Central High School E.A.S.T Lab students joined forces with Boys & Girls Club members Saturday to help raise money to match the nearly $300,000 in challenge grants the Boys & Girls Club has been awarded this year toward the renovation of the old H & M building.

The Boys & Girls Club of Phillips county announced today that over the past six months they have successfully solicited nearly $300,000 in challenge grants from a combination of threes local and national foundations, including the Helena Health Foundation (HHF).

Monday was a bright day in Clark County, so much so, in fact, that the years ahead will also be brighter.

What made the day so bright was the formalization of strategic plan in the works for many months that will chart the future for the county over the next 10 years. Of course, that means a bright future farther into the future than that.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe said he likes Clark County.

Speaking Monday at Arkansas Hall at Henderson State University, Beebe was the keynote speaker for the kickoff celebration for the Clark County Strategic Community Plan. He said the 18 months of work put into the plan by citizens of Clark County makes the county more attractive to prospective businesses, industries and residents.

A plan to revitalize Clark County written by 500 residents of the southwestern Arkansas county over the past year and a half was hailed Monday by Gov. Mike Beebe as a model for community development statewide.

Beebe joined community leaders for the unveiling of the county’s strategic plan, modeled after the Delta Bridge Project in Phillips County, spearheaded by Arkadelphia-based Southern Bancorp.

There’s a boom happening around Arkansas. It’s not a housing boom or a baby boom. This is more of a two-wheeled boom. Spandex is optional.

After a hot, dry summer, organizers are coming out of the woodwork with rides for road cyclists interested in tackling routes of up to 100 miles and, on many occasions, raising money for charity.

The Tour Da’ Delta is set to kick off Saturday morning at 8 a.m. at the Mississippi River Park. Over 100 cyclists signed up during early registration. For those who still want to sign up, you may register on-site at 7 a.m. The cost for the tour is $40. For more information, log onto www.tourthedelta.org or email Ben Steinberg at bsteinberg@southernfp.org

…Brian Miller loved the place. And it showed. He didn’t run away. Not even after he got his law degree from Vanderbilt and had the world to conquer/save. Even when he worked as a lawyer for a big firm in Memphis, young Miller commuted back and forth…

Though this is the first harvest season and the first year of operation for Arkansas Delta Yams, the management team is already making plans and putting together a proposal to expand their facility in order to double their capacity by the 2008 harvest season.

LITTLE ROCK – The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Southern Good Faith Fund announced today a partnership to expand access to Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) and other banking products and services that target underserved populations.