Hello and thanks for joining us.
We're THB 11. I'm journey Taylor.
It's time for our top news.
At noon, a 19 year old is now in custody
for the murder of 27 year old Brock Welch.
What we know right now
in less than two minutes.
Eating during the Super Bowl
is a sport in and of itself.
I'm Christian Benavides with a
look at the foods that are more
expensive this year and the fan
favorites that are actually cheaper.
And eight time Grammy winner Burt
Bacharach passed away yesterday.
They look back at his amazing
life just ahead.
We
definitely have a lot to chat about today,
but first we want to take a look at weather.
Friday is finally here, but with it
cooler temperatures and now rain.
Good afternoon, Nathan.
Let us in on all of it.
Good afternoon journey.
Yeah, we have clouds that have taken
over the skies and rain is continuing
to March its way in here from the West.
And look at the temperature difference,
because there's still sun.
You folks down in Southeast Arkansas,
it's 57 in Monticello,
but 45 here in the capital city,
42 in Russellville and only 38 in Mina.
These clouds are producing an area of rain.
The rain today primarily will
stay from Little Rock and off
to the West and southwest.
So Southeast Arkansas you will stay dry,
but as we take a look at
the high resolution radar,
you see that rain continues to make its
way into a large part of Central Arkansas.
But look closely,
you got to have eagle eyes,
but notice the blue showing up
there pretty close to woolum.
Into northern parts of Van Buren County
and northern parts of Polk County.
There could be a little bit of
snow on those higher elevations,
but that precipitation shield
is not going to move into Searcy
County or Newton County.
So therefore the snowfall forecast
for those areas has changed.
But it's going to be a wet day
here in Central Arkansas.
Keep that rain gear close by throughout
the day and temperatures only topping
out into the mid to upper 40s.
I do have some better weather to
talk about going into the weekend.
I'll have more on that forecast coming
up. Thanks, Nathan.
Well, now.
Rock Welch is now in custody.
19 year old Emil McCoy was
arrested yesterday afternoon in
Jacksonville by US Marshals and.
He's charged with capital murder
and is being held without bond.
His first court appearance is tomorrow.
Now Brock Welch was first reported
missing at the end of last year after
he left for dinner and never came home.
It wasn't until weeks later when he
was found dead with multiple gunshots.
More than £3000 of deadly drugs
are off Arkansas streets.
Authorities seized all of that
in Operation Task Force Arkansas,
which just ended last month.
State drug director Boyce Hamlet says
their efforts led to more than $55
million worth of drugs confiscated.
The end of the day,
we got enough fentanyl off the
streets to kill 500,000 people,
half a million people.
We had over 1000 repeat
offenders arrested. So
just as a as a former
chief and a former drug task force agent
myself, really, really proud
with these results.
Really, really, really happy
with. Henley says they plan at
least two more raids of this type
before the end of this year.
Arkansas Attorney General
Tim Griffin is suing the ATF.
It's in response to a policy we've
been reporting on since last year.
He's fighting to block the federal agency's
new rule restricting stabilizing braces.
Gerfin released a statement saying
quote for more than a decade,
these braces have been sewed
as firearm attachments,
not subject to regulation.
Stabilizing braces were designed to
help people with disabilities use
pistols and have become increasingly
popular with senior citizens.
Now, however, the ATF's new rule
considers it a part used to assemble a gun,
specifically a rifle.
If you start with a pistol
and attach the brace,
you end up making a rifle,
according to the new policy.
Griffin says that's wrong,
and he wants the judge to throw it out.
Our new education Secretary, Jacob Aleva,
offered up more yesterday on the
sprawling Arkansas learns plan announced
by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Lawmakers are still getting the
language down on paper for a bill that
offers huge teacher pay raises and
eventually universal school choice.
Expected in the fine print of the pay
raise will be incentive pay and loan
forgiveness for certain teachers,
but many parents.
We're eager to hear how the plan
will work that will allow state
money to follow students to private
or religious based schools.
Aleva explained how the money
will get directed.
These aren't dollars that are
going directly to families.
These are dollars that are
going to would refer to as a as
an education freedom account.
