Tag: arkansas

Arkansas Senate Passes Bill To Use Medical Marijuana Revenue To Fund Free Breakfasts For Students

The Arkansas Senate has approved a bill to set aside revenue from medical marijuana taxes to pay for free breakfast for students.

The legislation, SB 59, would supplement federal free and reduced-price meal funds with money from a state Food Insecurity Fund, paid for by cannabis taxes as well as private grants and money from the state’s general fund.

Bill sponsor Sen. Jonathan Dismang (R), noted ahead of the floor vote that “25 percent of our kids wake up food insecure every single day when they go to school.”

“Sometimes that meal that they get at school is the only nutritious meal they get in a day,” he said. “These kids have no way to feed themselves, and if they have parents that aren’t willing to sign the cards or send them with money, those districts are required to feed them, and they build up debt. But this would allow every kid in the state of Arkansas to be entitled to have a free breakfast.”

The legislation would provide meals to students regardless of whether or not they qualify for free or reduced-cost food under federal law.

“We would ask the first of federal dollars that are available be utilized, and anything else that’s remaining,” Dismang said. “The state of Arkansas would pick up utilizing the medical marijuana dollars to help make that district whole for providing that breakfast.”

The measure passed by a vote of 26-2 days after it was unanimously approved by the Senate Education Committee. It now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration.

The Senate’s passage of SB 59 follows an endorsement of the proposal last month from Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R), who previewed the bill in her State of the State address. Notably, Sanders, a former press secretary under the first Trump administration, has historically resisted cannabis policy reform.

“We will also use those funds to make school breakfast in Arkansas completely free for any student that chooses to participate,” she said in the speech, saying the use of medical marijuana funds would make the program “sustainable for years to come.”

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Arkansas Looks to Hold Pharma Execs Criminally Liable for Vaccine Injuries

Arkansas lawmakers are weighing legislation that could pierce the pharmaceutical industry’s federal liability shield for vaccine injuries by holding corporate executives criminally liable for “vaccine harms” if they concealed evidence of risks associated with a vaccine that subsequently seriously injured or killed the recipient.

Under Senate Bill 6, introduced by Republican State Sen. Bryan King, an executive officer of a pharmaceutical company that “knowingly hides, conceals, omits, or otherwise withholds evidence, documentation, or information that the vaccine has dangerous effects,” would be found guilty of a felony and face a prison sentence of one year to life.

The bill is pending before the Arkansas Senate. King also introduced Senate Bill 5, to hold Pharma executives criminally liable for “prescription drug harm.”

Previous versions of both bills unanimously passed last year in the Arkansas Senate but died in the Arkansas House.

Ray Flores, senior outside counsel for Children’s Health Defense (CHD), welcomed the proposed legislation. He told The Defender:

“Regarding vaccines and other health-related issues, the public is increasingly frustrated with the impervious protection current law and corporate structure afford. The time is ripe to single out those ultimate decision-makers who benefit the most.

“This is an attempt, done properly through legislation, to address that powerlessness currently radiating throughout society.”

California-based healthcare attorney Rick Jaffe called the proposed legislation “an excellent jumping-off point for the serious discussion the country needs to have about vaccines.”

King’s office did not respond to The Defender’s request for comment by press time.

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Votes On Arkansas Medical Marijuana Expansion Measure Won’t Be Counted, State Supreme Court Rules

Arkansas voters will get to decide on a medical marijuana expansion initiative at the ballot next month—but those votes will no longer count following a new state Supreme Court ruling.

Prohibitionists who challenged the cannabis measure from Arkansans for Patient Access (APA) successfully convinced the court that the ballot title was affirmatively misleading, and justices ruled on Monday that votes will not be processed after Election Day.

The state’s highest court said it was siding the anti-marijuana group Protect Arkansas Kids (PAK), agreeing that the measure’s title is misleading because it fails to adequately explain that—beyond expanding the state’s medical marijuana program—it would also more broadly legalize possession of cannabis if a federal policy change is made and would also restrict the legislature from revising the voter-approved law if enacted.

“For these reasons, we hold that the proposed amendment is misleading,” Justice Shawn Womack wrote in the majoity opinion. “Accordingly, we grant the Intervenors’ request for relief and order that the Secretary be enjoined from canvassing or certifying any ballots cast for the proposed amendment at the November 5, 2024, general election.”

