Unprecedented Execution Timetable In Arkansas

KUAR | By Chris Hickey,

Karen Tricot Steward, Michael Hibblen, Jacob Kauffman

Published March 3, 2017 at 6:16 PM CST

On this edition of KUAR's Week-In-Review podcast, we explore the state's decision to schedule execution dates for eight inmates over a period of ten days. The Death Penalty Information Center says that's an unprecedented timetable for executions since the U.S. resumed capital punishment in 1977.

Why the hurry? What’s the status of execution drugs, and do the inmates have any appeals left?

Also on the podcast:-Gov. Asa Hutchinson pursues an “uphill battle” to end the official state recognition of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert E. Lee on the same day. Are the state’s black lawmakers on board? Will the Sons of Confederate Veterans muster a fight?

-As a bill filing deadline approaches, we bring you updates on a range of other proposals in the 91^st General Assembly: tort reform, campus carry, marijuana, FOIA exemptions among them.

-Will the state face budget cuts after state Revenue for February made only modest improvements?

-U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton and U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford are holding a joint town hall this weekend. Meanwhile Sen. John Boozman , Congressmen French Hill and Bruce Westerman are no-shows.

-And we have a look at how one Major Motion Picture set in the Natural State figured in the life of recently deceased actor Bill Paxton.

Chris Hickey

Chris Hickey was born and raised in Houston, Texas, spending his teenage years in Camden, Ohio. He graduated from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, majoring in English. He got his start in public radio working as a board operator at WMUB in Oxford, Ohio during his summer and winter breaks from school. Since graduating, he has made Little Rock home. He joined KUAR in September 2011 as a production intern and has since enjoyed producing, anchoring and reporting for the station. He is the composer of KUAR's Week-In-Review Podcast theme music and the associate producer of Arts & Letters.

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Karen Tricot Steward

As Content Development Director, Karen Tricot Steward oversees the creation of news and cultural programming and helps set standards and best practices. She manages content on our website and social media. Karen also coordinates the internship program and collaborates with journalism professors at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to teach students, helping fulfill public radio’s goal of serving the community by being a place of learning.

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Michael Hibblen

As News Director, Michael Hibblen oversees daily news coverage for KUAR. He handles assignments for the news staff, helps develop story ideas and edits copy. Michael isresponsible for starting a news-sharing partnership between public radio stations in Arkansas in 2009 which laid the foundation for what became Arkansas Public Media. He is also a regular panelist and fill-in host on AETN's Arkansas Week, where journalists discuss issues in the news.

Jacob Kauffman

Jacob Kauffman is a reporter and anchor for KUAR. He primarily covers the state legislature and politics beat while juggling anchoring Morning Edition Monday through Friday.

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