These accounts will have dollars
that are allocated that would have
gone to to to follow that student
to make sure they have their needs.
These dollars would be put in
account for education related
expense with direct payments
going to those choice providers.
Now he also touched on other faucets
of the bill where putting the
entire interview online right now
at thv11.com and our YouTube page.
This afternoon we're getting new
reaction to the governor's newly
announced education reform plan.
The largest teachers union in the state,
the Arkansas Education Association,
is providing their stance on a
certain aspect of the learner's plan.
AEA President Carol B Fleming says the
governor's education plan increases
teacher salaries in exchange for
implementing a quote unpopular
and destructive voucher program.
The association is happy to see low
teacher pay addressed, but says.
These vouchers will harm students.
Here's more of their response to the
voucher program, it reads in part.
Vouchers take scarce funding away from
public schools and give it to private
schools that are unaccountable to the public.
Arkansas needs to focus on investing in our
public schools where 90% of our children go,
the statement goes on to read.
Vouchers will harm rural communities
where public schools are popular and
remain the only option for most students.
End Quote.
U.S.
officials now say the Chinese spy balloon,
shot down off the coast of South
Carolina nearly a week ago,
apparently was trying to monitor nuclear
command and control communications.
The Navy has now recovered some
of the balloons,
scout folding and electronics,
but crucial surveillance equipment
remains on the sea floor.
Nancy Cordes reports from the White House.
FBI
agents are now examining parts
of the Chinese balloon that have
already been fished out of the ocean.
Deflated balloon descended rapidly
Saturday from an altitude twice as
high as commercial jet corridors.
But the so-called payload,
the crucial surveillance equipment,
remains on the sea floor off
the South Carolina coast.
The yeas are 419.
The nays are zero.
The House voted unanimously Thursday to
condemn what it called China's brazen
violation of United States sovereignty.
I am so.
Angry lawmakers from both sides expressed
alarm at a Senate hearing about the incident.
I don't want a damn balloon
going across the United States.
When we potentially could have taken it down.
John Tester is the Democratic
senator from Montana.
This is the test of one of those missiles.
The Chinese were apparently trying to
listen in on the communications used for
the command and control of nuclear weapons.
You guys have to help me understand why
this baby wasn't taken out long before,
we think before we shoot.
Pentagon officials said they
considered shooting it down
over a remote part of Alaska,
but were concerned even then
about casualties at that time.
We didn't understand through
the modeling if we shot that
what it would do on the ground.
The State Department revealed
Thursday that similar Chinese
spy balloons have flown over 40
countries on five continents.
Officials say the Chinese military
uses a fleet of high altitude balloons
as a cheap alternative to satellites.
This irresponsible act put on full
display what we've long recognized,
that the PRC has become more repressive
at home and more aggressive abroad.
Investigators are looking
into whether this Chinese.
Balloon was actually using
American made technology.
The White House is now working on
an executive order that would impose
stricter export controls to ensure
that US technology does not get into
the hands of the Chinese military.
Nancy Cordes, CBS News,
the White House.
Now we're FC's are slowing
down the recovery efforts,
so the Navy is taking steps to weigh
the rest of the debris to prevent it
from drifting until it can be reached.
Duck season has come
to an end in Arkansas.
After several tough seasons,
many duck hunters are concerned about
the future of the cherished sport.
I don't think duck numbers are what they used
to be. Just just by
observation alone. Just by
by seeing him with my eyes and and seeing
them in places they used to be and
and where they're not there anymore
tonight at 10, are Scott covered goes
into the duck blind to learn about
challenges to Arkansas favorite pastime
and what's being done to preserve
the tradition for future generations.
Now, some of your favorite Super
Bowl foods could be cheaper
than you expect this year.
We'll walk you through what you might find
at Super Bowl shopping in just two minutes.
And also coming up,
we'll walk you through this Friday.
And what's the coming this weekend,
Nathan? We've
got some wet weather out there,
journey for this afternoon
across parts of the state.
We dry things out for the weekend,
but more showers and
storms expected next week.
I'll have more of those details coming up.