School board races, tax increases are on the ballot
🏫 State of play: A handful of school districts in NWA have school board elections and millage rate increases on the ballot starting today. Election Day is May 13.
💰 Zoom in: If you live in the Farmington, Greenland or Prairie Grove school districts, you have tax increases to consider. The school districts are requesting millage rate increases of:
Four mills for a total of 44.1 mills in Farmington.
Two mills for a total of 41.1 mills in Greenland.
Four mills for a total of 44.6 mills in Prairie Grove.
🏡 How it works: For every one mill increase, you will pay $20 more per year in property taxes per $100,000 that your property is worth.
A mill is equal to $1 of property tax for each $1,000 of assessed value. The assessed value of property in Arkansas is 20% of its market value, according to Washington County.
🧑💼 Contested school board races include:
Rogers, Zone 5 — Elizabeth-Ann "Liz" Lee vs. David Regan vs. Jessica L. Thompson
Springdale, Zone 5 — Incumbent Izmar (Eddie) Ramos vs. Donald C. Tippett
Gravette, Zone 2 — Matt Croxdale vs. Dani Madison
Greenland, Zone 4 — Kayden Dennis vs. Audrey Filmore
Prairie Grove, Position 1 — Incumbent Whitney Woods Bryant vs. Ricky Carte
🚒 Zoom out: Some Benton County voters will also decide whether to increase dues for the Pleasure Heights volunteer fire department from $40 to $100 annually.
Gravette voters will see an option to have fire department dues included in property tax bills. This is a change from billing separately in the mail, 5News reported. The dues are $50 annually for improved property and $35 annually for unimproved property.
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New York Post
4 hours ago
- New York Post
Why the future of NY under a ‘Mayor Mamdani' has already arrived
If you think a Mayor Mamdani couldn't bring us worse horrors than those already inflicted upon us by the 'progressive' brigade of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, former Mayor Bill de Blasio, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez, state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, at least a dozen woke City Council members and innumerable looney-left judges — you are profoundly in error. Some of my wealthy acquaintances in high-end commercial real estate say of Mamdani, 'Yes, he's an antisemitic, dopey dilettante who would impose a Soviet-style rule over us if he could, but, hey! The state, not the city, really has the power! The mayor is a paper tiger! Remember how de Blasio said he'd get rid of carriage horses on Day One!' Take no comfort in that. 5 Naysayers repeatedly speculate about the horrors awaiting New York City if Zohran Mamdani is elected. AP It's mercifully true that Mamdani couldn't make the buses free and thereby accelerate the MTA's fiscal tailspin (perhaps he'll have time to learn between now and Election Day that such a step would be up to the MTA, a state body over which the mayor has very limited influence). Nor should his pipe dream of city-run grocery stores panic supermarket and bodega owners, given the city's comically inept and corrupt record with such crucial tasks as making NYCHA apartments liveable. Yet, despite the mayoralty's tightly circumscribed authority, Mamdani could wreak havoc in two realms where significant progress in recent years has been made. The one most vital to New Yorkers on a day-to-day basis is crime. After an up-and-down start, Mayor Adams seems to have tamed the beast. Under NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch, major crime is dramatically down. If the trend holds up, murders this year will total under 300, the holy-grail figure not seen since before the pandemic. Mamdani could undo all of that in a flash. Although he now denies he'd attempt to defund the NYPD despite having once proposed precisely that imbecilic notion, it would take only the appointment of a new top cop more committed to protecting criminals' 'rights' than to public order to kick-start the tailspin. The administrations of Adams, Bill de Blasio (yes, de Blasio) and Bloomberg did their best to alleviate the 'housing crisis.' After all, this is far more the fault of state and earlier city laws than to 'homelessness' largely due to mental illness and drug addiction. 5 Mamdani wants to make public transport free, along with taking an anti-police platform. Christopher Sadowski All three mayors promoted or approved rezonings that both opened up more districts to residential development, and enabled construction of 'affordable' units within those districts — the latter by requiring their inclusion for the size bonuses developers need to make projects economically viable. For elected officials and urbanologists who apparently prefer a North Korea-style housing program (free, government-assigned apartments for everyone in horrible buildings), no amount or percentage of affordable units is ever enough. But Bloomberg, de Blasio and Adams, in different ways, relied on a real-world approach. 