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Watchdog sues for ATF records about shooting death of Arkansas Airport Official

The watchdog group Judicial Watch has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Justice (DOJ) seeking Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) records regarding the fatal shooting of Little Rock, Arkansas, resident and Executive Director of the Clinton National Airport: Bryan Malinowski.  

Malinowski was shot and wounded by ATF agents in shootout an ATF raid on his home in March. He died of his injuries. When originally asked for pertinent records, ATF produced only heavily redacted search warrant court filings. 

The lawsuit was filed June 10, 2024, after the ATF failed to respond adequately to an April 16 FOIA request for: 

  1. All emails and text messages sent to and from ATF officials regarding Little Rock resident Bryan Malinowski who died in an ATF raid on March 19, 2024.
  2. All records related to the raid on the home of Bryan Malinowski, including but not limited to, re-operational briefing documents, raid plans, investigative reports, memoranda, warrants and audio and video recordings.

On April 22, 2024, Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, wrote a letter to ATF Director Steven Dettelbach, asking for details about “the deadly pre-dawn raid conducted by ATF in Little Rock, Arkansas, while executing a search warrant on the home of Bryan Malinowski, a local airport executive.”

An affidavit, which was unsealed after Malinowski’s death and produced to Judicial Watch, alleged he unlawfully sold guns without a license.

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No Charges in ATF Killing Over Paperwork Firearms Violation

Agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) suspected that Bryan Malinowski, executive director of the airport in Little Rock, Arkansas, and an avid firearms collector, was reselling enough firearms at gun shows to make him more of a commercial dealer than a hobbyist. That meant he should, in the ATF’s view, get a Federal Firearms License. So on March 19, agents did what law enforcers do when they suspect people of paperwork violations: They raided his home before dawn, taped over the doorbell camera, and shot Malinowski dead less than a minute later when he opened fire on intruders who had just busted in his front door.

Unsurprisingly, the ATF agents are on their way to evading consequences for causing a man’s death over a paperwork violation.

Self-Defense, But for Who?

“A law enforcement officer is justified in using deadly physical force if the officer reasonably believes that the use of force is necessary to defend himself or a third person from the use of deadly force,” Sixth Judicial District Prosecutor Will Jones writes in his letter to ATF Special Agent Joshua Jackson absolving the agent who killed Malinowski of legal liability. “Given the totality of the circumstances, Agent 2 had a reasonable belief that deadly force was necessary to defend himself and Agent 1. Therefore, the use of deadly force by Agent 2 was in accordance with Arkansas law and was justified.”

Of course, Malinowski himself might have felt justified in using deadly force given that the front door to his family’s home had been battered down just seconds after strangers began banging on the door.

“Had he survived he was almost certainly entitled to claim self-defense in the wounding of the agent based on the reckless manner in which the government planned and executed the search,” Bud Cummins, a former U.S. Attorney who represents the Malinowski family, told me.

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Arkansas reveals plans for new ‘monument to the unborn’ at state capitol which will commemorate fetuses aborted between 1973 and 2022 before procedure was outlawed

Arkansas officials have unveiled plans for a ‘monument to the unborn’ to commemorate fetuses aborted in the years before the procedure was outlawed in the state.

The monument will be situated at the state’s Capitol to mark pregnancies terminated from 1973 to 2022 when the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Arkansas made abortion illegal except to save a mother’s life.

Proposals for the memorial included a bronze statue of a blindfolded baby sat atop an umbilical chord and placenta, an empty tomb and a monument incorporating facts about children in the care system.

Nine submissions were received in total, with the Capitol Arts and Grounds favoring a living wall composed of flora and fauna designed by local artist Lakey Goff. 

Secretary of State John Thurston will make the final decision on the $55,472 monument.

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Airport executive shot in firefight with federal agents at his home in Arkansas

The executive director of the Bill and Hillary Clinton Airport in Little Rock, Arkansas, was shot Tuesday as federal agents arrived at his home to serve a search warrant, police said.

Bryan Malinowski, 53, the airport’s executive director, was injured during a firefight after 6 a.m. as Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents arrived.

He “was injured with gunshot wounds and treated on scene by paramedics before being transported to a local hospital,” Arkansas State Police said in a statement, adding that his condition was unknown as of 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.

One ATF agent received what police called a “non-life-threatening gunshot wound” and was also taken to a hospital, police said.

