure. 

Kevin Kresse looks at his Boys and Girls Club mural in North Little Rock on Friday, June 15, 2024. All photos: Michael Hibblen

Kresse works alone, often hoisted in the air by a piece of heavy equipment while painting images and words of inspiration with a brush. The project began in May 2023, with breaks of a few months each when the weather got too hot last summer and too cold last winter. 

“God knows how many hours I have in it though — I would be afraid to find out,” he said. “I like it, I’m proud of it. I played basketball here as a kid, grew up like seven blocks away. It feels good to leave something in the community I grew up in.” 

Before Kresse began the project, the building alongside a bridge that crosses the Union Pacific rail yard was stark and bare. With the entrance and parking lot on the opposite side from Main Street, for those passing by on the busy thoroughfare, the building looked void of life. But now it features dramatic images of people in front of skies of clouds and stars.

On the east side of the building, two kids are shown sitting with books in their laps — one fully engrossed by what she’s reading, the other with his head back, eyes closed and a big smile. Between them, both emerge from a point in a swirl, flying through the air in capes with their fists outstretched. The boy is wearing a graduation cap and gown, while the girl is wearing scrubs and a stethoscope. Underneath them, while I was visiting with Kevin, he was another layer of color to the words “Knowledge IS POWER” with three exclamation points for emphasis. 

Kevin Kresse adds another layer of paint to the words “Knowledge IS POWER!!!”

Part of the east side of the Boys and Girls Club building.

Separated by a Boys and Girls Club logo, a young woman is shown bouncing a volleyball that looks like the moon in a nighttime sky. On the north side of the building, a young woman is swimming, arms blurred in motion, hair spread out, with a look of bliss on her face. Below her is the Arkansas River along with the Broadway and Main Street bridges and just a hint of each city’s skylines along with the words “Dream BIG.”

Next to her on the most visible corner of the building, with the words “Be a Mentor,” is an image of Little Rock art dealer and collector Garbo Hearne of Hearne Fine Art, blowing what looks like glitter. “She was sweet enough to model for me,” Kresse said.

The goal for the mural is to convey the many activities that benefit kids inside, he says, while encouraging them to “basically dream bigger about everything. So take it and pump it up and make it a little bit more fun with magical realism.”

In addition to sports and a pool, homework tutoring and leadership training are also offered. The mural being painted coincides with the 54-year-old building undergoing repairs and upgrades. 

The north side of the building features a likeness of Garbo Hearnes, along with a young woman swimming.

This is just the latest project for Kresse, who has adorned his hometown with many works of art. He painted a “Dogtown Proud” mural alongside Main Street in the Argenta District, which is a reference to the days when Little Rock reportedly would dump stray dogs in its neighboring city. He also has a Mother Earth sculpture and fountain with stone benches on 5th Street.

As part of Little Rock’s 7th Street mural under two railroad overpasses, he painted an amazing likeness of radio veteran and longtime KABF-FM 88.3 Program Director John Cain. And most notably, Kresse was selected by the state to make a statue of Johnny Cash that will represent Arkansas in the U.S. Capitol. An unveiling ceremony for that is expected to occur in September.

Former North Little Rock Mayor Pat Hays dies at 76

by | Oct 5, 2023 | Arkansas History, News, Railroads, Rock Island Railroad

Former North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Henry Hays, a third generation railroad worker who later became an attorney and entered politics, died Wednesday, Oct. 4. He was 76. The cause of death was cancer, his family said.

I interviewed Hays twice over several decades about his work to preserve the Rock Island bridge over the Arkansas River, which at one point was slated to be torn down. Below is audio and a transcript of our final interview, which also delved into his experiences working as a Missouri Pacific fireman and brakeman while in college. He was always a pleasure to speak with.

Former North Little Rock Mayor Pat Hays speaks during the dedication ceremony for the renovated Rock Island Bridge, which was renamed the Clinton Presidential Park Bridge. Photo: Clinton Foundation screenshot

In the mid-1990s, Hays, Little Rock Mayor Jim Dailey and Pulaski County Judge Buddy Villines oversaw the revitalization of the cities’ downtown areas. One component of that, as I reported in 1996, was to keep the century-old Rock Island Railroad Bridge from being removed. The three took part in negotiations with Union Pacific, which acquired the bridge after the 1980 bankruptcy shutdown of the Rock Island. Union Pacific had said in 1989 that it planned to dismantle the bridge which hadn’t been used in about five years and was considered a liability because it was a hazard to river navigation.  

