Fayetteville’s new tv-spot, a 5 minute ad on the infomercial “Today In America” hosted by Terry Bradshaw, has finally been unveiled to the public.  You may recall that I had a good time complaining about this waste of ~$20,000 in a couple of previous posts.  To me, the most entertaining aspect of the city’s involvement with the show was how city officials tried to sell the paid infomercial as a legitimate t.v. show with a legitimate interest in Fayetteville.  You can read those earlier posts here and here.  In those posts, I discuss how Today in America is simply an infomercial.  You pay them a fee, and you get airtime.  There’s nothing wrong with that, per se.  What’s not so endearing, though, is that they reportedly have salespeople cold-calling potential clients and pretending to have a genuine interest in featuring them on their “show.” Then, when they have the mark right where they want, the “fee” is introduced.

A fun thing about wordpress, the software that this blog runs on, is that I can look at various stats.  One of the stats I can see are what search engine terms bring people here.  Since writing those earlier posts about Today in America, we’ve had hundreds of visitors that key-word searched “Today in America scam” or “Terry Bradshaw Today in America scam” and such.  Apparently, there’s quite a few people out there trying to research Today in America who are also using the word “scam” as one of their search terms.

I’ve also pointed out, as have others, that the money would have been better spent locally.  There’s plenty of good video producers in our area.  And they already know our town.

Anyway, the infomercial is here now. I personally think it’s goofy as hell and the production value is sub-par. They don’t even mention the Razorbacks. Check it out for yourself.

According to the Fayetteville Flyer, it is going to run on Fox Business this Saturday Feb. 26 at 3 p.m.  In case you don’t know, that’s a terrible time.  For one, nobody watches Fox Business on the weekends.  It’s primarily a weekday network.  Well, I guess some people watch it, but you can be the judge as to whether you think, as city officials have claimed, such an airing will “put us on the map.”

Let’s see if we can piece together the demographic profile of who we’re going to be advertising for.  According to the Fox Business website, Saturday begins with Mr. Nappy Head himself, Don Imus, from 6-9 a.m.  Then there’s an hour of Freedom Watch with Judge Napolitano.  Think tea-party constitution loving 9-11 conspiracy theorist.  Then, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., there is 7 hours of paid programming, with Fayetteville’s spot scheduled for 3 p.m., presumably book-ended by Shake-weight, Bow-flex, and Sham-wow types of shows.  Then, at 5 p.m., it’s on to the Cavuto show.  Think typical Fox news hack with a larger than average head.

Yep.  Fayetteville’s going to get some exposure allright.  If all goes as planned, a plethora of tea-party activists, armed with Shake-weights and Sham-wows will soon descend upon us like locusts.

I bet things are going to start happening to us NOW!

The nannies are on the move.  In yesterday’s Dem-Gaz, it was reported that House Bill 1282 was approved by a 92-3 vote in the Arkansas House, and is now primed for a vote in the State Senate. The bill was sponsored by right-wing nanny Robert Dale  (R-Dover), who said that the bill was written at the request of the Arkansas Beverage Retailers Association (ABRA).

On the surface, the spirit of the bill appears to be that it will eliminate the franchising of liquor stores in Arkansas.  As such, it looks like simply another attempt for nannies to control adult behavior.   Specifically, however, it looks like the bill is actually just the latest attempt by competitors of Macadoodles to use the law for their own benefit.

We’ve seen this fight before.   The last time Macadoodles was targeted by ABRA, people were quick to accuse the Springdale Liquor Association of using ABRA to manipulate public policy in such a way as to eliminate their competition.

The Springdale Liquor Association owns seven stores in Springdale and is exempt from the anti-franchise rules.

The president of Macadoodles, Roger Gildehaus, feels the bill is targeted specifically at his business.  From the Dem-Gaz:

“Gildehaus said the bill is an effort by the Springdale Liquor Association and its president, Jim Phillips, to prevent Macadoodles from expanding. A person who answered the association’s phone Friday said she could not comment on the legislation but would ask Phillips to contact the reporter by telephone or e-mail for comment. Phillips had not responded by Monday evening.”

Left-wing nanny, State Sen. Sue Madison, who has never seen a prohibition on alcohol that she doesn’t like, seems supportive of the bill.  Again, from the Dem-Gaz:

“State Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, who is chairwoman of the state agencies committee, said Monday she had not studied the bill but is opposed to a proliferation of liquor stores in the state. Madison said she lived in Louisiana, where “you have drive-through martini bars.”