Malinowski’s older brother, Matthew Malinowski, 55 of Pennsylvania, was at his bedside Wednesday and said he didn’t know whether his brother would survive.

“We don’t know if he’s going to make it in the next 24 hours,” Matthew Malinowski told NBC News by phone in his first public comments. “He was shot in the head.”

Matthew Malinowski said his brother was on life support and doctors haven’t performed surgery “because they don’t think he’s gonna make it.”

He said Bryan Malinowski collected guns and other weapons, as well as coins, lived in an upper-middle class suburb and earned $253,000 a year.

“He has so much to lose,” the brother said.

A public records search of Bryan Malinowski showed no arrests or other run-ins with police.

Shea De Bruyn, a neighbor, told NBC News’ affiliate KARK of Little Rock that she was woken by five or six loud bangs.

“My heart was racing and the dogs were barking.” she said. “I’m just really curious as to what was going on just a few houses down.”

Neighbors also told KARK that on Tuesday evening they saw guns and ammunition being loaded onto a trailer, while firefighters carried a circular saw, crowbars and other tools into the house.

Matthew Malinowski said his brother met with Arkansas senators last week in Washington for official airport business.

“That tells you the circles he’s running in,” the older brother said.

The state police Criminal Investigation Division is investigating the case.

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Arkansas Ballot Initiative Would Allow Medical Marijuana Homegrow And Trigger Recreational Legalization After Federal Reform

A marijuana industry group on Friday proposed a constitutional amendment to improve patient access to medical cannabis and legalize the drug for recreational use in Arkansas if it becomes legal under federal law.

Arkansans for Patient Access said it was submitting ballot language to Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin (R) on Friday for the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Amendment of 2024.

The ballot initiative would make it legal for patients to grow their own cannabis at home and make a series of changes to Amendment 98 to the Arkansas Constitution, which Arkansans ratified in 2016 to legalize marijuana for medical use.

The tweaks comprise a wishlist for patients as well as cultivators and dispensaries.

“The goal of this ballot proposal is to reaffirm and build upon Amendment 98 to better serve patients,” Amy Martin, owner of The Greenery dispensary in Fort Smith, said a statement from the ballot question committee. “This amendment reflects a commitment to the principles established by the state’s voters. It reduces barriers and streamlines processes so qualifying patients can access the medicines and treatment options that best serve them.”

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Arkansas football coach Benjamin Coney, 26, and his wife Emily Brinley, 25, are arrested after arranging sex with undercover cop posing as a girl because ‘my wife likes them young’

An Arkansas minor league football coach and his wife have been arrested after they tried to lure an underage girl to have sex with them and was caught by an undercover cop, authorities say.

Benjamin Coney, 26, and Emily Brinley, 25, were charged Monday with internet stalking of a child and conspiracy to commit rape.

Each are being held at the Benton County Jail on $200,000 bail.

According to the affidavit, the couple met with a person they thought was a child on an encrypted app. They set up a meeting place in Northwest Arkansas from their home in Comey, about 188 miles away.

When the couple arrived thinking they were going to meet their young victim, they instead met an undercover detective with the Benton County Sheriff’s Office. 

The duo was arrested and police found sexual ‘aids,’ cellphones and lube the their car, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

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Feds Threaten To Make It Harder For Medical Marijuana Patients To Get State Gun Permits In Arkansas

Arkansas’s recently enacted law permitting medical cannabis patients to obtain concealed carry gun licenses “creates an unacceptable risk,” and could jeopardize the state’s federally approved alternative firearm licensing policy, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) says.

The Arkansas law took effect in August, clarifying that a person’s status as a qualified patient in the state cannot be used “in determining whether an applicant is eligible to be issued a license to carry a concealed handgun.”

The policy change has apparently attracted the critical attention of federal officials at the Justice Department, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette first reported. A letter sent by Marianna Mitchem, chief of ATF’s Firearms and Explosives Industry Division, to the operations director for the Division of Arkansas Crime Information this week said there are “public safety concerns” with the law.

Mitchem advised the state official that Arkansas has been previously notified that a condition of its alternative gun licensing scheme, which allows gun buyers to receive approval by the state without going through a federal background check, is that firearms cannot be purchased by a “controlled substance user.” In the eyes of the federal government, that includes medical cannabis patients.

The letter contained a veiled threat, stating that if the state department did not answer two specific questions, it would warrant a reevaluation of Arkansas’s alternative gun permit policy.

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