Life, Liberty, and Litigation: Here are This Week’s Top Stories

Current Events,

Here’s a quick recap of the week’s top stories from Family Council and our friends:

From Family Council

Despite Cold, Arkansans March for Life in Little Rock: On Sunday, Arkansans gathered in Little Rock to mark the state’s 48th annual March for Life. Keep Reading.

Pro-Life Isn’t Just a Slogan. It’s a Lifestyle. Contrary to what many people claim, pro-lifers — and Christians as a whole — are among those who are most likely to support women and children, and they tend to be more charitable than the general population. Keep Reading.

Planned Parenthood PAC Inactive in Arkansas: Planned Parenthood’s most recent political action committee report shows the organization did not spend any money campaigning in Arkansas during the final three months of 2025. Keep Reading.

U of A Rescinds Job Offer to Applicant Who Signed Legal Brief Against Fairness in Women’s Sports Law: The University of Arkansas School of Law has withdrawn a job offer to an applicant who signed a legal brief against a state law protecting fairness in women’s sports last November. Keep Reading.

Authorities Announce Sports Betting Indictments: On January 15, the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI announced indictments against 26 people in connection with an alleged bribery and point-shaving scheme to fix NCAA basketball games and Chinese Basketball Association games. Keep Reading.

Arkansas Lottery Launches New $50,000 Scratch-Off Ticket: The Arkansas Lottery continues its troubling pattern of rolling out expensive scratch-off tickets designed to entice gamblers with big prizes and long odds. Keep Reading.

Assisted Suicide’s Slippery Slope to Broader Killing: History shows us that assisted suicide laws never stay limited. Countries like Canada, Belgium, and the Netherlands have allowed assisted suicide and euthanasia for mental illness, depression, and dementia. Keep Reading.

New Legal Counsel Takes Over Arkansas A.G.’s Lawsuit Against Temu: Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office has new legal counsel overseeing its court battle against Chinese company Temu for allegedly deceiving Arkansans and illegally accessing their personal data. Keep Reading.

State of Arkansas Reopens Submissions for Pro-Life Monument to the Unborn: The State of Arkansas has reopened submissions for a planned monument to the unborn on the Capitol lawn. Keep Reading.

Supreme Court to Decide on Women’s Sports Protections: On January 13, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments over whether states can protect fairness in women’s sports. Keep Reading.

From Our Friends

Federal Court Hears Arguments in Dual Ten Commandments Cases. From The Washington Stand.

The March for Life Continues. From Breakpoint.

The Abortion Pill is 22 Times More Dangerous Than Planned Parenthood Says. From LifeNews.

Research Shows Marriage Changes People for the Better in Newlywed Years. From Daily Citizen.

Celebs Lobby Against Keeping Boys Out of Women’s Sports in ACLU Ad. From Daily Citizen.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Arkansas Lottery Launches New $50,000 Scratch-Off Ticket

Gambling, ,

The Arkansas Lottery continues its troubling pattern of rolling out expensive scratch-off tickets designed to entice gamblers with big prizes and long odds.

This month the state-run lottery launched a new $20 scratch-off ticket called “$50,000 Stacked.” The game offers a top prize of $50,000, but like most lottery tickets, the odds are stacked against players.

The new ticket has overall odds of winning of just 1 in 3.03, meaning players will lose their money roughly two-thirds of the time. For the top $50,000 prize, only 80 winning tickets exist out of the entire game run.

The lottery’s own data shows that as of last week, $23.4 million in prizes remain available across all prize tiers for this single game. With a prize pool that massive, the lottery must expect Arkansans to spend a lot of money on this ticket.

We have written before about how expensive scratch-off tickets prey on the truly desperate. They entice Arkansans to spend a lot of money on a single lottery ticket in hopes of a big payout, but more often than not, people lose.

In 2023, ABC News highlighted the harm that scratch-off tickets can cause, writing:

A 2022 nationwide investigation of state lotteries by the Howard Center For Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland found stores that sell tickets are disproportionately clustered in lower-income communities in nearly every state where the game is played. . . .

Les Bernal, the national director for the nonprofit group Stop Predatory Gambling, told ABC News that while states use the revenue from lottery sales to fund services like education, they are doing so off the backs of low-income residents.

The Arkansas Lottery’s own financial reports show it relies heavily on instant tickets. Rather than focusing on education funding, the lottery continues to rely on flashy marketing and expensive scratch-offs to keep gamblers engaged.

Arkansas families deserve better than a state-run gambling operation that targets the desperate and vulnerable.

Family Council has supported legislation that would restructure the Arkansas Lottery’s budget to increase spending on education.

The state-run lottery could provide millions of dollars more in scholarship funding if it would simply reduce its prize budget, increase its scholarship budget, and quit relying so heavily on scratch-off tickets.

Unfortunately, there simply doesn’t seem to be much impetus to do that.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Planned Parenthood PAC Reports No Arkansas Activity During Final Quarter of 2025

Abortion, , , ,

Planned Parenthood’s most recent political action committee report shows the organization did not spend any money campaigning in Arkansas during the final three months of 2025.

Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest abortionist. In 2024, the group endorsed two candidates running for the Arkansas House of Representatives. In 2020, Planned Parenthood Federation announced it would spend at least $45 million working to unseat pro-life lawmakers and elect candidates who support abortion. As part of that plan, the group used its political action committee in Arkansas to support candidates for state and federal office.

Planned Parenthood’s website says its 2026 candidate endorsements for Arkansas are “coming soon.”

However, Planned Parenthood has spent no money campaigning in Arkansas so far this election cycle. That’s a good thing.

Planned Parenthood’s PAC has roughly $11,400 at its disposal right now. It remains to be seen what role the organization will play in Arkansas in the coming months.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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