As part of my research on the Rock Island, I interviewed Hays at his law office on Nov. 23, 2017 about why he felt it was important to save the bridge. After reaching an agreement with Union Pacific, the bridge remained largely untouched — seemingly abandoned to unknowing eyes — until $10.5 million in work was finally completed to convert it into a pedestrian and cycling bridge that is at the eastern end of the 14-mile Arkansas River Trail. I covered the dedication ceremony for the renovated bridge on Sept. 30, 2011, in which Hays spoke alongside former President Bill Clinton, whose presidential library is adjacent to the bridge.

In my interview, Hays also talked about his five years working for the Missouri Pacific, which his father and grandfather had also worked for. It was a typical story for young people in railroad families. 

“Back in 1965 when I graduated from high school, I started taking my student trips the next morning — graduated one night and then I was up at 4 or 5 the next morning,” Hays said. “They needed folks to work during the summer because a lot of the folks would take vacations. We would work off of what they called the extra board and that was just simply a rotation of regular jobs that people had that they wanted off.”

North Little Rock has always been a railroad city, with a sprawling rail yard that today belongs to the Union Pacific. The Rock Island’s primary yard for the state had also located in the city until 1918, when Biddle Yard was constructed in south Little Rock. North Little Rock was also served by the Cotton Belt Railroad, with a passenger station that Hays recalled sitting on top of as a kid to watch circus trains pass. We also talked about his appointment to be chairman of Amtrak’s Mayors Advisory Council, as well as rail transportation elsewhere in the world.

It was a rather informal interview as I primarily wanted to document his recollections and ask for any additional details he could offer regarding the Rock Island. I had grown up in North Little Rock and explained to him my vantage point as a child seeing the final trains of the Rock Island passing in front of my elementary school. Hays was very generous with his time and I’m happy to share audio of the interview here. You can also read a transcript with much of the interview, while I have highlights of our conversation below.  

AUDIO: Part 1 of my interview with former North Little Rock Mayor Pat Hays on Nov. 23, 2017, discussing working for the Missouri Pacific Railroad.
AUDIO: Part 2 of my interview with Hays on his work to save the Rock Island Bridge and other railroad topics.

Hays served longer than any other North Little Rock mayor, in office from 1989-2012. He previously represented the area in the Arkansas House of Representatives. A funeral service is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 12, 3 p.m. at North Little Rock First Pentecostal Church at 1401 Calvary Road.

INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:

Hays discussed the expansion of railroads in central Arkansas and how that led to multiple railroads building rail yards and shops in North Little Rock.

When the rails finally… They came over from Memphis and came down from St. Louis, and they obviously stopped initially in North Little Rock because there wasn’t a rail bridge at the time, or any [Arkansas River] bridges at the time. Because they were ferried across the river, and that obviously was somewhat of a slow process, from what I understand from a historical standpoint, they would take that time and tinker with some of the maintenance issues that they had to do. One thing led to another, and that’s in large measure why North Little Rock became somewhat of a railroad town. When the rails reached here, they paused in going across the river because they had to ferry them.

The Baring Cross Bridge became the first rail bridge built across the Arkansas River, opening in 1873. Just to the east, the original Junction Bridge was constructed in 1884. At the easternmost end of the bridges between Little Rock and North Little Rock, the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad constructed a 1,200-foot bridge that opened in 1899. In 1902, that railroad was taken over by the Rock Island. Hays told me about his work for the Missouri Pacific, which primarily involved crossing the Junction Bridge.

