As Arkansas emerges as one of the states with the highest per capita COVID-19 deaths, Governor Asa Hutchinson on Thursday defended his decision to keep much of the economy, including schools, open during the pandemic.
"It's all about maintaining a balance through the last year, and we never shut down our economy in Arkansas — [I] did not think that was the right decision," Hutchinson told Cheddar.
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences released a report on Tuesday that the state — with a total of 5,273 COVID deaths as of March 5 — has a higher per capita death rate than hard-hit states such as New York, Texas, Florida, and California
The governor, however, made the case that the state's higher death rate was not related to its pandemic response, but rather existing health indicators throughout the U.S. South.
"When you talk about the great tragedy of the death rates, that's sad," he said. "It's something that we want to avoid, but obviously when you look at the Southern states there's some health indicators that are not high on the scale, and I think history will look back and see exactly some of those reasons. But, I think we've maintained the balance through this here in Arkansas."
Hutchinson said he was aiming to end the state's mask mandate by March 31. At that point, the mandate would become guidance.
He noted that one criterion was the state reaching a positivity rate below 10 percent. The current rate is 2.9 percent.
The governor said private companies, however, will still have the right to mandate mask use, and that the state would incentivize them to follow the guidelines by offering liability protection.
"We also give them an incentive that if they follow guidelines, then they're going to have business liability immunity, so you can't be sued for somebody getting coronavirus if you're following the guidelines," he said.
Arkansas Near-Total Abortion Ban
Hutchinson also commented on his decision to sign a bill that represents a near-total ban on abortions in the state, including in cases of rape or incest, all but ensuring a challenge to Roe. v. Wade that could make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
While the governor had expressed support for those exceptions in the past, he said he signed the bill due to his overall pro-life stance and desire to bring a challenge in front of the conservative Court.
"This was designed to give a challenge to the Supreme Court and an option to reverse Roe versus Wade," he said. "Yes, I would have preferred to have the rape and incest exceptions in there. I think that would make it more amenable to the Supreme Court to review the case, because it has more popular acceptance, but in Arkansas, you can override the governor's veto by a simple majority vote."
The bill had overwhelming support in the state legislature, he added.
State and county taxpayers will be asked to commit a record $850 million in public funds toward construction of the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium as part of a 30-year lease agreement.
As the war enters its second month, Russia may be changing course on its strategy in Ukraine. After suffering heavy losses, forces around the capital city of Kyiv appear to have stopped offensive operations and are now shifting their focus to taking over the south and east of the country. Terrell Starr, a foreign affairs reporter at The Atlantic Council, breaks down the latest from Kyiv. "Logistically this war has been a disaster. They have far more troops than [the] Ukrainian army has. What they don't have is good planning. The planning has been incredibly poor," he said.
Catching you up on what you Need to Know on Mar 28, 2022, with peace talks resuming in Ukraine as early as today, Colorado wildfires causing evacuations, Shanghai, China, ramping up restrictions once again, the Oscars debacle between Will Smith and Chris Rock, and more.
Volatility continues to be the name of the game when it comes to crypto. Bitcoin, the most valuable digital token, saw a small jump today - one of several small rallies throughout the month of March. Caitlin Cook, vice president of crypto education company Onramp Academy, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
As of March 2022, almost 200 Anti-LGBT+ bills have been introduced in state governments across the country — especially directed at the transgender community. Human Rights Campaign State Legislative Director and Senior Counsel Cathryn Oakley joined Cheddar News to discuss the deluge of legislation. "Unfortunately we are seeing these bills come at transgender youth from every conceivable direction," she said. "Every support that a trans kid has, whether that's their parents, whether that's their family, whether that's their teachers or their guidance counselors or their coaches, whether it's their teammates or the librarians and the books that they read, whether it's curriculum, whether it's even just the ability to acknowledge that LGBTQ people have existed throughout history and are important in the fabric of modern American society. The bills that we are seeing filed across the country are targeting all of those pieces."
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week seemed to have put out a video that urged Ukrainians to put down their arms and surrender to Russia. It was later revealed that it was a “deepfake,” a computer-generated video to mimic the Ukrainian leader. Cheddar News speaks with security expert Morgan Wright about how the technology is being used in the war in Ukraine.