5 A 'Mayor' Mamdani would have the power to replace newish NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who has made inroads against violent crime. Luiz Rampelotto/ZUMA / Variances to existing rules needed approvals under the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, or ULURP. The often contentious, seven-month slog sometimes included compromises, but the result was creation of tens of thousands of new units from the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn to Morris Park in The Bronx. Kiss such progress goodbye if Mamdani wins. His animus toward upper- and middle-class New Yorkers is well known. The loyalties of a man who wants to freeze all stabilized rents clearly are not with developers and landlords upon whom the city must rely to create and maintain sound housing. 5 Former council member Kristin Richardson Jordan, who took an anti-development and anti-'gentrification' stance, derailed a large-scale Harlem housing development that would have delivered low-cost homes to her district. LightRocket via Getty Images He'd more likely take his cue from anti-development and anti-'gentrification' zealots such as former council member Kristin Richardson Jordan, who single-handedly torpedoed a big Harlem project that would have brought 1,000 new rental homes to Malcolm X Boulevard and West 145th Street, half of which were to be priced below market. The ability of a single council member to block even projects supported by his or her entire community — a veto power called 'member deference' — has been so abused, Adams wants to put measures on the November ballot that would turn approval authority over to the City Planning Commission. 5 The site under consideration was — and remains — an empty lot. Stephen Yang Yet, even if voters show more common sense than Democratic primary voters last week and support the change, a mayor Mamdani could still — and almost surely will — stop any housing development in its tracks that doesn't impossibly make new apartments free or almost free. That's because ultimately, the mayor must sign off on any plan that passes ULURP muster. If you doubt he'd put the kibosh on new-housing proposals desired by just about everybody, just listen to him — and tremble. scuozzo@
Newsweek
a day ago
- Newsweek
It's Time To Declare Independence—For All Americans
The Declaration of Independence proclaimed that "all men are created equal" and are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights." Today, many Americans are still denied access to the founding ideals of liberty, equality, and justice for all, leaving our Fourth of July celebrations incomplete. This Independence Day is an opportunity to confront the true history of how a fledgling colony became a dominant global power. America's founding ideals were also accompanied by founding practices: slavery and land dispossession. For centuries, municipal, county, state, and federal governments aided in systematically excluding Black Americans through slavery, Jim Crow laws, and systemic racism that continues to this day. True independence for all Americans requires acknowledging these historical injustices and taking concrete steps toward repair. Despite recent highly publicized efforts to roll back positive momentum in areas of equity, inclusion, and diversity, the push for reparations continues to gain strength. Key leaders are advancing a progressive and reparative agenda that honors the true spirit of American independence. On May 13, I attended a historic joint congressional briefing on reparative justice and the suite of legislation currently before the U.S. legislature. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) held the briefing, joined by Representatives Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), to discuss the urgent need for justice through reparations. Booker and Pressley had recently reintroduced bills that would create a commission to study reparation proposals for African Americans. 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A few weeks later, during National Equity Week, Pressley hosted an advocate roundtable briefing on H.R. 40 for congressional staff members. At the same time, Congresswomen Jasmine Crockett (D-Tex.) and Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.) reintroduced a resolution to create a commission on truth, racial healing, and transformation to bring Americans together, shining a light on our shared history at a time when ideas of citizenship, culture, and belonging are highly divisive and contested. These reparative justice efforts are part of the long legacy of the freedom, liberation, and civil rights movements. H.R. 40 has been introduced continually for the past 30 years and remains the blueprint for state and local efforts on reconciliation from California to Washington, D.C. The movement has never paused or even faltered, as there is no end to this conversation until the harm is fully acknowledged and healed. WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 14: American flags are seen on the National Mall lawn ahead of the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary parade on June 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 