Just yesterday, we posted an article talking about the need for sponsorships to keep our Lum and Abner comic strip running.
Artist Donnie Pitchford had an idea to make the idea of sponsorships more appealing — sponsors who give at least $50 will receive some original artwork from the series. That’s right — even a small donation of $50 will net you some of the original gorgeous artwork which has made the comic strip so appealing. If you’re a Lum and Abner fan that’s looking for a unique keepsake, here’s your …

My how time flies. It was almost a year ago that we launched our Lum and Abner comic strip here at First Arkansas News.
Why is this series important? Because Lum and Abner is an Arkansas institution. Those two boys from Mena have had a major impact on the Natural State and we’re proud to run a comic strip that we hope honors them suitably.The artist on the series is Donald Pitchford, who is both a fan of the team and the president of the National Lum and Abner Society. He’s …

There have been a number of political spats over the past few years among lawmakers with the intention to help Americans through the housing crisis that’s been blamed for everything from falling housing prices to reduced sales.
We’ve seen the federal government bail out banks and attempt to remedy bogus foreclosure practices. We’ve watched the government put tax credits in place for home buyers and regulate the appraisal process in an attempt to make sure home values aren’t exaggerated. There have also been some attempts to help out home owners who …

It’s all over but the protests — the United Methodist Church, at its 2012 General Conference, resisted efforts to strike language from the Book of Discipline proclaiming homosexuality to be incompatible with Christian teachings.
With that language firmly in place, what followed was predictable — the Church resisted efforts to allow pastors to marry homosexual couples and consent to ordination of gay clergy. For the record, the Book of Discipline contains the rules and regulations for the United Methodist Church. The denomination has about 8 million members worldwide and is the …

If early reports from the Confessing Movement are any indication, those hoping for the United Methodist Church to change its stance on homosexuality will likely be disappointed.
For those who haven’t been following the 2012 United Methodist General Conference, proposals have been made for the worldwide group to change its stances on, specifically, homosexual clergy members and gay marriage. Central to the conflict is the Book of Discipline, the document which provides the rules and regulations to United Methodist churches. In 1972, language was added to the Book of Discipline that …

Every four years, the United Methodist Church holds a conference and decides policy for its worldwide membership.
The 2012 General Conference started on April 24 in Tampa, Fla., and there are available some early reports on the issues surrounding the conference. Perhaps the most controversial issues in this conference (and, indeed, the last one, the one before that, etc.) has to do with the Church’s stance on homosexuality. The United Methodist Church views homosexuality as incompatible with Christian doctrine, meaning gay marriages are not endorsed, gay clergy that are not celibate …

The United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced on April 9 that it will formally propose rules this summer establishing national mortgage servicing standards.
The CFPB plans to finalize those rules in January. To get an idea of the extent of those rules and what the CFPB hopes to achieve by implementing them, point your favorite Internet browser to tinyurl.com/7dgym6p.
A mortgage servicer, of course, collects payments from a borrower on behalf of the original owner of the loan. If you took out a mortgage at a local bank but make …

After a few weeks of high drama,  John L. Smith has been named interim head football coach at the University of Arkansas — thus replacing the departing Bobby Petrino.
Yes, the photo to the left identifies Smith as the new head coach for Weber State. We’ll get to that in a minute.
For those who aren’t familiar with Arkansas or have been living under a rock since the first of the month, here’s a recap of what led to this hire. Petrino — head coach of the Razorbacks since he replaced Houston …

Homes sales in the major markets in Arkansas were up in the first quarter compared to the first three months of 2011.
For the purposes of this report, the major markets are located in the 14 counties of central Arkansas, the Fort Smith area, the Jonesboro area and northwest Arkansas. About 70 to 75 percent of the homes sold in Arkansas are in those combined four areas.
Through March, sales closed on 3,675 homes in those areas — up from 3,521 in the first quarter last year. The first quarter sales are …

This isn’t exactly breaking news, but it’s worth mentioning because this is Arkansas and events surrounding the football team are widely followed. Oh, and this report can be considered an editorial, too, because I can’t help it — I’m a University of Arkansas alum and a lifelong Razorbacks fan, so I’m as interested in this horrible turn of events as anyone else in this state.
On Tuesday night, University of Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long fired Bobby Petrino, the man who succeeded Houston Nutt as head football coach in 2007. Petrino …