I used that bridge when we were working on the Valley Division. There was a rail yard — I guess it’s pretty much where the Clinton Library and the Heifer Project are now — and we would go over there when the job picked back up in terms of needing substitute folks. We had what we called the full crew law back in the 1960s, and perhaps before then, where you had to have an engineer, a fireman, a conductor and two brakemen. So you had to have five employees on each freight train. On the yard jobs, you had to have an engineer and a fireman. [The full crew law] was tied to public crossings. If you crossed a public crossing, that’s what kicked the law into effect, in large measure for safety reasons. So I would go over there, and of course there’s a lot of crossings that go up and down on the east side, along the right-of-way going out toward the airport. The Valley Division went through Pine Bluff and then down to McGehee and then on into Alexandria, Louisiana. So the Junction Bridge was the bridge we used primarily.

Hays spoke about what he, Little Rock Mayor Jim Dailey and Pulaski County Judge Buddy Villines envisioned for the unused Rock Island and Junction bridges.

In the early ‘90s, I was part of a program called the Mayor’s Institute of Urban Design. There’s several of them around the country and the one that I was a part of spent two or three days in Atlanta, then we spent two or three days in Chattanooga. While we were in Chattanooga, they have what they call the Walnut Street Bridge, and they had converted that bridge to a pedestrian bridge — totally pedestrian — and so I saw what they had done with that bridge. And I took a trip to Portland, and I think they converted a rail bridge and/or road bridge to a pedestrian — partly-pedestrian bridge. I’m not sure what the name of it is. So the concept of turning a bridge into a modern public use was not a foreign concept to me in recognizing what other communities had done and how they did it. Obviously, there are all sorts of different ways for them to do it.

We had a pretty unique opportunity here in central Arkansas. Buddy and Jim and I worked on a variety of things that jointly could make central Arkansas a much better place — we felt — to live. And the unique opportunity we had were the six bridges that joined Little Rock and North Little Rock. We thought a lot alike about creating an urban environment, trying to redo a downtown environment, how if the core of the community was unhealthy that the entire community was unhealthy. We started learning about different things, about why you wanted to revive an urban lifestyle.

Transportation — the interstate system started in the ‘50s, and really, to me in many respects, destroyed the urban vitality of areas all over the country. So, you were having challenges in trying to provide a healthy and livable place in the urban core for people to live and work and learn and play and do all the things that really made a community much better. And North Little Rock was particularly challenged in many respects because we were surrounded by other jurisdictions: Little Rock in the south across the river; Maumelle out west; Camp Robinson to the north; Sherwood to the north-northeast; and then, in some respects, a lot of improvements have been made, but the flat Delta land had some flood-prone issues. If there are large mosquitoes as there are on the eastern side of our city, the Delta kind of land was more challenging to grow. So we were pretty well surrounded. Fort Smith, maybe, was the only other city in Arkansas, perhaps a little bit in Texarkana, but they still had areas to grow. They weren’t hemmed in by other cities, and then had some geographic challenges or topographical challenges.

So it was real important for me to try to develop the kind of urban environment that would cause people to want to live in that environment. North Little Rock, we had a census one year after I arrived at City Hall in 1989, and we grew a little bit, but for the first time in the city’s history, I think it was the census of 2000, we lost population. We’d been pretty flat since the 1960s. We’d grown by 8,000 to 10,000 people up until the 1960s, but then we pretty well flattened out, and a large reason was because we didn’t have areas to grow by annexation. So I saw my responsibility was to try to create it because we were probably one of the more urban cities because of what I just mentioned.

So [I was] trying to do anything that I could, and the city of North Little Rock could do, to create the kind of an environment that would fertilize growth. And quality growth to me was what other areas were then starting to do to try to revive their urban cores. So, the heart of our urban core and the major asset that we neglected for 50 years or more, maybe 100 years or more, was the Arkansas River. Water has historically… that was our first highway. The rails obviously were second, and then the highways were basically our third — the interstate system particularly.

Hays, Dailey and Villines worked together to negotiate with Union Pacific to address liability concerns to keep the Rock Island and Junction bridges from being torn down so that they could eventually be utilized in a new way.

