SPORTS STORY >> Panthers prove them all wrong

By RAY BENTON Leader sports editor People continue to call the Cabot Panthers’ 59-49 win over Bentonville in the Class 7A state championship game last Friday an upset, and rightly so, in a certain sense. No one gave the Panthers much of a chance against the Tigers, who boast one of the nation’s top recruits in senior sensation Malik Monk. […]

EDITORIAL >> Runoff voting is underway

Early voting is underway for three runoffs in Lonoke County and will continue through Friday and Monday with Election Day on Tuesday. We previously reported that early voting would be open Saturday, but Lonoke County Election Commissioner Chuck Eick said Tuesday state law does not allow early voting on Saturdays for runoffs. People who voted in the Republican primary, used […]

TOP STORY >> U.S. Senate hopeful stops in Jacksonville

By SARAH CAMPBELL  Leader staff writer About 20 people listened to Conner Eldridge, who is running as a Democrat against Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) in November, outline his platform during a fundraising reception Tuesday at Chopsticks Inter-national Center in Jacksonville. Eldridge grew up working on a family farm in Lonoke, off Hwy. 70. He graduated from Lonoke High School, then […]

TOP STORY >> Military museum annual banquet

By JEFFREY SMITH Leader staff writer The Jacksonville Museum of Military History’s annual fundraiser and auction netted $15,000 for the beloved nonprofit. It was held Saturday at the community center. Museum Chairwoman Joan Zumwalt said, “The Night at the Victory Canteen” banquet is the museum’s biggest fundraiser of the year. It enables the museum to pay its basic bills. A […]

TOP STORY >> Fifth graders perform Shakespeare

By RICK KRON Leader staff writer To be or not to be…outstanding. That was the challenge posed to a group of fifth graders from Warren Dupree Elementary who participated in the Shakespeare Scene Festival at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock on Thursday. Their response was outstanding, according to the director of the two-day event, Kim McAbee. “The goal […]

TOP STORY >> Huckabee, Rubio — now what?

By GARRICK FELDMAN  Leader executive editor Donald Trump, the billionaire real-estate developer and entrepreneur with a checkered past and raucous political rallies, is rapidly moving toward the Republican presidential nomination with a string of primary victories yesterday and on Super Tuesday. As expected, Trump knocked Sen. Marco Rubio out of the race after a humiliating loss in Florida. Hillary Clinton […]

SPORTS STORY >> Weeks is first freshman champ

Lexi Weeks became the first freshman ever to win an NCAA pole vault championship. By NATE ALLEN Special to The Leader FAYETTEVILLE – Though their indoor track and field teams finished No. 2, there is nothing second best about how Arkansas Men’s coach Chris Bucknam and Arkansas Women’s coach Lance Harter regard their Razorbacks. For Harter’s women, freshman Lexi Weeks […]

SPORTS STORY >> Jumping Jeff takes second, also sprinting

By RAY BENTON Leader sports editor Sylvan Hills graduate Jeff Henderson fell well short of his best effort, but still finished second in the long jump in the United States Track and Field Indoor Championships this past weekend in Eugene, Ore. Henderson, who has also been spending time this year doing private workouts for NFL teams interested in giving the […]

SPORTS STORY >> JHS ladies beat Pioneers

By RAY BENTON Leader sports editor Catcher Allison Seats scored the game’s first run and then drove in the next three to help lead the Jacksonville Lady Red Devils to a 6-1 road victory over Batesville on Monday in Independence County. The game was originally scheduled for Dupree Park in Jacksonville, but weekend weather made the home field unplayable. Jacksonville […]