Thursday’s thumbs

Plans build excitement for pro soccer

Time for a brief round of up and down thumbs on recent developments in the news:

If a picture is worth a thousand words, as they say, we’re not even going to try to keep up with USL Arkansas. The business group in July announced plans for professional soccer — men’s and women’s — in Northwest Arkansas. This week, the region got to see artist renderings of the proposed 5,000-seat (and expandable) stadium in Rogers, adding to the excitement for this privately funded project. Beyond soccer, though, the facility will be configured as an option to meet other large-scale event needs. Adding professional soccer and a facility capable of hosting other events will be a great boon to Rogers and the region.

Congratulations and job well done to Springdale educator Michael Tapee, a math teacher and robotics team coach at Hellstern Middle School. He was named a Milken Educator in a surprise announcement Tuesday and walked away with a $25,000 prize as a result of his selection. In just eight years as a teacher, Tapee’s enthusiasm for his role has clearly established him as an educator of choice among students and an example of leadership. “I have the best job in the world,” Tapee said. Kudos to the Milken Family Foundation for its recognition of and support for great educators.

Maybe this should be a “paws up,” since it’s about Denver, an electronics-sniffing dog donated by Operation Underground Railroad to the Benton County Sheriff’s Office. Who knew an English Labrador could sniff out electronic devices such as smartphones, external hard drives, flash drives and such? Who knew that was a need? Well, we’re glad law enforcement and that nonprofit group knows, because Denver can be useful in the fight against child pornography and human trafficking by sniffing out devices an exploiter might have hidden well enough to avoid detection in other ways. It’s hard to think of a better mission for a trained dog than to rescue those being harmed and to help in the prosecution of those who would do harm to others.