It was a natural for me to want to encourage the city to be a part of the effort to preserve those bridges because once they’re down, they never would come back. And the Corps of Engineers, because of hazards to navigation, mandates that after a certain period of time — with some exceptions, which I think were granted in the cases of the Junction Bridge and the Rock Island Bridge — are mandated to be taken down. So that hammer was hanging over us and the cost was also hanging over Union Pacific; so there was some opportunity to negotiate with them because of trying to utilize those bridges, and then once they’re utilized again, then they’re no longer a hazard of navigation and there’s not a mandate to tear them down. So we obviously became quick allies.

The fenced Rock Island Bridge over the Arkansas River in January 1994. At that time, Union Pacific was planning to scrap the bridge with the lift span to be used for a bridge in the state of Washington. Photo: Michael Hibblen

Preserving those bridges was a no-brainer, if you want to put it that way, and so the three of us started working together when the site was picked for the [presidential] library. Part of the appeal of that site was because there was an abandoned rail bridge that could be used to be a part of the campus. And they had hoped to raise enough money, the [Clinton] Foundation did, to open the bridge at the same time they dedicated the library, [but] they weren’t able to do that. So they took on the primary fundraising, the foundation did, to try to do the rehabbing of the bridge. I know that they had, I think, a $1 million contribution from Little Rock. I’m not sure exactly how the ownership issues were at the time, whether Little Rock owned it. I don’t think the foundation ever owned it. So when the foundation sort of took the lead in saving it, I took the city council a request for $750,000.

With plans underway to raise money and eventually renovate the Rock Island Bridge, Mayor Hays began working to prepare the North Little Rock side of the bridge for what it would become.

At the time, the city’s ownership of the land came to the seawall, and then it was in private hands for about two blocks until it got to Riverfront Drive. I didn’t want something to be built there at the end of the bridge that would block public access to our end of the bridge, so when I went to the city council and asked for $750,000, I put two conditions on our donation. One: that we would be able to use some of those funds to acquire the land that was at the north end of the bridge up to Riverfront Drive, and I think we acquired that for somewhere in the $300,000 range. The second condition that I wanted, because I had been familiar with the landings of the Big Dam Bridge, and they were pretty well straight — and because I’m a bicyclist at heart and in many respects, in reality, bicyclists and pedestrians don’t mix real well unless they each respect each other. Bicyclists sometimes would go pretty fast down the Big Dam Bridge on both sides of the river. North Little Rock, we have one [ramp], in Little Rock [there are] two, but they’re pretty well straight shots. So I wanted to try to do something that would minimize that kind of a conflict — to be able to curve [the ramp off the Rock Island Bridge] so that it would have some natural tendency to slow people down and provide a little bit more of an aesthetic kind of an ending to our side of the bridge. And so both [conditions] were agreed to.

The change of design probably was somewhere between $100,000 and $150,000 in additional cost. So, for our $750,000, we’ll say somewhere between $450,000 and $500,000 was because of those two requirements, and then the other $250,000 to $300,000 was to help fund some of the remaining obligations of rehabilitation of the bridge for pedestrian use. So we put some of our money where our mouth was to — in my mind — enhance the north side of the bridge.

There were a couple other things that I did which I thought were appropriate. Just before the bridge was dedicated, there was a little two-block stretch that runs parallel to our end of the landing on the bridge. It had a name, but it wasn’t a name that had a whole lot of history to it, maybe a tree designation. So I went to the city council and got them to agree and the landowners, made sure nobody objected to naming that Virginia Kelly Drive, which was Bill Clinton’s mother.

When we dedicated the bridge, I told him, “Mr. President, any time that you’re telling anybody directions to come to the north end of the bridge, it’ll be easy to remember.” And I had a street sign made up that had his mother’s name on it. And I said, “Just tell them to come along Riverfront Drive until they get to Virginia Kelly Drive,” and there’s your end of the bridge.

Then the last thing I did — in fact, the last day I was in office — I was working on this on December 31, 2012. There’s another street that’s three or four blocks. It was named Brother Paul Drive. Paul Holderfield was pretty much an institution, had the Friendly Chapel Soup Kitchen and Church of the Nazarene down there. So his name was on that street — it still is on part of it — but I’d gone to his son, Paul [Holderfield] Jr., and told him what I wanted to do about that two or three block stretch that runs east and west. I thought it’d be nice to name that after Hillary [Clinton’s] mother Dorothy Rodham. So the city council, everybody went along with it, and shortly after I left office — all of the nods had been put in place, so the city council renamed that street Dorothy Rodham. So now we have Virginia Kelly and Dorothy Rodham that meet together right at the north end of the Clinton Bridge, a la the Rock Island Bridge. And I went ahead and put a little bench there — or my successor Joe Smith did — but it was something I wanted to do, and I call that my Forrest Gump bench. So there’s a little bench there that is at the north end of our bridge. So that’s part of the success.

