Governor travels to discuss health law in Washington

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson says a meeting in Washington with other governors and Trump administration officials to discuss the health care overhaul was productive and that he’s encouraged there’s a commitment to include him and leaders from other states to find solutions to concerns with the law.

Hutchinson’s office said the Republican governor traveled to Washington on Monday morning for the White House meeting to discuss options for improving the health care system.

Hutchinson spokesman J.R. Davis said the governor will return to the state today.

Hutchinson cancelled a planned appearance at an economic development announcement Monday in northwest Arkansas because of the meeting.

More than 300,000 are on Arkansas’ hybrid Medicaid expansion under the health law. The program uses Medicaid funds to purchase private insurance for low-income residents.

Drowning victim’s body recovered from Ark. lake

MOUNTAIN HOME — The body of a drowning victim has been recovered from a northern Arkansas lake.

Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery says the body of

70-year-old Charles Hogan Daniels of Jordan was recovered shortly before noon Monday by Arkansas Game and Fish divers in about

115 feet of water in Lake Norfork. Montgomery says Daniels was on a boat with three other people on Sunday afternoon when he reportedly jumped from the boat into the water and disappeared near an area known as Jordan Island.

Arkansas sees drop in grads going to state colleges

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas education officials say the number of high school graduates enrolling in state colleges in 2016 decreased slightly compared to the year before.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports the Arkansas Department of Higher Education found that about 50 percent of the state’s more than 30,000 public high school graduates enrolled in a state public college or university last year. That’s down from 51 percent in 2015.

The report doesn’t track private school students, homeschooled students or students who go to college out of state.

The results come at a time in which the state’s overall number of public high school graduates has fallen for a second consecutive year.

State officials say a more educated workforce will attract companies and offer Arkansas residents better paying jobs.