State briefs
Police ID man shot, killed by officers in Little Rock
LITTLE ROCK — Little Rock police have identified the man who was shot and killed by officers over the weekend in the city’s downtown entertainment district.
Little Rock police said Monday that two officers shot 54-year-old Michael Hornibrook early Sunday in the River Market district of bars and restaurants. Police say the officers opened fire after Hornibrook reportedly turned toward police while holding a gun.
Hornibrook was pronounced dead at a Little Rock hospital.
The two officers, identified
as Officer Brian Osmundson and Officer Samuel Hill, have been placed on administrative leave pending a review.
Airport name bill advances after provision stricken
LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Senate has approved legislation preventing municipal airports from being named after living politicians after a provision was removed that would have stricken Bill and Hillary Clinton’s name from the state’s largest airport.
The bill approved by the Senate on an 18-8 vote Monday would prohibit municipal airports from being named for anyone living who has served in federal, state or local office. The proposal now goes to the state House.
Republican Sen. Jason Rapert had initially proposed the measure to force the renaming of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, citing the former president’s impeachment over his affair with a White House intern. But Rapert later removed language requiring airports that would have been affected by the ban to be renamed by 2018.
Panel doesn’t advance birth certificate bill
LITTLE ROCK — A bill that would allow married gay couples in Arkansas to list both spouses’ names on their children’s birth certificates without a court order has failed to advance out of a Senate committee.
Democratic Sen. Joyce Elliott’s bill failed to advance Monday from the Senate Judiciary Committee due to a lack of a second motion. The proposed measure would have changed the presumption of parentage under the state’s artificial insemination and surrogacy laws.
The measure was filed in response to a state Supreme Court ruling last year reversing a judge’s decision to strike down Arkansas’ birth certificate law as unconstitutional.
Attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review that decision on the grounds that it undermines the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
Public records bill stopped in Arkansas House
LITTLE ROCK — Legislation to allow the government to declare a public records request as “unduly burdensome” and remove the 72-hour compliance deadline has failed in the Arkansas House.
The proposal failed to advance on a 33-32 vote Monday.
Currently, entities have three days to produce records under the Freedom of Information Act. The proposal would have allowed for up to 15 business days to comply with the records request.
The measure also would have shielded the government from criminal or civil liability for producing the records late if the amount of time is deemed reasonable under the circumstances.
The determination of what is unduly burdensome would have been based on various factors, including the number and volume of records requested and whether the request requires an extensive search.
ASP: At least one injured in school bus crash
LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas State Police are investigating after a crash between a school bus and at least two other vehicles left one person injured.
A statement by the police says troopers were called to the accident site along State Highway 367 southwest of Little Rock after 3:30 p.m. Monday.
The statement says the school bus was apparently traveling south on the highway when one of two vehicles crossed into its path.
The agency says the injured person has been taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Troopers didn’t have more information on additional injures and didn’t say if the injured person was the driver of the car, the bus or a student on board it.