Arkansas Lt. Gov. Mark Darr filed an ethics complaint against himself on Friday over hundreds of dollars his campaign spent at gas stations and restaurants shortly after he took office that were classified as fundraising expenses. Meanwhile, the lawyer who first questioned the spending said he's also filed a complaint with the panel over the reports. read more >

Even though legislation involving tort reform failed to make it out of the General Assembly last month, attorneys are pushing forward with the idea. Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot, who introduced the measure, says business groups supported the legislation and that tort reform is needed because surrounding states have it. read more >

A vote on legislation requiring random drug testing for unemployment recipients in Arkansas is being delayed over questions about how much it would cost the state. read more >

Arkansas lawmakers are weighing competing ballot measures to address rulings that overturned parts of a 2003 tort reform law, including a proposal to give the Legislature the authority to write the rules and practices for the state's courts. read more >

Death penalty opponents called on Arkansas lawmakers Wednesday to abolish capital punishment after Gov. Mike Beebe said earlier this month that he would sign legislation outlawing the punishment if it were to reach his desk. read more >

A question from one of our office wits (we’re blessed with several): If we can’t legislate morality, can we at least legislate common sense? read more >

Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, who filed the bill, said that the state -- which administers unemployment benefits -- has a compelling interest in ensuring that people receiving unemployment benefits are not illegally using drugs. read more >

Gov. Mike Beebe and the state’s first Republican-controlled Legislature since the 1870s presided over a period of mostly settling in as the 89th General Assembly convened last week. read more >

An Arkansas lawmaker is proposing a constitutional amendment to require those who file lawsuits found to be "frivolous" to pay court costs and to place restrictions on experts who can testify at medical malpractice cases. read more >

An Arkansas Senate committee has tabled a bill aimed at outlawing undercover investigations of farming facilities. The bill would make it a misdemeanor to videotape livestock and poultry operations without permission from the facility's owner. read more >

An Arkansas lawmaker is proposing that the state require recipients of state unemployment benefits to pass a drug test. read more >

Correction officials are trying to figure out how to rework Arkansas' lethal injection law after the state's top court threw out the statute earlier this year, officials told legislators Tuesday. read more >

State lawmakers will likely tackle execution reform in the upcoming legislative session after Arkansas' top court struck down the state's 2009 execution law earlier this year. read more >

The Moritz Scale, as you can see, ranks faux pas by political figures on a scale of 1 (behavior that “just looks bad”) to 5 (criminally bad behavior). It is applicable to political scandals that don’t involve sex — Ernie Passailaigue, former director of the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery, was twice measured on the Moritz Scale with nary a zipper problem — but sex certainly does seem to crop up regularly. And this installment’s subjects are currently involved in sex scandals. read more >