Hays expressed great satisfaction with the project to preserve the former railroad bridges.

I don’t know if when we started the efforts that we felt like we would be able to do it — the cost was pretty significant. It was a dream and a goal and a desire, but certainly some of the things that helped make that happen, probably one of the largest of which was the president selecting that site for his presidential library. Now on the Junction Bridge, we were much more of a financial player, the two cities and the county — still are, for that matter, in terms of the operation and maintenance of it. But the Rock Island Bridge, the partnerships of the Clinton Foundation and the two cities and the county, the asset is, I won’t say greater than the Junction Bridge, but because of the design [with a ramp not requiring people to take stairs or an elevator up to the lift span like on the Junction Bridge] makes it a whole lot more pedestrian friendly in many respects. So that’s a no brainer, you know, a goal, a desire, a hope that because of a variety of circumstances, the reality happened and the public is, I’m sure, very enjoyable in having those two structures available and can be used.

Hays speaks during a dedication ceremony for the bridge on Sept. 30, 2011. Photo: Michael Hibblen

AUDIO: Hays’ remarks during the dedication ceremony for the Rock Island Bridge on Sept. 30, 2011.

UPDATE: A few weeks after Hays’ death, former Pulaski County Judge Buddy Villines — who served in the position from 1991 to 2014 — died on Oct. 21, 2023, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He was 76. Some referred to Villines, Hays and Dailey as “the three amigos” for their collaborative work to improve the region while they were in office.

After 34 years in radio, now at Arkansas PBS

by | May 6, 2023 | About Me, Arkansas Week, News

I’m nearing six months into a new job at Arkansas PBS, greatly enjoying working in a new environment with a different set of challenges and the opportunity to try new things. This is my first time working exclusively in television and video-related digital media, but I’m still using the journalism basics that are instilled after decades of being a radio reporter, anchor, editor and manager. I started on Jan. 3 as Senior Producer/Director of Public Affairs.

After accepting the job and giving five weeks notice to longtime employer KUAR-FM 89.1, I posted on social media about my career change.

My last day at KUAR was Dec. 30, 2022, capping more than three decades in radio. I had been with the NPR station at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock since 2009, serving as news director for the last 10 years. While I have a deep love for the medium of radio and podcasts, this was an exciting chance to work in a new realm and help expand news coverage on Arkansas PBS. 

For much of my time at KUAR, I had also appeared regularly on the television network’s flagship public affairs program Arkansas Week, taking part in journalist roundtable discussions on the state’s top political stories. I also occasionally filled in hosting the show and was involved in special coverage, including asking questions of political candidates at debates hosted by Arkansas PBS and its predecessor AETN.

Already knowing several people working at the television network helped in the transition to the new job. I’m working mostly in a managerial, behind the scenes role. Our coverage is seen on 10 television channels throughout Arkansas, covering 96% of the state.  I’ve always enjoyed editing video, but never had an opportunity to do it in a professional setting other than a few videos I produced for KUAR’s website, like one of the 2014 dedication of Johnny Cash’s boyhood home or a 2022 interview with cartoonist Stephan Pastis.

Arkansas Business reporter Kyle Massey, who covers media-related issues and has written extensively about KUAR and Arkansas PBS over the years, had a column about my career change in the Dec. 12 issue.

One clarification from what Kyle wrote, I wasn’t planning on taking the reel-to-reel recorder with – that belonged to the station – but yes on moving the extensive collection of personal items from my office, including vintage microphones, hundreds of cassettes, and other items I’d kept there over the years. 

