Marijuana Supporters Will Gather Signatures for 2016 Ballot

Marijuana

Arkansans for Responsible medicine, the same Arkansas group that pushed to legalize marijuana in 2012 and 2014, has secured approval to begin gathering signatures to place a similar measure on the ballot in 2016.

The group says they plan to launch their 2016 petition drive at a picnic in North Little Rock on September 6. The same group failed by 30,000 votes in the November 2012 election. This year they were short of the 62,000 signatures needed to place the measure on the 2014 ballot.

In 2012 the group received over $750,000, mostly from out-of-state marijuana interests. In 2014 they received little funding, so they were unable to pay large numbers of canvassers to gather signatures.

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Proposed Fayetteville Ordinance Could Have “Chilling Effect” on Business

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I have been told by friends in Northwest Arkansas that the Fayetteville City Council is receiving 300 emails a day over its Proposed Chapter 119 ordinance. That’s great news!

This is an issue all Arkansans need to weigh in on, and it’s important that members of the council hear from as many people as possible.

The ordinance, as we have said before, threatens to infringe on the rights of churches as well as religious business people in Fayetteville.

You can read a full analysis of how the proposed ordinance affects religious liberty here.

It is also important to note that the ordinance has the potential to impact secular business owners. The ordinance makes it possible for businesses to face criminal prosecution if suspected of discrimination. Even if the allegations turn out to be totally false, a business might still be forced to spend thousands of dollars defending itself in court. For many small businesses, legal fees like those can be a death sentence. (more…)

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Abortion Drops Among Women Under 30, Remains Same Among 30+

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Recently we wrote out a few points analyzing Arkansas’ 2013 abortion statistics. Today we have compiled additional statistics on abortion in Arkansas for the past 13 years.

  • The largest number of abortions performed each year were on women ages 20 – 29.
  • Abortions on women 29 years of age and younger have generally declined since the year 2000.
  • Women ages 30-34 and women ages 40 and older had more abortions in the year 2013 than they did in the year 2000, although the numbers rose and fell some during the intervening years.
  • Abortion among women ages 35-39 has fluctuated without showing the same consistent, significant decline we see in younger age groups.
  • The number of abortions performed on women ages 40 and older was higher from 2001 – 2013 than in the year 2000.

It is interesting that while abortion has dropped among women under 30, the number of abortions performed on women 30 or older has remained roughly the same or risen slightly since 2000. We hope to have more information on these trends in the future.

Below are charts and graphs showing abortion trends among each age group of women in Arkansas from 2000 to 2013:

abortion-all-time-chart

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