News

The Eureka Springs public works department has plans to upgrade its facilities. During a tour of the public works facilities on Wednesday, Feb. 24, Mayor Butch Berry said the city has had plans for a new maintenance building for a couple of years now. Berry said the building would be twice the size of the maintenance building located at 3174 E. Van Buren and would be located on a lot behind it...

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Friday announced that he would extend the state’s pandemic emergency declaration through March 31, while at the same time lifting most of the state’s safety restrictions designed to combat the spread of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus that has led to the deaths of more than 514,000 Americans, including more than 5,200 Arkansans and 42 Carroll County residents...

The Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission voted to terminate publicist Gina Rambo at a meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 24 — just five days after the commission voted to remove Rambo as interim director. The CAPC voted 5-1 to terminate Rambo after an executive session that lasted more than 30 minutes. Commissioner Bobbie Foster cast the lone dissenting vote...

Eureka Springs Hospital will have a new ramp soon. On Monday night, interim CEO Angie Shaw told the Eureka Springs Hospital Commission that the concrete ramp on the back side of the hospital is in need of repair. Shaw said the ramp is used for deliveries and to wheel patients to the helipad for helicopter transfers...

Carroll County is on the right track — at least for now — in regard to the number of new cases of COVID-19. For the third week in a row, the number of new cases has shown a marked decline, with the Arkansas Department of Health reporting 11 new cases since Monday, Feb. 15...

The Eureka Springs City Council is showing support for a proposal to add sidewalks and bike paths to Pivot Rock Road and East Mountain Street. On Monday night, council member LauraJo Smole presented the proposal. Smole suggested appointing a committee including planning commission members to conduct a feasibility study. ...

Most of the Eureka Springs School District staff is fully vaccinated against COVID-19. At the Eureka Springs School Board’s regular meeting on Thursday, Feb. 18, Superintendent Bryan Pruitt announced that the 70 members of the staff who had received an initial dose of the vaccine would receive the second round of vaccinations on Wednesday, Feb. ...

The Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission is considering a motion to renew its deal with the Fun Guide. At the commission's Feb. 19 meeting, commissioner Harry Meyer said he'd like to "reinstate the contract or deal or a modified deal" that former director Lacey Ekberg approved with the Eureka Springs Independent's Fun Guide publication in 2019.

Gina Rambo is no longer the interim director for the Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission. At a meeting after a workshop on Friday, Feb. 19, the commission voted unanimously to remove Rambo from the position of interim director. Rambo was appointed interim director at a special called meeting on Feb. 24, 2020, after the commission shifted former director Lacey Ekberg to a contractor role...

With snow falling throughout Carroll County beginning Sunday night and continuing all day Monday and again Tuesday night — and more snow possible Thursday — electric companies are encouraging citizens to conserve their power. That’s the best way to prevent outages, said SWEPCO representative Carey Sullivan...

Another Carroll County resident has died from complications related to the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the number of local deaths to 41. The additional death — the first in the past seven days — was reported Tuesday morning by the Arkansas Department of Health, in addition to 22 new cases of the novel coronavirus, a significant decrease from the week before, as the number of COVID-19 cases in Carroll County continues to show signs of a downward trend...

Bond was set at $1 million apiece for two of the three Carroll County men arrested last week in connection with a 2018 murder, while the third suspect was released on his own recognizance. Joshua Anderson, Charles Ky Hanna and Jason Hartley Helm were arrested on Monday, Feb. 8, on charges of first-degree murder and animal cruelty. The arrests came on the three-year anniversary of the stabbing deaths of Christopher Alvard and his dog on Feb. 8, 2018, at Alvard’s home west of Eureka Springs...

Editor’s Note: This is the third and final report in a series about the Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission. Quotations from emails and written documents have not been edited for spelling, grammar or punctuation...

The Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission considered a motion to vacate the seat held by Greg Moon at its Jan. 27 meeting. Although then-commission chair Carol Wright declared the seat vacant after a roll call vote on the motion, she never actually voted yes or no. That left the vote count at 3-2-1 in favor of vacating the seat and left Moon’s status on the commission in question. (Second in a series.)

Three Carroll County men were arrested Monday in connection with the murder of a Eureka Springs man exactly three years earlier. According to a news release from the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, the Arkansas State Police in concert with the sheriff’s office served the three arrest warrants in connection with the 2018 murder of Christopher Alvard...

In a 2017 interview with Eureka Springs Channel’s Melodye Purdy, Berryville contractor Jimmy Jones gazes at a giant hole in a downtown Eureka Springs parking lot. Purdy says she’s heard a lot of good things about Jones from his employees and Jones chuckles...

Another Carroll County resident has died from complications related to the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the number of local deaths to 40. The additional death — the first in the past seven days — was reported Tuesday morning by the Arkansas Department of Health, in addition to 94 new cases of the novel coronavirus...

Eureka Springs is moving from the response stage to the recovery stage for the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Butch Berry said Monday night during the annual State of the City address. Berry reflected on how last year began, saying the city’s sales tax was up between 18 and 20 percent in January 2020. It looked like it would be an “incredible year” for the city, Berry said, but then the pandemic hit...