“Pretty soon we’re going to have liquor stores on every corner,” she said.”

It’s always been hard to tell if Sue Madison is in the pocket of the Springdale Liquor Association, if she just hates alcohol, or if she’s just a little bit loony.  Recall that the last time she opposed Macadoodles, she claimed that the Missouri location had “lured people across the state line to purchase alcohol,” and that they should be denied a license “until they have repaid Arkansas all the tax dollars we’ve lost.”  In all seriousness, who says things like that?

Either way, it would be a shame if the State Senate and Governor Beebe allowed this Bill to become law.

In other nanny-news, the Fayetteville Flyer is reporting that the Northwest Arkansas Tobacco-Free Coalition is targeting Fayetteville’s bars.  Never mind that there are already plenty of bars in Fayetteville that are smoke-free by choice.  Never mind that everyone in a bar is a legally consenting adult.  Never mind the rights of the property owners.  Never mind that Dickson St. is already hurting financially.

Of course they’ll claim it is all about health concerns, and they’ll claim they are simply looking out for the employees of the bars.   And I’m sure they’ll have a wealth of anti-smoking propaganda “studies” to make the case that a smoking ban is no different than a ban on poison.

The truth is they just hate smoking, and they don’t mind telling other adults how they should live.   If only they would admit as much, then at least the community could have an honest debate about the scope of government coercion with respect to individual liberty.

UPDATE: Bob Caudle had a great column in the NWA Times about the liquor store franchising issue. See it here.

Last month, just around the time we were celebrating the legacy of Martin Luther King — traditional public school districts in Wake County, North Carolina and in Akron, Ohio took actions to limit the choices of students and, essentially, IMPOSE racially segregated schools on the students. As Brian described earlier on on this site, an Ohio mom is in jail for registering her children at the grandfather’s address (a few miles down the road) to get them into a safer and presumably better school system. Here is CNN’s version of the story.

Down south in North Carolina, earlier in January, the school board successfully overturned the district’s longstanding intentional school integration policy (a policy viewed as successful by most accounts). According to the Washington Post, the policy is one of economic integration and is based on a goal that no school should have more than 40% of its students qualify for free and reduced school lunches. ”The district tried to strike this balance through student assignments and choice, establishing magnet programs in poor areas to draw middle-class kids. Although most students here ride buses to school, officials said fewer than 10 percent are bused to a school to maintain diversity, and most bus rides are less than five miles.”

However, if reading the paper seems like a lot of work … let’s instead learn about this policy shift from the ever-conservative news icon, Stephen Colbert:

The Colbert Report	Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word – Disintegration
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> Video Archive

Many education observers do not like the idea of segregating students by race, particularly when such segregation is imposed on the most marginal students. We certainly don’t. Some of the crowd who actively oppose racial segregation in schools are — inexplicably — spending their time talking about the levels of racial segregation in charter schools. We think this is silly for lots of reasons. Mostly, it’s because more than 95% of America’s public school students attend traditional public schools while a relative handful attend public charters. Also, segregation is NEVER IMPOSED on students in public charter schools as it can be in traditional public schools.  Yet, many who claim to speak for students and for their civil rights are unfortunately attacking public charter schools, which serve fewer than 5% of students nationwide and serve 0% of them against their will.

Perhaps these defenders of the status quo … excuse me, I mean defenders of students … should stop looking for ways to undermine charter schools (such as KIPP) and instead focus their criticism on the traditional public school leaders, such as those in Akron and Wake County, who are doing their best every day to separate their white wealthy students from their disadvantaged peers by promoting explicit segregation-friendly policies.

Since Tuesday, Northwest Arkansas roads have been covered in snow and ice. Schools have lost four days of instructional time just this week.

Meanwhile, Fayetteville is spending about $96 million on construction and renovation at the high school. The goal is to improve education.

But Fayetteville, like other NWA cities, keeps having to cancel school at the slightest flurry of snow because no one is capable of clearing the roads. Maybe a better way to improve education would be to buy some extra snowplows and de-icing material (it would surely cost a lot less than $96 million). After all, how much education can the fanciest building deliver if no one is there?

Unbelievable story out of Akron, Ohio. It shows the lengths that some will go to in order to maintain the inequities of the public school system.

“Those dollars need to stay home with our students,” school district officials said.

