SPORTS STORY >> Jackrabbits still perfect in blowout

By GRAHAM POWELL Leader sportswriter The Lonoke High School baseball team kept its perfect record intact Monday at Riverview, as the Jackrabbits dominated the 4A-2 Conference matchup en route to a convincing 14-3 win over the Raiders. Lonoke (7-0, 3-0) scored six runs in the first inning and five in the second to take a commanding 11-1 lead, and Riverview […]

SPORTS STORY >> Lady Rabs score five in seventh

By RAY BENTON Leader sports editor The Lonoke Lady Jackrabbits scored the final six runs of the game to pick up a 10-4 4A-2 Conference win over Riverview on Monday in Searcy. Both teams scored four runs in the third inning, but Lonoke pitcher Charley Jo Chesney shut the Lady Raiders down the rest of the way while the Jackrabbits […]

SPORTS STORY >> Panthers take two wins over Patriots

By GRAHAM POWELL Leader sportswriter The Cabot High School baseball team improved its conference record to 4-0 with an easy doubleheader sweep of Marion on Friday at Brian Wade Conrade Memorial Field in Cabot. The Panthers (6-4, 4-0) beat the Patriots 15-0 in four innings in game one, and in game two, Cabot shut out Marion (4-7, 0-4) again, this […]

SPORTS STORY >> Cabot girls just shy of first

By RAY BENTON Leader sports editor The Lady Panther track team followed its win last Tuesday as hosts of the Walmart Invitational with a narrow second-place finish to Fayetteville on Thursday at the Army National Guard Cyclone Relays in Russellville. The Fayetteville girls won the 18-team meet with 98.5 points. Cabot was right on the Lady Bulldogs’ heels with 97 […]

SPORTS STORY >> CHS girls get split at home

By GRAHAM POWELL Leader sportswriter The Cabot High School softball team split its 7A/6A-East Conference doubleheader with Marion on Friday at the CHS softball field. In game one of the twin bill, the Lady Panthers lost 2-1, but the hosts rebounded in the nightcap with an 11-3 win over the Lady Patriots. The loss in game one was the first […]

EDITORIAL >> Base opens new center

Little Rock Air Force Base last week celebrated the grand opening of the Walters Community Support Center, a multi-purpose building that will serve the needs airmen and their families for generations. The new facility, which includes a community activities center, a library and more, is the latest improvement project that recognizes the importance of providing the best educational and recreational […]

TOP STORY >> 150 years after, remembering Gen. Lee’s surrender to Grant

By SHIRLEY TOMLINSON Lonoke County Museum On April 9, 1865, 150 years ago this month, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his army of Northern Virginia to the Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Va., signaling the beginning of the end of the Civil War. In 2007, the Arkansas General Assembly created the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial […]

TOP STORY >> Mayor glad lawmakers home

By RICK KRON Leader staff writer “Nobody is more happy to see the state legislators go home than I am,” Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher quipped. “It has been a stressful few months.” The mayor spent a lot of time at the state Capitol supporting bills that would help cities and fighting against those that would hurt them. In the end, […]

TOP STORY >> Insider tops school chief search

By JOHN HOFHEIMER Leader senior staff writer The first superintendent of the Jacksonville-North Pulaski School District is likely to be either former state Education Commissioner James Tony Wood or Little Rock School Deputy Superintendent Marvin Burton, although a search firm says Wood is the most qualified. At Monday night’s interim JNP School Board meeting, board members selected the two from […]