Today's news

Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel filed a consumer-protection lawsuit yesterday against the makers of identification cards that are advertised as being "legally issued" or "required by law" even though there is nothing official about the cards.

McDaniel said Connecticut-based AmeraCard Enterprises, Inc. and its owner, Joseph Cassara of Stamford, Conn., produce and sell ID cards that are designed to resemble state-issued driver's licenses and ID cards, except that the ID's produced by the defendants have no official function or legal significance.

Some Arkansas consumers paid $70 apiece for the bogus ID cards that offer no real value to consumers. The cards are not acceptable as government identification, and many private companies will not accept the cards as proof of identity.

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The Arkansas Department of Health, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has concluded that unaccompanied children who have arrived in the state from Central America pose little risk of spreading infectious diseases to the public.  There are no U.S. Health and Human Services; shelters housing unaccompanied children in Arkansas, but children have been placed with family members or sponsors in the state.

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In Hot Springs all city offices, except public safety and the airport, will be closed on Monday, September 1 in observance of Labor Day. Residential sanitation collection and Earth Angel recycling routes will run one day behind schedule for the remainder of the week. Commercial collection, rolloff and downtown routes will take place as scheduled on Monday. All other services will not operate, and the offices will be closed. Hot Springs Intracity Transit bus and paratransit routes will not run, and the office will be closed. Paratransit cancellations may be left on the answering machine at 321-6625. The city compost facility will also be closed.