One of my new responsibilities is overseeing production of Arkansas Week, which marked its 40th anniversary in February. Having been involved in the program in the past, it was a joy helping to produce a segment looking at its history. I interviewed several former regulars on the program, as well as longtime host Steve Barnes. The six-minute segment, which was masterfully edited by producer Jennifer Gibson, aired on the Feb. 17 episode.

The full interviews ended up being so good that we also posted many of those online. You can watch Steve Barnes share not only details of his experiences on Arkansas Week, but his background on how he came to work in television. Also available are the interviews with Ernie Dumas of the Arkansas Gazette, Gwen Moritz of Arkansas Business, and Rex Nelson of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

While my job duties are primarily behind the scenes, I’m comfortable appearing on camera as needed — whatever it takes to land an interview, facilitate live coverage or help on the air during pledge drives. Four days before Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ education reform legislation was filed in the Arkansas General Assembly, I interviewed state Education Secretary Jacob Oliva about the proposal in the rotunda of the state Capitol.

Interviewing Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Oliva in the state Capitol about the governor’s education proposal on Feb. 16, 2023. Photo: Arkansas Department of Education

The first 10 minutes of my interview was featured in the opening segment of Arkansas Week. We posted an additional six minutes of the interview as an online-only feature with Oliva providing more details on how he was envisioning the proposal, which Sanders had said was her top priority when coming into office.

As part of our state political and government coverage, I also oversee the streaming of live events on the Arkansas Citizens Action Network (AR-CAN), which is included on the Arkansas PBS website. That can involve lining up a crew to shoot events like government meetings or using Zoom and similar services to stream meetings. Some events are of major political interest, while others are offered as a public service to allow viewers to see the inner workings of government.

Reporting live on Sanders’ education proposal for AR-CAN

After Sanders came into office advocating for an overhaul of the state’s education system, we covered several rallies and events on the topic. Some of the coverage included me reporting live, along with the full speeches and interviews with lawmakers.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced details of her education proposal on Feb. 8, 2023 with legislators behind her on the steps leading to the House of Representatives chamber. Photo: Michael Hibblen

In the weeks before the education bill was filed, Sanders provided a few details of what would be included during several rallies. The first was on Jan. 19, with Sanders speaking in the state Capitol rotunda at an event organized by the Arkansas chapter of Americans for Prosperity. She noted for the first time that the changes would be incorporated into one large omnibus bill, and as expected, would include a voucher program allowing parents to use state funds for private, parochial or home schooling.

On Feb. 8, Sanders held a press conference in front of the steps leading to the Arkansas House of Representatives chamber to unveil details of her education proposal called the LEARNS Act. Exact language of the bill would not be released for another couple of weeks.

The 145-page bill was filed at the end of the day on Feb. 20. It was apparent just from the number of sponsors that there was more than enough support for the legislation to pass, with Republicans holding supermajorities in both chambers.

On the day after the bill was introduced, Sanders spoke during a Feb. 21 rally at the Capitol, this time as part of Home School Day.

In the span of just over two weeks, the bill sailed through the legislature. Many Democrats, educators and parents argued there wasn’t sufficient debate for such sweeping changes. The bill was the topic of several episodes of Arkansas Week, with lawmakers from both major parities debating for and against it. Sanders signed the bill into law on March. 8, which we also streamed live.

Surrounded by supporters and family, Gov. Sanders signs the LEARNS Act into law on March 8. Photo: Michael Hibblen

Another key issue during the legislative session, which was discussed heavily on Arkansas Week, was criminal justice reform. With it and education taking up so much time, it was reported that this year’s session saw the fewest number of bills passed since 1971. Lawmakers formally adjourned on May 1.

Beyond my Public Affairs department, it has been fascinating to learn about how Arkansas PBS operates and the many things it is involved in. The original productions, ranging from educational kids programming to more serious topics, have been especially interesting to see being produced. We have a podcast studio equipped with three cameras that was most recently used for a grant-funded series called The Growing Season. Even the annual Arkansas Governor’s Quiz Bowl championship for high school students was fun. My role in the April 22 broadcast, which featured seven rounds each lasting about an hour, was controlling the buzzer as participants competed.

