Will the Arkansas Lottery Reduce Its Scholarship Budget Next Week?

Arkansas Lottery

Yesterday the Arkansas Lottery released its financial report for the month of January. The report shows lottery ticket sales and net proceeds for college scholarships are still lagging.

In December, we wrote how at the rate things are going, the Arkansas Lottery stands to come in about $8 million short of its scholarship goal for 2014. According to the Lottery Commission’s budget, the Arkansas Lottery needs to allocate about $7.4 million per month, on average, to meet its goal of $89.5 million in scholarship money for the year. So far, however, these monthly reports show the Arkansas Lottery has allocated more like $6.4 – $6.8 million for scholarships each month.

That’s a shortfall of nearly $1 million every month.

Lottery Director Bishop Woosley recently hinted if lottery ticket sales did not improve soon, the Arkansas Lottery Commission might have to reevaluate its scholarship budget for the year. According to its website, Lottery Commissioners are scheduled to meet next week.

In light of this latest report revealing the Arkansas Lottery’s situation has not improved, one has to wonder if adjusting the scholarship budget will be a topic at next week’s meeting.

See the Arkansas Lottery’s financial report for the month of January here.

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AR Woman Chooses Life After Seeing Billboard

Abortion, ,

An Arkansas billboard with a pro-life message has been making headlines the past week.

The group Every20seconds.org has placed a billboard along Interstate 30 in North Little Rock. The billboard reads, “When 1% of the church shows up, abortion in AR shuts down.”

At least one pregnant woman has chosen not to abort her child after seeing the billboard and meeting pro-life advocates. KARK 4 News has her story:

“I felt like it wasn’t the right time for a baby, so my first instinct was to get an abortion,” she said.

After meeting folks from 20seconds.org, she changed her mind.

“I have been so blessed, the Lord has been on my side this entire pregnancy, and I’m glad that I made the decision that I made,” she said.

Now when she passes the billboard, she said she will have a unique reaction.

“I am part of that 1 percent, and when I pass that billboard, and when I see it, I say, ‘Thank you Jesus,'” she said.

 

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Atheist Group Tries to Stop Students from Helping Starving Families

Religious Freedom,

A public school in Minnesota has taken flak for letting schoolchildren participate in a service project at a local church.

Students in Minnesota took prepackaged meals to Calvary Lutheran Church; the meals were prepared to be sent to starving families in Haiti. The American Humanist Association sent a complaint to the school district, alleging participation in the charitable work of the church violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, despite the fact students did not participate in religious activities as part of the field trip.

AHA writes toward the end of its complaint,

“Very importantly, we fully understand that at least one purpose of this fieldtrip was to have the children participate in charity work intended to assist poverty-stricken people. Such good intentions, however, can be pursued in innumerable other ways that do not involve immersing the unsuspecting children into a theologically-charged environment. We are not opposed to educating children about poverty around the world, nor do we object to their participating in a nonreligious program to provide assistance. Here, however, both the church and the Christian charity involved have an interest in propagating a specific religious message that is contrary to the views of many of the students and their families.”

This statement is significant, because it treats religion like a danger from which “unsuspecting children” must be protected. 

(more…)

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