UPDATE: Here’s quite a few more details from CNN:

Kelley Williams-Bolar, 40, of Akron, illegally registered her two daughters at her father’s address in suburban Copley Township to get them into the Copley-Fairlawn school district rather than the urban Akron district, a jury decided.

The Akron City school district met only four of 26 standards on the latest Ohio Department of Education Report Card and had a 76% graduation rate. Copley-Fairlawn City Schools met 26 of 26 standards and had a 97.5% graduation rate.

Summit County Common Pleas Judge Patricia Cosgrove sentenced Williams-Bolar last week to five years in prison, but suspended all but 10 days. Williams-Bolar also must serve 80 hours of community service and will be on probation for three years.

The Rev. Lorenzo Glenn of Macedonia Baptist Church had asked the judge for leniency, saying he had known Williams-Bolar for more than 20 years, the Akron Beacon Journal newspaper reported.

“This is a serious matter,” Glenn said, according to the paper, “but by all means, it was done to help her children.”

Williams-Bolar told CNN affiliate WEWS-TV that she and her children considered her father’s house one of their homes.

“My primary residence was both places. I stayed at both places,” she said in an interview at the Summit County Jail.

Williams-Bolar’s father, Edward Williams, told CNN affiliate WJW-TV that the children did live with him, so he believed the family was within the law.

He said his daughter’s Akron neighborhood – where she lives in government-subsidized housing – isn’t safe.

“She had 12 police reports that her house had been broken in, so what am I supposed to do? Just leave them there?” Williams said to WJW-TV. “I mean, I can protect them better if they was with me.”

Williams-Bolar, a single mother, works as a teacher’s aide at a high school in Akron and is just 12 credits away from earning a teaching degree at the University of Akron, according to the Beacon Journal.

Her felony conviction will bar her from being licensed to teach in Ohio.

Copley-Fairlawn Superintendent Brian Poe told WJW-TV the case cost the district $30,000 in two years of lost tuition and $6,000 it spent on the investigation.

He denied that Williams-Bolar was singled out because she is black and the Copley-Fairlawn district is 75% white.

It’s session time down in Little Rock, which, among other things, signals the arrival of a certain amount of legislative silliness.

First, we have State Sen. Bruce Holland, (R-Greenwood), who reportedly led a sheriff’s deputy on a high speed chase yesterday, reaching speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour.  Did the act land him in jail?  Nope.  Was he issued a hefty ticket?  Nah.  The deputy who finally got him to pull over was mistakenly under the impression that state legislators had immunity from traffic laws while they travel to and from legislative sessions.

Next, Senator Jim Jeffress (D-Crossett) is making national headlines for his plan to ban pedestrians from wearing headphones.  According to the LA Times, Jeffress’ bill would ban pedestrians from wearing headphones while “close to a street, intersection, or highway.” 

I suppose with State Senator Bruce Holland tearing up the streets, wearing headphones may limit a pedestrian’s ability to get out of the way in time.  Then again, maybe Jeffress should focus on his fellow legislator’s driving habits, and leave pedestrians alone.

Finally, Rep. Jim Nickels (D-Sherwood) wants to force contractors into playing the role of immigration agents.  House Bill 1013 proposes to revoke the licenses of contractors if they hire illegal aliens or hire sub-contractors who hire illegal aliens.  So, presumably, every contractor would have to check the documentation of every employee of every subcontractor (plumbers, electricians, roofers, cement companies, painters, etc.) before doing business with them.  As contractors have pointed out, such a requirement places an undue burden on them, and it is unfair to impose this burden only on contractors.

What the contractors aren’t comfortable saying (though I’m sure plenty of them believe it) is that a lot of this whining about how illegal immigrants take jobs away from Americans is nonsensical.  Contractors (and everyone else) should be able to hire whoever they think can deliver the highest quality work for the best price.  We aren’t doing ourselves any favors by limiting who is allowed to work in this country.  But, like we saw in last year’s Senate race, hating on immigrants is still considered a winning political strategy.

You wouldn’t want to piss off these guys, would you?

See you in 2011.

There’s been a few interesting education-related stories in the news lately.

First, the Demo-Gaz recently reported that some students in rural Pope County–who spend up to 2 hours a day riding the school bus–are getting an education via video screens courtesy of Vanderbilt University’s Aspirnaut Program.  The specific program, Online, On the Bus! seems like a novel way to use the power of technology to deliver quality content to students burdened with long bus rides.  Other components of the program include kids taking online courses on laptops.  Foes of school consolidation might see the program as a silver lining, and one certainly worthy of additional state investment.  Gee, if only there was some extra cash lying around.

