Micki Mitchell retired last week as the executive director of the Magnolia-Columbia County Chamber of Commerce. She was promoted into the position in August 2019 after Ellie Baker resigned to take the job of the City of Magnolia economic development director. Mitchell had previously served a…
There’s a revival of interest in the late poet, writer and educator Maya Angelou, and that’s nothing but good news for Lafayette County. Angelou spent much of her childhood in Stamps, with that community having a positive influence on the woman who wrote the autobiographical “I Know Why the …
Sara Vines Sanders and Catie Renee Ridling have acquired the former All Care Pharmacy building at Jackson and North streets. They are remodeling and repainting the building. They plan to reopen the site as The Wild Magnolia Salon and Boutique.
News broke Monday that two automakers, Stellantis (parent company of Dodge, Jeep and Ram) and Toyota will build separate battery manufacturing plants for their new electric vehicles. Both are being coy about plant locations, but given the placement of their vehicle manufacturing facilities, …
This is the Second Thursday of the month, which means the Second Thursday Market will take place on and around the Magnolia Square. CLICK HERE to see more. Events are between 4-7 p.m.
Southern Arkansas University deserves congratulations on the completion of its successful “Love and Loyalty” campaign. The five-year campaign raised almost $30 million, or more than $7 million above its goal. Great things are made possible by such campaigns, including new scholarships, facil…
This column is taking a day off for Columbus Day. But during the weekend, we came across our column from July 6, 2017. It's still good, and we repeat most of it below.
Coming back around to the note in our recent Magnolia School Board report about plans for a new first- and second-grade building at East Side Elementary School. Construction of the building has been added to the school district’s master plan. This means construction won’t happen immediately,…
The Magnolia School Board decided at the start of the school year to require mask wearing as a means to tamp down COVID-19 infections, so long as Columbia County’s “positivity rate” -- the percentage of tests performed for COVID-19 that were positive for the virus – was 8 percent or higher. …
Our local banks are in growth mode. Peoples Bank is in the process of acquiring the Magnolia branch of Bank OZK. Bodcaw Bank has opened a branch in TEXarkana. On Friday, Farmers Bank & Trust made a big move with the purchase of nine branches of Fayetteville-based Arvest Bank. This will i…
We’ve been beating the drum this week, encouraging our readers to encourage their family members and friends to move back to South Arkansas. Independent of this, the Arkansas Economic Development Commission has come out with a talent recruitment initiative called “See Why Arkansas.” The roll…
Expanding on our Monday comments. The holiday season is coming, which means that interactions between South Arkansas residents and South Arkansas expatriates will reach a seasonal high. We need these people to come home. Parents and grandparents who have moved away. Long gone brothers and si…
The motto of this website is “South Arkansas Proud.” We enjoy demonstrating pride in our region through the publication of news about the economic, social, cultural and civic progress of Magnolia and Columbia County, and the surrounding area. Bad news takes care of itself, and South Arkansas…
People who perused our real estate transactions list today noticed that two side-by-side properties on East Main Street have been sold. Peoples Bank bought the former Western Sizzlin’ restaurant for $350,000. We understand the plan will see the conversion of the old restaurant into a branch …
Attorneys have a professional obligation to provide criminal clients with the best defense possible. We were struck by that while reviewing the multiple motions filed on behalf of Jory John Worthen. Worthen received two life sentences this week for the 2019 murders of Alyssa Cannon, 20, and …
COVID-19 created or made worse shortages for certain products and services. One shortage that we missed involves carbon dioxide – CO2. In the atmosphere, CO2 is a “greenhouse gas.” However, CO2 is also one of our most important industrial compounds that is used extensively as a chemical solv…
A few candidates have submitted statements to magnoliareporter.com announcing their intent to run for public office next year. The filing period starts at noon Tuesday, February 22, 2022 and ends a week later at noon Tuesday, March 1, 2022. Party primary elections are Tuesday, May 24. Party …
We welcome the office of County Collector Rachel Waller back as a temporary advertiser. It’s the property tax collection season, and the Collector’s Office wants to remind Columbia County residents that the payment deadline is October 15. People who click on the ad will be redirected to a pa…
It’s no secret that Scouting has had difficult times during the past couple of decades. Part of its problems have been changes in society. Other problems have been inflicted on the organization by a few of its members. But Scouting is still with us, and doing its best to impart life skills a…
One night many years ago, we were staying overnight at a Little Rock hotel. There was a fire alarm. An announcement came over the public address system that all hotel guests should evacuate immediately. We were on one of the upper floors, and headed to the stairwell as instructed. We made ou…
An official welcome back to another seasonal advertiser, the Columbia County Fair and Livestock Show. The fair will be September 20-25 – a little later than usual but we think that’s a good thing. People who click on the ad will be redirected to the fair’s website, where they can learn all a…
Saw lots of complaints on social media during the weekend about Walmart and its push toward self-checkout – complaints that are somewhat poignant in that they’re made during the Labor Day holiday. The company is committed to this concept and because of that, many others are either following …
Mike McNeill’s Diary will not be published today. The column will return Tuesday.