During two nights of our spring pledge drive I appeared on-camera pitching for viewer support. One evening was during PBS NewsHour and Nature. The other was while airing three documentaries produced in the 1990s by the late Arkansas television journalist Jack Hill. In between each one, Casey Sanders and I interviewed the authors of a book about Hill and his former wife.

Bob Cochran and Dale Carpenter discuss their book about Jack Hill alongside his former wife Anne Hill during an evening when we aired three of his documentaries. Photo: Kai Caddy/Arkansas PBS

Walking Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin through Arkansas PBS before taping an episode of Arkansas Week on Feb. 3, 2023 . Photo: Attorney General’s Office

Moving forward, I hope to continue expanding digital offerings by Arkansas PBS, especially for news-related events. It’s a pleasure working with an impressive team of professionals. It’s also an honor being part of a television network that I grew up watching with a deep history in the state.

Moderating heated debate with candidates for mayor of Little Rock

by | Nov 1, 2022 | News

Leading up to Election Day, I moderated a contentious debate among the four candidates running for mayor of Little Rock. It was the first debate-style event the candidates had participated in and I questioned them about some controversial issues they had not previously discussed during a public event. It prompted some heated moments.

The debate was organized by the Central Arkansas Library System, KUAR and the League of Women Voters of Pulaski County. A crowd of a couple hundred people were in the Ron Robinson Theater on Monday, Oct. 10 to watch it in-person, while the debate was also streamed on CALS’ YouTube channel and aired live on KUAR.

The debate generated significant media attention, with my name and KUAR mentioned in stories by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the Arkansas Advocate and the Arkansas Times. In particular, the Arkansas Times said:

Though well-organized and fair, the Monday evening Little Rock mayoral forum got heated — particularly between incumbent Frank Scott Jr. and candidate Steve Landers when it came to crime, LITFest and the city’s parks.

KUAR 89.1-FM journalist Michael Hibblen moderated the forum at Ron Robinson theater, and it was the first that could be called a debate. The candidates — Scott, Landers, Greg Henderson and Glen Schwarz — were given two minutes to answer the same question, and if someone was called out, they were given a one-minute rebuttal period.

Later in the story, regarding LITFest:

The forum was also the first time Scott publicly answered questions about LITFest, the city-sponsored festival that was supposed to “unite” Little Rock, but was canceled days before its start.

Scott’s main claim about the festival was that the event brought “key learnings,” and there were some “mistakes made,” he said. “But when the time [came to make] a decision, as a leader, I made sure those decisions were correct. So, yes, it had to be canceled.”

Hibblen phrased the question to include several details of the LITFest saga, including the hiring of the mayor’s former chief of staff to Think Rubix — the company that was chosen to organize the festival, the move to skip the Board of Directors’ approval and the contract concerns that arose. Scott did not include explanations to any of these details in his response. He did not include LITFest in his response concerning city transparency. He did say that if he is reelected, he would fight again to bring the festival to Little Rock.

Landers again took a stab at Scott’s work and said that “LITFest was a bad idea from the start.” He said that it would hurt the State Fair, which was scheduled for the week following the festival’s Oct 7-9 dates, and it was something of a “political rally” for Scott. Landers also called the contract a “sham.”

 

Discussing Senate ethics investigation, recreational marijuana decision on Arkansas PBS

by | Sep 28, 2022 | Arkansas Week, News

I was a panelist for a segment on “Arkansas Week” last Friday on Arkansas PBS. It came one day after the Arkansas Supreme Court said voters can consider a proposal on the November ballot to legalize recreational marijuana. The state Board of Election Commissioners had rejected the proposed amendment suggesting the ballot title didn’t fully explain the impact it would have. But the court overturned that decision, saying all of the possible ramifications can’t be detailed in the ballot language.

I also previewed Tuesday’s meeting of the Arkansas Senate to consider a recommendation that Sen. Alan Clark be sanctioned for making what was determined to be a frivolous complaint against another lawmaker. I had covered three of the hearings by the Senate Ethics Committee, including the final one on the matter when members announced the complaint against Sen. Stephanie Flowers was without merit. They also recommended that Clark be punished for making was said to be a retaliatory filing after being punished himself in July for a separate issue and vowing “to burn the house down.”