Ex-police chief pleads not guilty to murder

BENTONVILLE — A former police chief in northwest Arkansas has pleaded not guilty to a capital murder charge.

Forty-eight-year-old Grant Hardin of Garfield pleaded not guilty Monday in Benton County Circuit Court to the charge that he fatally shot 59-year-old James Appleton on Feb. 23 while Appleton sat in his pickup on a Benton County road.

Hardin served as police chief for the town of Gateway for

about four months in early 2016.

An affidavit filed in the case says Appleton worked for the Gateway water department and was talking to his brother-inlaw, Gateway Mayor Andrew Tillman, when he was shot.

A suspected motive for the shooting has not been released. Jail records show Hardin is being held without bond.

Two emergency landings reported in Little Rock

LITTLE ROCK — Officials say no injuries were reported after two planes made emergency landings at Little Rock’s airport in unrelated incidents Sunday.

Clinton National Airport spokesman Shane Carter says one flight traveling from Houston to Columbus, Ohio, landed safely in Little Rock at about 5 p.m. Sunday after a reported issue with the plane’s electronic equipment.

An hour later, an American Airlines flight traveling from Destin, Florida, to Dallas made an emergency landing in Little Rock, too. An American Airlines spokeswoman tells the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the plane was diverted because of a mechanical issue that had caused “an electrical odor in the cabin.”

The plane landed safely just before 6 p.m. Sunday.

Ark. community college placed on probation

POCAHONTAS — An Arkansas community college has been placed on probation after a regional accrediting agency said it didn’t meet three criteria related mostly to assessing student learning and could fail another five.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports Black River Technical College must provide evidence to the Chicago-based Higher Learning Commission that it’s worked on the criteria by July 1, 2018. The Pocahontas community college must also host an onsite visit no later than September 2018.

In February 2019, the commission will decide whether to remove the probation or order further sanctions. In the meantime, the technical college it will remain accredited.

According to the commission’s website, Black River has been accredited since 1997.