Methodist Family Health is refocusing its advertising on magnoliareporter.com. The new advertising reflects its efforts to recruit staff for its facilities across Arkansas, including two in Magnolia. People who click on the ad will be redirected to Methodist Family Health’s “Career Opportuni…
We spied a couple of small backyard chicken houses behind the garage of a home in northwest Magnolia on Tuesday. It would be interesting to know just how many households in Columbia County have egg-laying chickens now. It seems certain that the number has increased since the pandemic began. …
In thinking about the complaints about Suddenlink, and the obvious importance of electronic infrastructure, Magnolia and Columbia County needs to become pro-active. A reasonable step would be the creation of a community task force. It could draw together local leaders in the fields of inform…
Magnolia Mayor Parnell Vann’s complaints about Suddenlink’s cable television and internet service have touched a nerve. The mayor, speaking at Thursday’s Magnolia City Council meeting, cited the company for poor service, a lack of communication, a lack of responsiveness to community needs, a…
The general public is invited to the grand opening of the Magnolia School District’s Performing Arts Center – the MPAC – from 2-4 p.m. Sunday. There will be a ribbon cutting and tours of this grand, $8.7-million facility. That said, we were privileged Thursday night to attend the first perfo…
It was bound to happen and on Tuesday afternoon, it did. We learned that someone with whom we’d been in close proximity recently tested positive for COVID-19, after another person of our mutual acquaintance had come down with a case. We immediately arranged for a test and within a few minute…
We enjoy monitoring Amtrak traffic through Arkansas and usually devote a few seconds every night to check the progress of the northbound and southbound trips of the Texas Eagle. Talk about a slow train through Arkansas. The Texas Eagle northbound from San Antonio was already 90 minutes late …
Columbia County continues to be a hot spot for COVID-19 infections. We’re holding at just above 150 active cases, with the number of new cases and recoveries cancelling one another out during the weekend. Positive rates for PCR and antigen tests continue to be well above what’s considered th…
The Arkansas Historical Association has scheduled its 2022 Annual Conference for Magnolia on April 21-23. We have a vague recollection of the association having met in Magnolia once before, but in 2022 there should be even more for its members to see and do, COVID-19 permitting. According to…
The virtual hall meeting about COVID-19 and vaccines, livestreamed Monday night on the Magnolia Reporter page on Facebook, appears to have been well received. Our statistics tell us that almost 300 people watched most of the presentation. There were upwards of 3,000 people who saw at least p…
Be sure to watch the Magnolia Reporter page on Facebook at 7 p.m. tonight for a special event. We will livestream a virtual town hall about the medical aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event is part of an initiative by the Rotary Club of Magnolia to make sure that area residents receive…
We’ve seen multiple posting on employment websites for jobs in Magnolia that do not yet exist. They are for staff and management at a new Whataburger restaurant. We have previously reported that Immanuel Baptist Church sold 1.2 acres of land along the U.S. 79 bypass to DH Burger Properties o…
The Magnolia School District on Tuesday night joined dozens of others across the state to require some level of masking with the start of the new school year next week. We posted the news on our Facebook page last night and, as expected, there are heated opinions on both sides. However, we’l…
The Magnolia School Board has called a special meeting for 5:15 p.m. today to consider the district’s COVID-19 mask policy. An Arkansas Circuit Court decision last week freed local school districts to decide for themselves whether to require mask wearing to slow the spread of the virus. Many…
