Arkansas GOP senator wants state to stop funding library advocates — but they don’t get state dollars



After an Arkansas judge fired a county library manager at the request of a Republican-led committee, a GOP state senator is calling on the state to defund the Arkansas Library Association (ArLA), an organization that and locates for public libraries and librarians, News From The States reports. However, the organization does not receive state funding.

Senator Dan Sullivan's demand comes after ArLA president Carol Coffey declined to attend an Arkansas Legislature Joint Performance Review committee meeting Tuesday due to the organization's involvement in an ongoing federal lawsuit against the state, according to the report.

As a plaintiff in the case, the report notes, the organization is challenging Sullivan-sponsored legislation — parts of which were "temporarily blocked" by a federal judge in July over its intention to "alter libraries' material reconsideration processes and create criminal liability for librarians who distribute content that some consider 'obscene' or 'harmful to minors.'"

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?

Sullivan asked for the discussion to center on ArLA's work, and as a result of Coffey's absence, the GOP lawmaker determined he would aim to keep the organization from receiving state funding until an ArLA representative commits to attending a meeting.

"If they want to be independent of the state and decline all state dollars, that's fine with me," the Republican senator said.

News From The States reports, "But the Arkansas Library Association does not receive state funding and never has, Coffey said. Local libraries receive public funds, and many are ArLA members, but this membership has not determined libraries' receipt of public funds in the past, she said."

According to the report, Coffey said, "We are a nonprofit trade association. We are not a state agency."

READ MORE: 'Partisan politics': Arkansas judge ousts librarian without reason at GOP board’s request

News From The States' full report is available at this link.



from Alternet.org https://ift.tt/gxWTacw
via sinceretalk

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PA GOP Senate candidate who says he 'started with nothing' actually grew up in a mansion

Image
David McCormick, who is Pennsylvania's presumptive Republican U.S. Senate nominee, has often suggested he grew up poor in a rural community. But a new report finds that his upbringing was far more affluent than he's suggested. The New York Times reported Friday that McCormick — a former hedge fund executive who lived in Connecticut as recently as 2022 — has been cagey with voters about his childhood. McCormick has tweeted that he was "raised in Bloomsburg working on his family's farm," said on a 2022 podcast that he " started with nothing " and told CBS News that same year that he " didn't have anything " growing up as the son of two schoolteachers. But according to the Times , McCormick's father, Dr. James H. McCormick , was appointed president of what is now Bloomsburg University by Gov. Milton Schapp (D) in 1973. He moved his family into Buckalew Place — the official mansion for presidents of the school that currently spans 5...
Read more

How misinformation could shape the Israel-Hamas war

Image
I wanted to interview Nicholas Grossman regarding the role of misinformation in the war between Israel and Hamas. In particular, I hoped to ask the professor of international relations at the University of Illinois, and senior editor of Arc Digital , about misinformation that arose from American reporting on an explosion at a hospital in Gaza. You know what? I ended up repeating a bit of misinformation! I asked him to lay out the facts about a blast that “killed hundreds, including kids,” and he said nuh-uh (not his words). In fact, Professor Grossman said, “there never were hundreds killed by an explosion at that hospital. Media reported that the hospital was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike killing 500, but that was based on something a Hamas-controlled agency said and was never supported by evidence.” Professor Grossman went on to say “what apparently did happen is something hit a nearby parking lot and caused a smaller explosion, most likely a rocket fired from Gaza towards I...
Read more

Trump was hit by glass fragments — not a bullet: report

Image
Law enforcement officials have claimed to two different sources that former President Donald Trump was not grazed by a bullet but rather by glass shards. The officials in question told both Newsmax's Alex Salvi and Axios' Juliegrace Brufke that Trump was hit by glass shards that may have erupted from the shattering of a teleprompter that was hit by gunfire. Earlier on Saturday, law enforcement sources confirmed that the person suspected of firing a weapon at a Pennsylvania Trump rally had been killed, as had at least one person in the crowd. Videos showed Trump grabbing his neck after apparent gunshots had been fired before Secret Service agents pulled him to the ground. They then took him away in an armored vehicle to a hospital where he was treated for injuries. The identity of the shooting suspect has not yet been released. from Alternet.org https://ift.tt/ILgqr53 via sinceretalk
Read more