Well, actually there is some extra cash lying around–$90 million to be exact.  In today’s news, it was announced that teachers in about half of Arkansas’ school districts will receive bonuses this month as a result of the state receiving $90 million in federal stimulus money.  You can read the Demo-Gaz coverage here.  According to the article, Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell said that about half of the districts plan to blow their share of the funds (my words, not his) on one-time teacher bonuses of $500 to $700 dollars.  By all indications, nothing about the dispersal of the bonuses will be tied to any merit-based reward system.  The money will simply be doled out to teachers indiscriminately.  Some lawmakers, including Rep Jonathan Dismang (R- Beebe) expressed disappointment that the funds were being awarded with little guidance and could have been used in more productive ways than across the board bonuses.  School districts are able to use the money for other projects, such as construction projects.  It will be interesting to see if the other half of schools (who are not giving out across the board teacher bonuses) are able to come up with better ways to invest the dollars.

Also, in today’s news, the Arkansas Board of Education approved  new standards to help track student growth on state tests.  The growth model contains some goofy qualities, but overall the move is a step in the right direction.  You can read the Demo-Gaz coverage here.

Here’s the youtube video of Bentonville Sheriff Deputy Dana Winn arresting 64 year old John Lewis for not showing him enough respect.  A bad move on the deputy’s part, who needs a few lessons regarding the 4th and 5th amendments.  People like their liberty here in NWA, a fact that Deputy Winn doesn’t seem to appreciate.  That said, Lewis fared better than others who have come into contact with NWA law enforcement officials.  At least he wasn’t shot, raped, or locked up in a cell without food or drink for days.

As reported in the NWA Times, Lewis had sunglasses on that recorded the video.

In this vid, the deputy actually seems like a nice guy.  Just oblivious to the fact that Mr. Lewis takes his rights seriously.

Here’s a link to the third and fourth video. They are pretty uneventful, but the fourth vid does have a lengthy written response from Mr. Lewis.  He admits to being rude, but stands by his assertion that his rights were violated.

The Dem-Gaz reported on Saturday that the Arkansas Department of Education overpaid 4 school districts to the tune of $2.6 million dollars–and now they want the money back.  This is an obvious accounting fiasco, and it is mind-boggling that the state didn’t catch such a glaring error.  Maybe  State Treasurer Martha Shoffner has been too busy evading taxes on state provided vehicles and calling the governor’s bodyguards “manservants” to bust out an excel sheet and do some simple calculations.  $2.6 million is a major oversight.

The districts who were overpaid are Armorel, Eureka Springs, West Side, and Fountain Lake.

Judging from the comments from some school officials, the workings of the state’s complicated funding formula are not well understood.

For those who don’t know the basics of the funding formula, here’s a few key points.  Every district must levy at least 25 mils, otherwise known as the uniform rate of tax.  This money is considered “state money,” and is one of the key revenue sources for state education funding.  The state then pays out $6,023 per student back to the districts, no matter how much each district pays in.  Districts who raised less than $6,023 per student (from the first 25 mils), in effect, gain money from this system, and districts who raised more than $6,023 per student (from the first 25 mils) lose money.  The problem in this case is that the 4 districts in question raised more than $6,023 per student from the first 25 mils, and then the state mistakenly gave them all of that money back.

Why is this a problem?  Becuase the spirit of the funding formula’s design is to achieve some equalization in spending.  The funds from the 25 mils go to the state,  and the state in turn funds each district the same.

Eureka Springs Superintendent Wayne Carr, regarding a recent millage vote, was quoted as saying:

“Our patrons are mostly retired, and they overwhelmingly passed a millage increase [for the high school],” he said. “But if I’m a retired person, and I know that whatever excess is going to the state, that would affect my vote probably.”

Wrong!  If a district wants to charge 26 mils, 27 mils, or 1,000 mils, they get to keep all of the money raised above and beyond the 25 mil rate.  Asking voters to approve a millage increase above 25 mils is precisely how localities can raise additional revenue for themselves without having the state redistribute the funds.  But, the funds from the first 25 mils belong to the state.

The 4 districts in question will likely need to work out a method to pay back the money.  At the same time, the State Treasurer needs to explain how they lost track of $2.6 million.