Arkansas

FAYETTEVILLE, AR - Bolivar High School quarterback Rafe Peavey (class of 2014) has verbally committed to play football at Arkansas .  Peavey informed KSPR of the decision Monday morning while visiting Fayetteville with his family over the weekend. "Since there's not an NFL team in Arkansas, everybody loves the Razorbacks," said Peavey.  "Their facilities are awesome. " Rafe's 2011 Highlight Video Peavey had also received verbal offers from Missouri, UCLA, Ole Miss, Connecticut, Nebraska, Indiana and Boston College.

Voters in Arkansas went to the polls Tuesday to decide party nominees in statewide and Congressional races. The most closely watched race is the U.S. Senate Democratic party primary. Incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln faces a challenge from Lt. Gov. Bill Halter and the self-funded D.C. Morrison. Voters in northwest and central Arkansas are choosing the party nominees to replace Rep. John Boozman in Congress. Boozman is one of eight Republicans seeking the nomination for U.S. Senate.

The disappearance of a woman and her mother from Benton county, Arkansas may be solved. Published reports quotes police who say they have found two bodies in shallow graves near Garfield, Arkansas. The property belongs to Christina Bishop's ex-husband. She and her mother Louise have been missing since last June. Their truck was found on the parking lot of a stripclub in McDonald county, Missouri.

A man from Arkansas is facing more bank robbery charges. A Springfield Federal Grand Jury indicted 45 year old Robert Knepper today (3-1) for robbing a Springfield bank. Prosecutors say Knepper robbed about $80,000 from the Liberty Bank on North West Bypass last March. They also say he took about $400,000 from the Great Southern Bank in Joplin last September.

A man is recovering after falling from a bridge in Arkansas. 20-Year-old Brent Bell of Warsaw, Mo, fell 8 to 10 feet while climbing near a natural bridge along the Buffalo National River.   Bell was air-lifted to a hospital in Springfield. Officials say ice was in the area of the bridge, but don't think it played a role in Bell's fall.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Arkansas finance officials say the state collected more money in August than expected and also beat last year's figures. The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration reported Thursday that the state's net available revenues were $18 million more in August than forecast and $31 million more than the same month last year. The state saw an increase in sales and individual income tax collections, but corporate income taxes collections were down.

Patients in Missouri and Arkansas are waiting longer than they were last year for emergency care. The good news is, the wait times are less than the national average. The Show-Me State ranked 21st in wait time, with an average of 3 hours and 56 minutes, which is 3 minutes more than last year. Arkansas ranked 20th in the country. Their average wait was 3 hours and 54 minutes. that's an increase of 18 minutes since 2009. The national avaerage emergency room wait is 4 hours and 7 minutes.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The Arkansas Health Board has approved a measure that would ban synthetic marijuana in the state. Board members said Friday that the products, such as K-2 and Spice, have inconsistent levels of the intoxicating chemical and have resulted in emergency room treatment for some users. The ban needs Gov. Mike Beebe's signature to go in force. The measure would make it a misdemeanor to distribute the products, punishable by a fine of up to $500 and a month in jail.

State officials say a review of the Arkansas foster-care system, begun a year and a half ago at Gov. Mike Beebe's request, has shown some improvements accomplished but others that still need to be made. Cecile Blucker, director of the Division of Children and Family Services in the state Department of Human Services, said her agency has a long way to go, but has made moves in the right direction. DHS spokeswoman Julie Munsell said agency officials knew they wouldnt be able to fix all the problems within a year or two of the review.

The Missouri State baseball team held Arkansas without an earned run Tuesday, but a critical error in the eighth inning led to both Razorback tallies as the 16th-ranked visitors snuck out of Hammons Field with a 2-1 victory. Starter Pierce Johnson (3-3) struck out nine in seven-plus innings, but it was his throwing error in the eighth that eventually cost the Bears. After the leadoff man got hit and the next batter singled, Arkansas put down a sacrifice bunt that Johnson fielded and threw wildly to first, allowing one run to score and runners to second and third with nobody out. That brought Dan Kickham in from the bullpen to record a strikeout, let up a sacrifice fly and fan the next batter, leaving both runs unearned but the Bears facing a 2-1 deficit.

