LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Pulaski County courthouse was evacuated Thursday morning after a reported bomb threat, which has delayed a hearing in the lawsuit involving the Board of Corrections and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
The hearing was set to happen on Jan. 4 after being rescheduled last week. Our reporter Sarah Horbacewicz, who was in the building covering the hearing, reported that there was a bomb threat shortly after 9:30 a.m.
The threat came in during the opening statements of the hearing. Law enforcement is currently searching the buildings, according to Pulaski County officials.
As of 11:28 a.m., Pulaski County officials said that the Pulaski County Courthouse has reopened after they determined that there was no threat in the building.
Multiple state capitols across the country were evacuated or placed on lockdown Wednesday due to reported threats, but nothing suspicious was found at any of the locations.
Drama between the board and the Sanders administration began with a fight over adding prison beds and then turned into lawsuits against each other.
In a lawsuit filed by Attorney General Tim Griffin, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox declared that Griffin sued his own clients and violated his duties as attorney general.
In the other lawsuit, the corrections board is challenging a set of laws that say the secretary would answer to the governor instead of the board.
The board also voted to suspend Sec. Joe Profiri in December before filing the lawsuit. It has argued that it has hesitated to approve more prison beds due to staffing shortages and have even requested the use of the Arkansas National Guard to help with staffing. That request was denied by the governor, claiming of playing "political games."
We will update this article with more information as it becomes available.