SPORTS STORY >> Fourth-down score dooms Panthers

By GRAHAM POWELL Leader sportswriter They came close, but the Cabot Panthers couldn’t pull off the upset against Jonesboro at Panther Stadium on Friday, as the visiting Golden Hurricane escaped the 7A/6A-East Conference matchup with a 24-23 win. Thanks to three field goals by Christian Underwood, Cabot led 17-14 at halftime and 23-17 early in the fourth quarter, but a […]

SPORTS STORY >> Jacksonville Lighthouse defeats Owls

By RAY BENTON Leader sports editor The Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter School boys got their third win of the season on Tuesday of this week, but also lost for the first time this season on Thursday. The Wolves beat Sherwood’s Abundant Life Academy 67-42 on Tuesday, then fell 69-47 to the 4-0 Wonderview Daredevils in Hattieville. “It was crazy,” said Lighthouse […]

SPORTS STORY >> Red Devils do their job

By ANN THARP Special to The Leader It was a huge game at Jan Crow Stadium Friday night when Jacksonville hosted the Mills Comets. A win would keep the Red Devils in the 5A-Central Conference playoff picture. And on Senior Night with the pressure on, Jacksonville came through with the hard-fought 31-7 victory to even its conference record at 3-3. […]

SPORTS STORY >> Badgers win in shocker

By RAY BENTON Leader sports editor It took nine weeks, but the Beebe Badgers finally played a game at full strength Friday, and finally played like the team they thought they could be all along. The result was a 41-37 upset of No. 4 ranked and undefeated Sylvan Hills at Blackwood Field in Sherwood. The victory assures the Badgers of […]

EDITORIAL >> Liquor vote: You decide

If you believe that alcohol is the degradation of man and the ruin of families — a notion with which we sometimes do not vigorously quarrel — then you will want to vote against Ballot Issue 4, which legalizes liquor sales in currently dry counties. If you have a more tolerant view of alcohol, there is no reason to oppose […]

TOP STORY >> It’s Hays against Hill

By ERNIE DUMAS Special to The Leader If the election for Second District congressman were a race between fetching names, who would win, Patrick Henry Hays or J. French Hill? It is not a wholly absurd question because, at least as much as the reputations and issues, their names seem to be motivations for voters in the seven-county district that […]

TOP STORY >> Rutledge vs. Steel

By ERNIE DUMAS Special to The Leader The race for attorney general, between a woman who says she will protect the state from President Obama and a man who says he will protect us better from criminals, is an odd one by modern standards. Only Bruce Ben-nett, back in 1956, pledged to use the attorney general’s office as a hammer […]

TOP STORY >> Arkansans heading to polls

Voters go to the polls Tuesday to decide who will lead nearly every city in The Leader’s coverage area, as well as which party will control the U.S. Senate as Mark Pryor struggles to keep his seat from Republican challenger Rep. Tom Cotton. The mayors of Jacksonville, Cabot, Sherwood, Lonoke and Ward are all in contested races. There are also […]