VIOLET HILL, Ark. - Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery says authorities in Izard County have called off the search for a missing child. On Thursday, the Baxter County Sheriff's Office Helicopter assisted the Izard County Sheriff's Office in search of a three year old child believed to have been missing. However, the search was called off due to there being no sightings of the child and no missing person report having been filed, according to Montgomery. Authorities were told the boy was last seen entering the wooded area around 1:00 p.m. Thursday by more than one witness at a home located approximately two miles northeast of the Violet Hill Community in Izard County.

The debate over abortion in Arkansas is going to court but not until next year. The trial is set for March 17th.     Several abortion groups filed a lawsuit challenging a new Arkansas law that bans most abortions 12 weeks into pregnancy. A federal judge has blocked the law until the court case is finished. Arkansas' governor is against the law. He says it violates the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe versus Wade decision that legalized abortion until a fetus could survive outside the womb.

MOORE, Ok      Ozarkers are answering the call for help from Moore, Oklahoma. Some of them are turning their hobbies into much needed help. Two Ozarks natives new to disaster response are working with an organization that has quickly become a veteran of it. Operation Barbeque Relief was started by a bunch of competitive barbequers but they say there's nothing competitive about cooking for charity.  They say it fills you up in a whole different kind of way. "I've lived all my life in Harrison, Arkansas, I was born and raised and raised there," says self proclaimed hillbilly Roy Cisco.

MARSHALL, Ar -- A 30-year-old crime suddenly becomes relevant again, taking down a county sheriff in Arkansas. Back in 1979 -- current Searcy County Sheriff Kenny Cassell pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of "knowingly possessing" cornish hens stolen from a Tyson Chicken truck. Now, the Arkansas Supreme Court has ruled that Cassell cannot remain in office because the high court says cassell's conviction constitutes an "infamous crime" under the state constitution.

OMAHA, Ark. -- This was not the kind of off-day kids had in mind. Boone County Sheriff's deputies say vandals targeted school buses, a sports field and an elementary school in a late-night raid on the district. The damages total more than $10,000. Part of the attack included sanding six school buses and dumping materials inside the gas tanks. Superintendent Jerry Parrett says this crippled the fleet and endangered the 85% of students who ride the buses to school everyday.

The Storm Prediction Center has issued a tornado watch valid through 5 p.m. for an area of southeast Missouri, including three counties in the Missouri Ozarks. The watch includes Howell, Shannon and Oregon counties, including the cities of West Plains and Eminence. Arkansas counties in the watch include Baxter, Fulton, Izard, Sharp and Stone. The watch has expired for areas west of the affected counties.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - The Storm Prediction Center has issued a new tornado watch through 5 a.m. for a large area of Missouri. Local Missouri counties included in the watch are the following: Barry, Barton, Benton, Camden, Cedar, Christian, Dade, Dallas, Greene, Hickory, Jasper, Laclede, Lawrence, Maries, McDonald, Miller, Newton, Polk, Pulaski, St. Clair, Stone, Vernon and Webster. Arkansas counties included in a tornado watch that is effective until 6 a.m. include Carroll County, Washington County, Benton County and Madison County.

MOUNTAIN HOME, Arkansas -- A former Mountain Home, Arkansas alderman is accused of trying to hire someone to commit arson. Ronald Rhodes, 80, is charged with felony solicitation to commit arson. The Mountain Home police chief says Rhodes tried to hire someone to burn a vehicle owned by a person he had a feud with in the past. Rhodes lost his re-election bid last November. He is free on $50,000 and is due in court April 25.

HOWELL COUNTY, Mo. - KSPR tracked yesterday's storms as they made their way through our viewing area. While springfield saw heavy rain fall throughout the afternoon, a storm cell just south of West Plains in Howell County brought heavy rain, high winds and bright flashes of lightning -- making for little visibility at times. The story is very different in the St. Louis area, where three confirmed tornadoes touched down Wednesday evening in the suburbs of Hazelwood, Florissant and Alton, Ill. Hazelwood's communications manager says the tornado tore roofs off several homes there, but no major injuries were reported.

Driving while drowsy can be dangerous but in Arkansas it could cost you some serious jail time as well. The State Senate has approved legislation that would allow prosecutors to charge sleepy drivers with negligent homicide when they cause fatal crashes. The bill would allow prosecutors to apply the charge to drivers if they have been without sleep for more than 24 hours. The Arkansas house will consider the bill next week.