14: American flags are seen on the National Mall lawn ahead of the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary parade on June 14, 2025 in Washington, Booker and Reps. Lee, Pressley, Johnson, Simon, and Crockett are among the many government officials who are speaking out for truth and repair. America cannot heal from the cruelty of the past without elected officials and civic leaders playing a role. Local, county, state, and federal governments have sanctioned, authorized, constitutionalized, and executed harms that our communities still experience. Our officials today must do their part to restore, recognize, and amplify the experiences and voices of Black Americans in the political arena, helping others see the quilted threads of shared histories of inequity. However, this reckoning must extend beyond government. This is a movement for all people, in all aspects of our society. The path towards a more prosperous and inclusive future, one that heals from past traumas, must not leave anyone behind. We must ask ourselves what true independence looks like when it includes everyone. If a single person is excluded from the process of repairing what is broken, then the work will remain unfinished. As we celebrate Independence Day, we must remember that the Founders themselves understood that America would remain a work in progress. The Constitution included mechanisms for amendment precisely because its authors knew the work of creating a more perfect union would continue across generations. Today's movement for reparations embodies the same spirit of continuous improvement in the pursuit of justice. The actual progress we need is the healing of wounds that centuries of injustice have created. Only this healing, this repairing, will lead us toward a more perfect union. There is no single, simple solution to the exploitation and dehumanization inflicted on Black people in this country. But through politics, education, law, finances, social contracts, space, and spirituality, we can develop an inclusive, holistic reparations process. To achieve this goal, we need elected officials and people from all walks of life to join us and our community in lifting our voices together. This Independence Day, let us recommit to the founding ideals of our nation while honestly acknowledging where we have fallen short. The true goal of reparations is love and repair—values that align perfectly with the American promise of liberty and justice for all. If we can repair lasting injuries, we can heal our nation, better equipping it to anticipate and attend to the dangers, toils, and snares ahead. We must remember that repair and healing are always a net benefit to any society. As fireworks light up the night sky, let us remember that the truth is also a source of light. America's promise remains unfinished, and truth and repair are a robust recipe for stimulating forward momentum that affirms the ideals animating the Declaration of Independence. True independence for all requires telling the truth about our past and taking concrete action toward repair. Only then can we achieve the dignity and justice that the founding documents promised but remains to be delivered for all Americans. Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter is a professor of sociology and African American studies at UCLA. He is also the author of "Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation." The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Miami Herald
Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong docks in Hong Kong for ceremony
July 3 (UPI) -- Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong docked at Victoria Harbour for a ceremony on Thursday. The task force was welcomed with a ceremony held by Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government at the Ngong Shuen Chau Barracks as Shandong (Hull 17), guided missile destroyers Yan'an (Hull 106) and Zhanijiang (Hull 165), and guided missile frigate Yuncheng (Hull 571) arrived in Hong Kong. "This visit represents national defense and security safeguarding high-quality development, demonstrating that national security is rock-solid," said Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu. Lee noted how this visit served as a reminder that the country's stability and prosperity "has not come easily." From July 4 to 6, the warships will be open to visitors to explore areas, view fighter jets and helicopters, and see training displays. "This visit by the Shandong fleet will allow Hong Kong residents to personally experience the magnificence and advanced nature of the nation's modern naval vessels and gain a deeper understanding of the achievements of national defense modernization," Lee said. Helicopters flew above the fleet as a fireboat sprayed water to welcome them. Jets were on Shandong's deck with personnel in white suits arranged to write out "with national security, our homes are safe," in Chinese characters. Fans from across the border traveled to Hong Kong in order to see a glimpse of the fleet's arrival. Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
