Boozman partners with Franken on abuse bill

Legislation aimed at enhancing child protection

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. John Boozman, R-Ark., and Al Franken, D- Minn., have introduced legislation that they hope will “improve child abuse training programs and enhance child protection nationwide,” according to a Friday news release.

The senators’ bill is called the National Child Protection Training Act.

“The bill would build on the success of the National Child Protection Training Center’s (NCPTC) facilities at Winona State University in Winona, Minnesota, and at Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville, Arkansas,” the news release said. “These centers have developed cutting-edge curricula, certification and degree programs, and classes for law students, medical students, and professionals to help improve child abuse training.”

The bipartisan bill also is sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.

Veteran to receive star from Womack

Third District U.S. Rep. Steve Womack on Monday is to give a Bronze Star that was earned in World War II to Army veteran J. Lynn Hughes of Fort Smith.

Hughes was born in Guy and was his high school’s valedictorian. He headed for duty one day after his graduation. A member of the 70th Infantry Division, he returned after the war and in 1949, he married Dora, the girl he’d fallen in love with as a child. They had two children, a son named Kent and a daughter named Janice.

In peacetime, Hughes served as a government health inspector, retiring in 1988. Dora died in 1994 and Kent died in 2011, the family said.

The medal will be presented to Hughes at 11 a.m. on the first floor of the Sebastian County Courthouse, 35 S. Sixth St., Fort Smith.

As he prepared to head home to Arkansas, the lawmaker from Rogers was also saying goodbye to Master Sgt. Ramses Cypress, a Marine with 22 years of service. The Baltimore man had worked in Womack’s office since receiving a fellowship in January, providing help with defense and veterans issues. He’ll be trading in his Capitol Hill post for a Pentagon assignment.

Cotton, King write op-ed on call data

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and U.S. Sen. Angus King of Maine wrote an op-ed piece that appeared on FoxNews.com, making the case for the Private Sector Call Record Retention Act.

Cotton, a Republican from Dardanelle, and King, an Independent and the former governor of his state, introduced the legislation after the recent terrorist attacks in Paris. It would require telecommunications companies to give the government notice if they intend to get rid of certain “metadata” such as phone billing records, numbers dialed and lengths of calls.

“This bill would require telecommunications carriers to notify the Attorney General if they decide to retain the call records for less than 18 months, which is the minimum amount of time that national security officials have indicated is needed to conduct most international terrorism investigations,” it said. “The bill requires companies to provide notice 180 days in advance of such changes. Doing so will give counterterrorism officials and Congress time to address changes that could prevent the government from quickly determining the scope of a terrorist network.”

Saying the information will help intelligence agents to “connect the dots” when searching for terrorists and their allies, they urged lawmakers to act on their legislation “expeditiously.”