Larry Dunn, director of the Magnolia School District’s music programs, got the key earlier this week to the new Performing Arts Center. COVID permitting, there will be a fundraising event for the Magnolia Public Schools Foundation to support student scholarships and teacher grants, followed …
Claiborne Memorial Medical Center in Homer, LA has become the latest advertising supporter of magnoliareporter.com. It’s no secret that demand is high for medical professionals and technicians in medical fields. Claiborne Memorial is reaching out to our readers in North Louisiana and South A…
Joining our growing list of advertisers today is Methodist Family Health. Methodist Family Health operates statewide, and has two important Magnolia locations. First is Magale Manor off West Main Street in Magnolia. It is a long-established therapeutic group home providing emotional and beha…
Yes, we’ve seen the photograph of the bear roaming near a house in the Taylor area. We don’t like to get too specific about bear locations for the protection of the bears. Bears are native to this region. They belong here. They were hunted to extinction throughout the Southern woodlands more…
The latest COVID-19 numbers in Columbia County continue to be alarming, and people have noticed. There were two separate meetings in Magnolia on Friday that dealt with medical and emergency services, and civic groups and private individuals, coming to grips with coping/control plans moving f…
S&S Home Center is the latest Magnolia business to become a magnoliareporter.com advertiser. We are running two separate ads for S&S Home Center. The first promotes S&S as the place to buy commercial and residential lumber and building materials. The second notes that S&S del…
We welcome the return of the Columbia County Ambulance Service as a seasonal advertiser. Amanda Warren-Newton and her staff are promoting their annual membership campaign for ambulance service. CCAS is a valued member of the community that gives back a lot – in training, support for health-r…
Among the wonders of our town is what the Magnolia Arts Center manages to do with so little space. It puts on plays, art exhibits and fundraisers within a space not much larger than the common areas of most homes. But now it will be able to stretch out with the announcement that the heirs of…
Our suspicion is that it was just another driver who trusted GPS too much. About 2 a.m. today, we watched a tractor-trailer extricate itself from a jam on the square. For starters, the driver was heading the wrong way – south – on the Washington Street side. He ended up blocking traffic on t…
We grant that today’s story from our content partner, Arkansas Nonprofit News Network, about the Hernando DeSoto Bridge situation is longish, but it’s comprehensive. CLICK HERE to see the story. However, it’s worth it because it gives us another opportunity to egg the Arkansas Department of …
After Tuesday's column, if anyone believes us to be "soft on crime," we refer you to today's list of pardon and commutation recommendations and denials from the Arkansas Parole Board. The circumstance of the story once told by comedian Richard Pryor were not amusing, but his punchline, "Than…
The Lori Ann Callison case should serve as a local "poster child" for the many reasons why the nation should rethink its notions of criminality and mental health. We won't rehash the case in this column. In brief, she was sentenced to 12 years in prison after representing herself in Circuit …
The renewal notice came recently from the Magnolia-Columbia County Chamber of Commerce. We were happy to pay it. As has been our custom for the past few years, we sent a little more than was asked. Why? Because small-town Chambers of Commerce are dreadfully under-funded. They depend on membe…
Opening emails is one of our first morning tasks. So, we were a little groggy and misread the headline as “Peoples Bank acquires Bank OZK.” If we were talking about GDP instead of assets, that would be like Algeria taking over the United States. On closer examination, of course, it turned ou…
