It was a good week for …

The LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT. It registered sharp improvement in state benchmark tests scores, including some large gains at some of the district’s lagging schools, such as McClellan High School.

JOHN ROGERS, the North Little Rock collector, added the extensive photo archives of Sporting News to his multi-million-dollar collection of historic photos, which he converts to digital images and also resells.

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The GREEN PARTY. Its lawsuit for automatic ballot access in Arkansas is proceeding slowly, but it reported gathering sufficient signatures, which, if verified, would allow the party to field a slate of candidates in November.

It was a bad week for …

ATTORNEY GENERAL DUSTIN MCDANIEL. He argued in federal court that the state’s creation of majority white charter schools in Pulaski County doesn’t violate the state’s 1989 promise not to contribute to segregation in Pulaski County’s majority black conventional public schools. Right.

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REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE TIM GRIFFIN. He touted Arkansas’s low labor costs (read: low wages) as an economic development incentive. He could have added lax environmental enforcement; discrimination on account of sexual orientation; corporate-friendly taxes; high tax burdens on workers, and other “incentives” to lure the right sorts of businesses.

The SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION. Staying in step with its support of yore for slavery and segregation, the church group expressed opposition to gays in the military and, effectively, expressed support for employment discrimination against gay people. Gays in the military would put straight people “in a very awkward position,” said one delegate from Arkansas. Because?

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LITTLE ROCK MAYOR MARK STODOLA. The Zoo rejected his no-smoking policy. The City Board turned back his idea to have a “no-knock” registry on door-to-door sales. Other cities in Central Arkansas are moving aggressively to take the State Fair from Little Rock. And talk builds of a potential November opponent for the mayor, completing his first term as “strong mayor” under new city powers.

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