The 11 biggest Arkansas stories of 2023

March 31, 2023, will be a day many Arkansas won’t soon forget, as a powerful tornado ripped through parts of Central Arkansas in the middle of the day. The National Weather Service confirmed that the tornado was a “high-end EF3” with winds reaching up to 165mph.

The catastrophic tornado began in the West Little Rock area and continued to an area neighboring Cabot.

But the catastrophic storm would also make its way to Wynne, tragically killing four people.

Although we are almost a year removed from the devastation, some families are still recovering, but there remain people and organizations helping to pick up the pieces.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders made history to start 2023 as the first woman governor in Arkansas, but would quickly get to work looking to bring Arkansas into the national spotlight.

Sanders would deliver the Republican response to President Joe Biden's State of the Union one month into her governorship. She would also announce several goals including reforming education, cutting taxes, and a promise to make Arkansas "first in everything."

But that national spotlight would soon focus on the purchase of a $19,000 lectern and the controversy surrounding it. An official legislative audit into the purchase was approved by lawmakers, but we likely won't hear more about it until 2024.

As we enter her second year in office, she will continue to focus on her conservative goals that have oftentimes seen pushback from both Republicans and Democrats in Arkansas.

The Sanders administration would also make national headlines for the bills she would sign into law. The biggest of those being the LEARNS Act, which was a 144-page comprehensive education overhaul championed by Sanders and Sec. Jacob Oliva.

The law would face criticism from teachers and parents as well as a lawsuit, but LEARNS would go into effect in August. Among the changes, LEARNS would add an "Educational Freedom Account" program which the administration said would help give more options for parents and students. The law also increased the minimum pay for teachers to $50,000 per year.

Her administration would also pass a change to some criminal laws and a push for prison expansion as the state continues to face constant overcrowding issues. That law and other changes would indirectly lead to a battle between the Boards of Corrections and the corrections secretary on adding more prison beds across the state.

To read a full list of laws that went into effect in 2023, click here.

This year brought along two tragic losses for the Razorback football team. Both Alex Collins and Ryan Mallett were beloved former players for the Hogs who tragically passed away over the summer. 

Collins and Mallett had successful careers at Arkansas that they would later parlay to the NFL. Collins has been said to be the greatest running back to ever play in an Arkansas uniform. 

Meanwhile, Mallett is remembered for both his time as quarterback for the Hogs, and for his time as head coach of the White Hall Bulldogs, where he was looking forward to coaching the next generation of football players. He has also been selected to join the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.

In November, we announced the retirement of our beloved evening news anchor and broadcast legend, Craig O’Neill. 

His distinguished television career includes both a regional EMMY award and the prestigious Edward R. Murrow award. This year, he was also inducted into the NATAS Mid-America Gold Circle for his fifty-plus years in broadcasting. 

Not only can he speak on over 60 years of Razorbacks history, he has interviewed iconic people like Bill Clinton, Dolly Parton, and many more through the years. 

People say that his versatility makes him one of the most unique media personalities in Arkansas history, but we hope he will be remembered for the enthusiasm and positivity he has for the children and people across the state.

After lots of speculation and online chatter, Bobby Petrino was officially named the program's newest offensive coordinator on November 29. 

Petrino has a vast coaching resume which includes having led the Razorbacks from 2008 to 2011 and most recently having coached on Jimbo Fisher's staff as the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M.

While the coach is most remembered for his unceremonious exit and controversy, he is hoping for redemption not only for himself but for a Razorbacks team coming off a lackluster season.

The South City Church in Little Rock received a facelift as it was transformed into the Arkansas Military and First Responders Academy, which is a "first of its kind" school in the Natural State that is aimed at putting students on a specific career path. 

The school will host the standard 9th through 12th grades and has a curriculum that includes engineering, STEM programs, and coding. 

The campus spans 25 acres and officially opened its doors in August 2023.

The ongoing project to widen about five and a half miles of highway along I-30 in Saline County started in 2019 and was supposed to be completed two years ago. Since then, hundreds of drivers expressed not only that they’re tired of the construction— but they're also worried for their safety. 

There have been many complaints of blown-out tires, broken axles, and driving over metal scraps which have all kept local tow truck companies busy. 

When asked about the ongoing construction, officials with ARDOT said that the project has not gone as expected by the contractor or by them. Now, the project has been pushed to an estimated end of 2024.

About three years after initial tests were done hoping to tap into vast quantities of lithium, the chemical that makes rechargeable batteries work, two companies are now saying that they are ready to begin commercial production. 

A Canadian company called Standard Lithium staked the first claim in Arkansas to extract the chemical needed to power all the rechargeable batteries that could one day break our dependence on oil and gas. They are planning to build a processing plant in Lafayette County on 118 acres of mostly timberland west of Magnolia.

ExxonMobil who is best known for its massive oil drilling operations in all corners of the globe, signaled that extracting lithium from brine in this corner of Arkansas will work, and expect its first drilling operations to begin this year. 

Standard Lithium will seek commercial approval from the state in December and figure to take advantage of its three-year head start.

During the past few years, troopers with Arkansas State Police have been using more PIT maneuvers, which often have deadly consequences for the drivers who are being chased.

In November, ASP shared a message in a PSA warning people that fleeing is a felony in the state. They’ve said that they will be doing whatever it takes to stop and arrest someone. 

Police reported about 78 fleeing incidents in 2017, and that number nearly quadrupled in 2022 as it increased to 324. With that increase also came an increase in troopers using PIT and TVI maneuvers. 

This year legislators passed a new law that makes fleeing from police a Class D felony, and if someone is prosecuted they could spend three to six years in prison.

A joint lawsuit against recent censorship laws was filed by several Arkansas groups against a bill that would restrict access to books in bookstores and public libraries across the state. The suit challenges both sections 1 and 5 of Act 372 regarding libraries and obscene materials being made available to minors by stating that they violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. 

This came as lawmakers in several Republican-led states have been pushing for measures that make it easier to ban or restrict access to books. These restrictions have usually directly impacted the access to LGBTQ books.

Leaders of Saline County approved a resolution requesting that the Saline County Library system ensure that "materials contained within the children's section of the library are subject matter and age appropriate." After months of debate over who should control the Saline County Library, a vote officially gave power to the county judge. He was given the final say for nearly all library decisions, including budgets, employment, and more of a say when it comes to what goes on library shelves.

After Saline County saw continued controversy surrounding its library over the past few months, they were on the hunt for a new library director as former director Patty Hector was “no longer employed” by the county or its library system. It was announced that Leigh Espy will take the role of interim director as the search for a new library director continues.

Hector is now running for a spot on the quorum court, run by the same judge who fired her in 2023.