State briefs

Rainy forecast prompts changes to Arkansas Capitol ceremony

LITTLE ROCK — A rainy forecast has prompted state officials to cancel the holiday fireworks display planned for Saturday at the state Capitol.

Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin’s office says the annual Capitol lighting ceremony has been moved indoors to the second-floor rotunda. Forecasters are predicting a steady drizzle of rain and high temperatures in the 40s on Saturday.

Little Rock’s annual holiday parade, which was set for Saturday, was postponed until Dec. 10.

The National Weather Service says heavy rainfall is possible through early next week. The southeast corner of the state is expected to see the most rain, and about 2 inches of rain is predicted through Tuesday morning for the Little Rock area.

Audit of Arkansas State University sent to prosecutor

LITTLE ROCK — Legislative auditors have turned over to prosecutors their review of the Arkansas State University System, including some findings related to the university’s former chancellor who resigned shortly before the school year began.

Former chancellor Tim Hudson, 62, stepped down after the issuance of several internal audits that were critical of him and his wife, Deidra Hudson, who ran the university’s study abroad program. On Thursday, Arkansas Legislative Audit turned over its annual audit of the university system to prosecutors.

“We will review Legislative Audit’s findings and make a decision thereafter” on whether any criminal charges are warranted, prosecutor Scott Ellington told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

The legislative audit’s findings mirrored those in the university’s internal audits. One criticized Deidra Hudson’s management of the study abroad program. Another internal audit showed issues of potential conflict of interest involving the couple, as well as the former chancellor possibly violating a state law in trying to get tuition assistance for his daughter. The final internal audit showed Tim Hudson submitted reimbursements for travel expenses to the system’s new campus in Mexico, when the reimbursements were actually paid for by the school’s partners at the campus.

“We have policies in place,” ASU System president Charles Welch said. “I mean, obviously, you can’t enforce every time an employee is going to follow those or not, but as soon as we made that determination — and one of the things we talked about is additional training and education with our employees about what is appropriate and what’s not appropriate and making sure they don’t cross that ethical line — and we’re certainly sensitive to that.”

When asked if he knew where

Hudson currently is, Welch said he wasn’t sure if the former chancellor is employed elsewhere but is “99.99 percent certain” Hudson is not in the state.

15 cars involved in train derailment near Altheimer

ALTHEIMER — Emergency crews are responding to a train derailment in south central Arkansas involving at least 15 cars, including one carrying propane. No injuries were reported.

Arkansas Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Melody Daniel says the derailment happened after 4 p.m. Friday near the small town of Altheimer.

Daniel says some cars have been overturned while others are piled on top of one another. She says the propane is not leaking from one of the cars and Jefferson County emergency crews have contained the scene.

Daniel says ADEM has not been called to the site. She had no information on what the train was carrying or what caused it to derail.

Altheimer is located about 40 miles southeast of Little Rock.

Arkansas officer fatally shoots bank robbery suspect

BENTON — Police in Arkansas say an off-duty officer shot a bank robbery suspect who later died at a hospital.

Friday’s incident is the third officer-involved fatal shooting in Benton in two months.

Benton police Capt. Kevin Russell told Little Rock television station KATV that an officer responding to a Simmons Bank branch shot the suspect. Russell didn’t know whether the suspect had fired shots, too.

Russell said his agency and the FBI were investigating.

Saline County Prosecutor Ken Casady had just announced Thursday that no charges would be filed against an officer who shot a man in self-defense while responding to a domestic disturbance call Oct. 7.

Ten days after that incident, another Benton officer shot and killed a 17-year-old. The officer said the teen pointed a pistol at him.

Arkansas inmate accused of filing false police report

BENTONVILLE — A Benton County Jail inmate has been arrested with filing a false police report about being assaulted by a Rogers police officer.

Authorities say the 43-yearold man was originally arrested Nov. 2, on an outstanding warrant out of Rogers for robbery and theft of property. The Benton County Sheriff’s Office says in a news release that detectives received a message from the inmate Nov. 28. The message, which was sent through the inmate message system, said the officer who had arrested him had sexually assaulted him and held a gun to his head.

Detectives say the inmate fabricated the story in an attempt to identify the officer because the inmate didn’t believe the officer had the authority to arrest him.

The inmate is scheduled to be arraigned on the false report charge Jan. 9.