Stories from Thursday, January 6, 2022

As the cold weather fast approaches, there's nothing like relaxing in front of your fireplace to make being home for the holidays a warm and enjoyable experience. But danger can lurk in your fireplace or chimney, said Dr. Tamara Walkingstick, a forester with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 20,600 fires and 40 deaths per year are associated with fireplaces and chimneys...

First Financial Bank in El Dorado recently announced the addition of Nathan Pierce to their lending team in Harrisburg. He will report to Zac Price, VP of Commercial Lending at the Harrisburg location. “I’m excited for the opportunity to work with folks in the Harrisburg area to help meet their financial needs”, stated Pierce...

A Tyronza family lost everything they had when their house caught fire this past Sunday morning. The family of Damion Surles were alerted around 2 a.m. when his daughter came running from her room saying she smelled smoke. Surles said when he went into the room he saw a spark a few feet from the plug. The family of seven rushed out of the house before the fire consumed the old home...

East Poinsett County School District, Harrisburg School District and Marked Tree School District are reporting no active cases as of January 3. Trumann School District, ADH reported nine active cases, 21 cumulative faculty staff cases and 120 cumulative student cases...

Here is a look back on 2021 and the happenings around Poinsett County. COVID is still rearing it's ugly head and throw in a tornado and it made for an eventful year. The first week of January saw Randy Mills appointed as the new Poinsett County judge after Bob Cantrell stepped down. ...

Do you have a pet who takes a mouthful of food, walks away, drops it on the floor, and then eats small bits of it away from the bowl, possibly even in a corner? This is a question asked by many owners. This is more common in dogs, but cats may also do it. I found this article by Langley Cornwell that addresses this issue...

Lady Hornet Kaylin Gipson capped off her senior year with a selection to the Class 3A All- State volleyball tea. Gipson helped lead Harrisburg to a third place finish in the conference and a trip to the Class 3A state volleyball tournament. Gipson, who also named all-conference, finished the season with 498 digs, 25 kills, 44 assists. ...

Marked Tree (13-1) continued there winning ways with a 80-57 win over Bay in the finals of the 74th Annual NEA Invitational Tournament last Wednesday at First National Bank Arena in Jonesboro. The win was Marked Tree's 13th win in a row. Behind the hot hand of Cameron Marshall, who had 28 points to lead the Indians in scoring, Marked Tree jumped out to a 22-10 lead after the first quarter. The Indians pushed their lead 33-19 at halftime and led 57-38 at the end of three quarters of play...

Several area athletes and a couple teams were honored this past week at the 74th Annual NEA Invitational Tournament. In the Division I girls, Nygeria Jones of Trumann along with Manila's Madison Hitchcock, Sadie McDonald and Olivia May made the all-tournament team. ...