News

At the Eureka Springs School District, Thanksgiving is all about giving back. The Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) Club spent most of last week gathering donations for Thanksgiving baskets, putting together 20 baskets for local families in need...

If all goes as planned, Eureka Springs will have a roundabout at the intersection of highways 62 and 23 by the end of 2024. The Eureka Springs City Council approved a resolution on Monday night expressing the willingness to partner with the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) to construct the roundabout. Mayor Butch Berry said he talked with ARDOT representatives years ago about putting a stoplight at the intersection and asked about alternatives...

Just like last year, the arrival of colder weather in Arkansas is being accompanied by an increase in cases of COVID-19. Despite the increase, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Sunday pointed out some positive news. “In the last week we have increased by 10,000 the number of fully vaccinated Arkansans,” Hutchinson posted on Twitter. “While active cases are up by about 1,200 over last week, we have 30+ fewer hospitalized; and our deaths are lower than in some time...

Drug charges against a Eureka Springs husband and wife have been dismissed after a judge agreed with a defense attorney that the arrests were based on an illegal search. Prosecutors moved to dismissed charges against James and Rebecca Calahan and Carroll County Circuit Judge Scott Jackson signed an order to that effect on Nov. 15. Jackson’s order also states that a defense motion to suppress evidence in the case was granted...

A Holiday Island man was arrested Wednesday, Nov. 10, after he allegedly admitted stabbing his father to death. According to a probable-cause affidavit written by investigator Bobby Engles of the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were dispatched to an address on Apache Drive in Holiday Island just after 7 a.m. ...

The Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission agreed to spend $5,000 to promote the Arkansas Continental Preliminary Pageant, scheduled for early January, at its regular meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 17. Local business owner Anthony Christopher submitted the marketing support fund request, which included $4,000 for social media marketing and $1,000 for print materials. ...

Unless they have a religious or medical exemption, Eureka Springs Hospital employees are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 4. At the Eureka Springs Hospital Commission’s regular meeting Monday night, hospital CEO Angie Shaw announced a Nov. ...

It’s been nearly two years since the Holiday Island Singers have performed for the community, and they are ready to join voices again. The singers will perform “A Joyful Song” at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 19, their first performance since December 2019. Ensemble director Vicki Shutters recalled being hired in the spring of 2020 and working with everyone to prepare for a concert. That was bad timing, Shutters said. Once COVID-19 hit, Shutters said, the singers dispersed...

Mayor Butch Berry met with the city’s economic development committee on Wednesday, Nov. 10, to discuss how to move forward with establishing affordable housing in Eureka Springs, and the group considered creating a nonprofit organization as the next step in the process...

A passenger on a Eureka Springs city trolley was transported to the hospital and a local woman was arrested after a traffic accident on Oct. 30, according to a police report. The report, which was released Tuesday morning — more than two weeks after the accident occurred — says the city trolley driven by Eric Evans was traveling westbound on West Van Buren just after 8 p.m. ...

A Holiday Island man was arrested Wednesday, Nov. 10, in connection with the death of another man. Gabriel Brotherton, 26, was booked into the Carroll County Detention Center just before 11 a.m. Wednesday, according to jail records. Carroll County Sheriff Jim Ross said in a news release Thursday that county dispatchers were notified of a possible deceased person in the yard of a residence on Apache Drive in Holiday Island. ...

Whether they’re playing competitively or watching the action on Twitch, everyone in Eureka Springs High School’s Esports Club is getting in on the game. EAST facilitator Adam Louderback said the club started earlier this year, thanks to the computer-building skills of former student Kyle Plott. Plott, who graduated last year, spent this past summer literally bringing the computers in the EAST lab up to speed. Plott said he outfitted seven computers with high-end CPUs and new graphics cards...

The Eureka Springs City Council has a new member. On Monday night, the council voted to appoint Nicholas Roberts to Ward 1, Position 2 — the seat left vacant after Laura Jo Smile resigned in October. Roberts and David Avanzino applied for the position, and both spoke to the council before the vote. Roberts said he’s been in Eureka Springs for almost 10 years and has “a lot of ideas” to help the town...

The number of active cases of COVID-19 in Arkansas and the number of hospitalizations because of the novel coronavirus continue to fall. “Our COVID numbers continue to move in the right direction,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a Twitter message Sunday. “Last year, we saw a large increase in cases and hospitalizations in the winter months. Let’s get vaccinated so we can avoid that as we get closer to winter.”...

The Eureka Springs School Board voted Monday night to suspend its mask mandate, a policy reinstated at the board’s Aug. 9 meeting with the understanding that the issue would be revisited at each subsequent meeting. Superintendent Bryan Pruitt said the district hasn’t had any COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks, and only three students were quarantined after a close family member tested positive for the virus. ...

Carroll County veterans will be honored throughout the community this Veterans Day on Thursday, Nov. 11. The Eureka Springs Veterans Day Parade rolls through downtown Eureka Springs at 10 a.m., with lineup starting at 9 a.m. by the Eureka Springs Carnegie Public Library. The parade will be followed by a rifle salute at 11:11 a.m. at the Cat House parking lot at 82 Armstrong St...

During the month of October, the number of active cases of COVID-19 in the state has dropped by thousands and the number of hospitalizations because of the novel coronavirus continue to fall. “In the month of October we have decreased our active cases by more than 5,000, dropped our hospitalizations by nearly 400, and have fully immunized 59,164 Arkansans,” said Gov. Asa Hutchinson in a Twitter message Sunday. “A great report for the month, but we must continue our progress against the virus.”...

There’s good news and even better news for Carroll County taxpayers who paid an $18 fee to the Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District along with their property taxes in 2019. The good news is that taxpayers will receive a refund for those 2019 payments. The even better news is that the $18 fee will never be charged again after a successful class action lawsuit that resulted in the fee being declared an illegal exaction...

The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office is actively seeking new detention officers and dispatchers, chief deputy Maj. Jerry Williams said last week. Staffing at the Carroll County Detention Center reached a crisis level earlier this year, when Williams told an advisory committee appointed by the county quorum court that the jail had been operating with 20 detention officers — 10 fewer than the number allotted in this year’s county budget. ...