Man wanted in connection to school shooting arrested

PINE BLUFF, AR – An 18-year-old wanted in connection with a shooting incident at Pine Bluff High School last Friday has been captured by police.

Devonte Parker was arrested near Dumas Tuesday afternoon. According to the Pine Bluff Police Department, Parker was tracked to the Mitchellville community, north of Dumas. Police say they had to chase Parker through a wheat field for a short time before they captured him.

The Dumas Police, the Desha County Sheriff’s Office, and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission assisted in the arrest.

Parker was wanted for unlawful discharge of a firearm from a vehicle and possession of a firearm on school property. Nobody was injured in the shooting.

Trojans dominate Jaguars in series opener

The Trojans took out their frustration on the South Alabama Jaguars, beating them 18-7 on Friday, April 13, at Gary Hogan Field.

Coming off a seven-game losing streak, UALR (17-17, 4-9 SBC) banged out 19 hits on the night.

Junior Chance Cleveland went the distance, scattering 10 hits and fanning nine batters. The Sun Belt Conference leader in strikeouts improved his record to 7-2. Cleveland  has 68 strikeouts  in 62 and a third innings this season.

Head coach Scott Norwood was happy to get the team back on their home field after a stint that saw them play 6 out of their last 7 games on the road.

“It was nice to get back home for a few days and have some time to practice and work on some things that we’ve been struggling with going into this series,” said Norwood. “It was kind of a breakout game for us. We’d lost so many close games recently, that it was nice to hit the ball like we had been at the start of the year and have some things go our way.”

Senior Sean Bignall returned to his early-season form, going 3-for-3 at the plate and scoring five runs. Junior Blake Johnson went 4-for-5 with five RBI’s and three runs scored.

Cleveland started out a bit shaky, walking a Jaguar in the first frame and then surrendering a homerun to Jordan Patterson, putting the Trojans in a quick hole.

UALR answered in the bottom half of the inning with a double to left field off the bat of Bignall. Senior Nick Rountree grounded out to shortstop, scoring sophomore Ben Crumpton from third after he had walked and advanced on Bignall’s double. Junior Blake Johnson doubled down the left-field line, playing Bignall and evening the score at 2.

The Trojans put two more on the board in their half of the third inning on a homerun to dead center by Bignall and a shot to left-center field off the bat of Johnson. Full Story

Sonic Youth guitarist goes solo

Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo has reached the age of necessary nostalgia. As a college graduate in the late 1970s, he transitioned from hippiedom to chaos, taking refuge in the dark existence of Glenn Branca’s avant-garde electric symphony. There he stumbled upon creative misfits Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, who formed Sonic Youth with Ranaldo in 1981. But after three decades of pioneering noise rock, the aging guitar innovator has opted for different ground. His latest Matador release, “Between the Times and the Tides,” provides insight into what at first seemed like personally unexplored territory: a noise junkie’s take on the art of melancholy pop-rock.

Ranaldo’s solo career, which began with 1987’s “From Here to Infinity”, has consisted primarily of experimental spoken word projects, most of which were collaborations with wife and visual artist Leah Singer. The haunting feedback surrounding his carefully written monologues has become a characteristic of his style, serving as a reminder of his beginnings in New York’s No Wave scene. But “Tides” exists as a nod to some of Ranaldo’s earlier influences, the engaging albeit formulaic structure matching that of Neil Young and the Beatles’ early era. Perhaps this confusing transition to normalcy serves as proof of his sad reaction to the news of his bandmates’ marital split. Regardless, it has become evident that Ranaldo is trying to evolve; unfortunately, it doesn’t seem as if it’s truly for the better. Full Story

Medical marijuana provides unnecessary opportunity for abuse

Recently, there have been supporters for medicinal marijuana use in Arkansas in the upper concourse of the Donaghey Student Center; when a student walks by, they give their speech about how marijuana is supposedly good for people, and ask for signatures and support.

They aren’t getting my signature or my support anytime soon.

According to arkansasmedicalmarijuana.net, using marijuana has health benefits that include relieving migraines, soothing depression, making PMS easier to handle, treat glaucoma and help with ADD and ADHD. But what they don’t say is that most of those, if not all, can be easily treated with over-the-counter medicines and prescribed medicine. For migraines, that’s why we have Excedrin and Tylenol. PMS is a little bit trickier, but isn’t impossible to diminish without marijuana. Certain birth control medications have been known to reduce PMS related symptoms, according to a sciencedaily.com article.

It is redundant to attempt to treat depression with medicinal marijuana because you still have to go to a doctor to get a prescription, so instead of getting a prescription for weed, you can get anti-depressants and hopefully have a regular visit to a therapist.

Marijuana is also very addictive. Granted, I understand that legal items such as alcohol and for some people, even food, can be an addiction. But, if an addiction can be prevented by not legalizing it, why legalize it? I don’t see how marijuana can benefit anyone’s health; I just see it as a way for people to get high. My question is what’s next? After they legalize medicinal marijuana, the supporters are going to most likely start pushing for it to be a legal substance, and then what? Is medicinal cocaine going to be pushed? Full Story