WEEK THAT WAS
Quote of the week “What I think the president is saying is that if you’re only appealing to people from countries that are behind the times, depraved countries, if that’s the element that you’re appealing to, and of course a lot of those folks are wanting to come to America and pursue the American dream, then he feels like that we should make the same or a better appeal to people from other European countries, et cetera, that can come in here and actually fit into the society as we know it and do the kinds of things that will make America a prosperous nation.” — Arkansas 3rd District U.S. Rep. Steve Womack defending President Trump’s question in an Oval Office meeting with lawmakers, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump was expressing frustration at protections of immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries. The remark has apparently derailed talks of a bipartisan immigration deal.
Quote of the week II “We all know the president is not the brightest, nor does it seem that history was among his favorite classes. These “shithole” countries did not get there on their own. The U.S. involvement in [the El Salvador] civil war has played a huge role in the destruction of the country, not to mention CAFTA [the Central America Free Trade Agreement], and the country now operating on the fiat U.S. dollar. “What I do know is that immigrants, especially brown immigrants, make this country run. If these countries are such “shitholes,” why are these immigrants literally paving roads?” — Blanca Estevez, a political refugee from El Salvador who now lives in Fayetteville and is the coordinator of the Women’s March there Jan. 20.
Hog farm permit denied The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality has denied 6
JANUARY 18, 2018
ARKANSAS TIMES
a new permit for the C&H Hog continue operating under an expired Farms’ concentrated animal feeding permit. operation near Mount Judea (Newton In a statement of basis for the County). This was a big and somewhat decision on the permit, ADEQ said: surprising victory for critics who “The permitting decision is based on have viewed C&H’s large-scale pig the permit application record. The farm and the pig waste it generates record consists of information and as an existential threat to the Buffalo data submitted by the applicant and National River. comments received from the public. This means the pig farm must shut ADEQ denies issuance of the permit down unless the Arkansas Pollution after determining that the record lacks Control and Ecology Commission necessary and critical information to grants a stay. C&H has said it will support granting of the permit.” appeal and asked the commission to grant a stay. C&H has been controversial since it won an ADEQ permit for its hog farm in 2012 in a process that critics complained was flawed and did not sufficiently take into account C&H’s proximity to Big Creek, which feeds into the Buffalo River. The denial is a long time coming. C&H applied for an updated liquid animal waste permit in April 2016. Walmart reportedly will cut The ADEQ had decided to eliminate 1,000 jobs, primarily at the retailer’s the permit C&H had been operating headquarters in Bentonville, by the end under; that permit expired in October of the company’s fiscal year on Jan. 31. 2016, and C&H has been operating It also closed more than 150 stores in on an indefinite extension of that 2016 and has reduced the pace of new permit. Opponents of the farm have openings. The company is said to be complained that it’s been allowed to making the cuts so it can invest more in
Money matters at Walmart
e-commerce to compete with Amazon. The news of the layoffs came the day after Walmart trumpeted a $1 boost in its minimum starting wage and bonuses starting at $250 for employees who have worked for the company for at least two years. The company dubiously claimed these moves came in response to the GOP tax bill, which handed a windfall of billions of dollars to the retail behemoth. As analysts pointed out, the costs of these moves were a tiny fraction of the mammoth tax benefit, which will likely amount to around $2 billion per year, and Walmart was almost certainly going to hike wages regardless of the tax cut because of competition for low-skilled hourly employees.
Share your Big Ideas to make Arkansas a better place The Arkansas Times is soliciting suggestions for its annual “Big Ideas” issue. As in years past, we’re searching for specific, potentially transformative suggestions for making Arkansas a better place to live. We’re open to the practical, wacky and everything in between. Send your ideas to lindseymillar@arktimes.com.