Other days
100 YEARS AGO
April 4, 1921
■ That Arkansas road affairs are in a serious condition, at least so far as federal aid is concerned, was said last night by E. W. James, assistant chief engineer of the Office of Public Roads, Washington. Mr. James arrived in Little Rock Saturday afternoon, and today will confer with Governor McRae and Highway Commissioner Wilson. Mr. James was here in February at the request of the governor and last night commented on the fact that nothing had come of his recommendations. “You people have stood in danger of losing federal aid since last July,” he said.
50 YEARS AGO
April 4, 1971
■ There’s getting to be almost as much interest in where people came from as where they’re going. Arkansas Genealogical Society members found that out after they had announced through the news media that they planned a sort of training session to deal with genealogy problems Saturday at the Little Rock Public Library. They would have been pleased if 40 or 50 persons had showed up. Instead, they were overwhelmed with 110, including about 10 teenagers, whose interest in the subject particularly delighted the Society’s officers, and one 87-year-old person.
25 YEARS AGO
April 4, 1996
■ Little Rock School District administrators working to win release from federal court supervision expect to show a judge within the next few weeks that they have complied with 70 percent or more of their desegregation obligations. Speaking Wednesday to a citizens committee on desegregation, Little Rock’s Associate Superintendent Russ Mayo said administrators are collecting documents to show how the district has complied with its more than 2,000 desegregation obligations. Each program manager in the district is being interviewed and asked to show proof of compliance, Mayo said. Some responses may indicate that work on a provision has not begun, he said.
10 YEARS AGO
April 4, 2011
■ Imagining Little Rock with a light-rail system along Interstate 630 is a difficult concept to grasp, but planners say that while it doesn’t make sense now, population growth, high oil prices and changes in federal transportation policy will force the issue eventually. In anticipation of that future, engineering consultants have drawn up three potential public transit routes to be built along the Interstate 630 corridor. Light-rail proponents admit the region doesn’t yet have the population — 800,000 to 1 million — conventional wisdom says it needs to support transit options such as light rail, and they further concede that the money isn’t available, either.