Free Republic

Walmart has donated $100,000 towards efforts to replace Arkansas' Confederate-linked statues at the U.S. Capitol with new statues of singer Johnny Cash and civil rights activist Daisy Bates. The private sector donation comes as the nation is facing a racial reckoning in the wake of protests over the death of George Floyd in police custody that has led to the toppling of many Civil War-era statues across the country. "We support the effort by the state legislature and Governor Hutchinson to honor two prominent Arkansans, civil rights pioneer Daisy Bates and music legend Johnny Cash, with statues in National Statuary...

PINEVILLE, Mo. — Gregg Sweeten had difficulty last week putting his reaction into words. When he learned that funding for the long-sought Bella Vista Bypass had been found, Sweeten, the Pineville mayor and McDonald County emergency manager, was stunned. Then he was elated. "That is amazing," Sweeten said. "That is going to be so great. I think it’s going to lead to all kinds of opportunities not only for Pineville but for McDonald County. I mean, it’s just — I just can’t say how happy I am. Wow. That is ... that’s wild. That’s amazing. That’s a Christmas present right...

BENTONVILLE, Arkansas (CNN) — After weeks of savaging Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Republican front-runner Donald Trump is firmly setting his sights on another GOP rival. In his furthest-reaching attack yet, Trump on Saturday accused Florida Sen. Marco Rubio of stealing from the Florida Republican Party and suggested Rubio should have been “indicted” for using a state party American Express card for personal expenses. “Rubio stole from the Republican Party,” Trump said of Rubio, with whom he has recently engaged in a public war of words. “But you know what happened? They said, ‘You stole from the party.’ He says, ‘No,...

I just accepted a job in Bentonville AR, for a company supporting Walmart. I'm moving "blind", as I've never been to that area. I would welcome any useful comments or suggestions about moving to, and living in, the Bentonville area. In particular, any suggestions about good or bad neighborhoods as I start looking for a place to live. I'd prefer to rent a house rather than an apartment, but I have a large dog (70lb husky mix), and I realize that may make it more difficult to find a place. Thanks in advance!

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- When Alice Walton, the Wal-Mart heiress and second richest woman in America, decided to build a Museum of American Art in her hometown deep in the Arkansas Ozarks, no one questioned her ability to spend money. Her daddy, Sam Walton, had left her a lot of it. Forbes puts her worth at $34.9 billion. What they questioned, expressed with bicoastal sneer and snark, was her ability to know what she was getting for daddy's money. When she called the museum "Crystal Bridges," commemorating a natural stream to be traversed on bridges leading visitors to the art,...

PHOENIX — The U.S. Marshal for Arizona says an escaped inmate and his fiance may be in Arkansas. David Gonzales says a couple who robbed a store Wednesday morning in Gentry, Ark., fits the description of John McCluskey and his fiancee, Casslyn Welch. Gentry is in northwest Arkansas, near Bentonville, where Welch's mother lives. Gonzales says they are trying to obtain surveillance film from the robbery. McCluskey and Welch have eluded authorities since he and two other inmates escaped from an Arizona prison on June 30. McCluskey and Welch were last seen in Montana near the Canadian border.