Other days

100 YEARS AGO Feb. 7, 1923

■ The bill to make prize fighting centers of Little Rock and perhaps some other Arkansas cities… was passed by the Senate on Saturday, 17 to 6… Under this measure the state of Arkansas would become the official sponsor for prize fights, or, in the language of the bill, “boxing bouts,” for a fight limited to 10 rounds is technically distinguished from a fight to a finish. The proposed law provides for the creation of a State Boxing Commission, consisting of the secretary of state, the state auditor and state labor commissioner. This commission would have general supervision over prize fights and would be authorized to make ring rules and regulations governing matches and to license fighters and ring officials. The bill refrains from providing that the governor of Arkansas shall preside over all prize fights held under the authority of the act.

50 YEARS AGO Feb. 7, 1973

■ The Little Rock Board of Directors approved Tuesday the city Planning Commissions’s recommendation to rezone the Broadway area to conform with a commission landuse study. Property along Broadway generally will be E-1 quiet business from Fifteenth Street to Roosevelt on Broadway will be rezoned from F commercial developments on the tracts will be allowed to remain, but will be nonconforming uses… Most of the rest of the property on Broadway between Fifteenth and Twenty-third now is zoned D apartment, and the proposal will increase zoning classification on those tracts to E-1 quiet business.

25 YEARS AGO Feb. 7, 1998

■ University of Arkansas System employees and their dependents may soon not be eligible to have their health insurance help pay for abortions unless it is needed to save the life of the mother. That possibility hinges on whether Pulaski County Chancellor Vann Smith accepts a settlement agreement filed Thursday in Chancery Court and agrees to dismiss a lawsuit targeting the insurance plan. Both parties in the suit have requested a settlement in a joint motion for dismissal with prejudice, which would prevent the suit from being filed again. Little Rock attorney J. Fred Hart filed the suit July 14, 1997, on behalf of Hot Springs businessman Wayne Foshee. B. Alan Sugg, UA System president and chief executive officer, was named as defendant. The suit contended that a group health insurance plan offered to UA System employees and their dependents violated Amendment 68 of the Arkansas Constitution, which says that public funds won’t be used to pay for abortions other than to save the mother’s life.

10 YEARS AGO Feb. 7, 2013

■ The International Fund for Animal Welfare has said it will give Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge near Eureka Springs a $40,000 grant if it can raise an additional $40,000 in matching funds from other donors, according to a news release. The money will be used to build cages for big cats the refuge is taking in from Riverglen Tiger Shelter near Mountainburg, the release said. In November, Turpentine Creek began a drive to raise $238,000 so it could adopt 34 big cats from Riverglen. Tanya Smith, president of Turpentine Creek, said $125,000 has been raised so far.