Texarkana prepares to accommodate marijuana businesses

TEXARKANA — A city in southwest Arkansas is creating a legal structure to accommodate medical marijuana entrepreneurs approved for state licenses.

Texarkana has responded to about 70 to 80 inquiries about opening medical cannabis cultivation centers, City Manager Kenny Haskin told the Texarkana Gazette. Haskin said some of those potential operators have come with “shovel ready” plans.

City officials are working to establish zoning and permit rules for the medical marijuana businesses because entrepreneurs can start submitting applications for operating licenses on Friday. A local workshop was held Tuesday by the Planning Commission that focused on appropriate zones for the potential businesses.

Haskin said the city is also creating procedures to submit permits to the city attorney for legal review. He said those rules should be submitted by next week.

The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission requires that cultivation centers be at least 3,000 feet (914 meters) away from any school, church or daycare. Dispensaries must be 1,500 feet (457 meters) away.

Assistant city planner Mary Beck proposed restricting cultivation centers to manufacturing zones, and allowing retail pharmacies in the zones so dispensaries can operate there.

The Planning Commission’s recommendations are expected to be completed by July. Beck said a proposal could go before the city Board of Directors by August.

Arkansas voters opted to legalize medical marijuana in November 2016.

Woman, 19, pleads guilty in slaying of Arkansas couple

CONWAY — A 19-year-old woman has pleaded guilty to charges of first-degree murder and theft by receiving in the July 2015 shooting deaths of an Arkansas couple.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports Circuit Judge Troy Braswell sentenced Anastasia Roberts to 15 years in prison as part of a negotiated agreement. Roberts will also be under suspended imposition for 20 years after her release.

Defense attorney Jim Wyatt says he was satisfied with the outcome.

Roberts is the third person to plead guilty in the shooting deaths of 66-year-olds Robert and Patricia Cogdell.

The Cogdells were found shot to death at their home in Conway, about 30 miles north of Little Rock, after Robert Cogdell failed to report to work as the Public Works Director in nearby Maumelle.

Woman shot, wounded while driving on Arkansas interstate

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas authorities are searching for the person who opened fire on a motorist while driving on Interstate 30 in Little Rock.

State police spokesman Bill Sadler says 27-year-old Tiara Mitchell was wounded in the shooting Tuesday night on I-30 near the I-630 interchange in east Little Rock.

Sadler says Mitchell was eastbound when someone fired multiple gunshots into her vehicle. Sadler says it’s believed the gunfire came from someone in another vehicle, but it wasn’t immediately known whether the gunfire came from an eastbound or westbound vehicle.

Mitchell was hospitalized in undisclosed condition, but state police say her injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

Part of interstate, overpass in Arkansas closed after crash

JONESBORO — A portion of northbound Interstate 555 in northeast Arkansas and a bridge over the interstate are closed after a tractor-trailer rig crashed into the overpass, then exploded and burned.

Jonesboro police spokesman Paul Holmes says 57-year-old Jackie Becker of Jonesboro was killed when the semi he was driving apparently went off the interstate Tuesday and crashed into a bridge abutment.

Holmes says there is no indication the semi was carrying hazardous materials.

Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department spokesman Danny Straessle says engineers are inspecting the bridge and hope to reopen the interstate by the end of the week, while the overpass will remain closed to traffic indefinitely.