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Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced the creation of a state award and presented it for the first time on Tuesday. Sanders presented the Arkansas Medal of Freedom to Sheriff Mike Knoedl of Dallas County. Knoedl was one of the first responders and he organized a response to the Mad Butcher mass shooting in Fordyce in June 2024.

Gov. Sarah Sanders announced several appointments on Wednesday, including appointing Polk County Judge Brandon Ellison to the Arkansas Workforce Development Board.

For years, the Washington County jail has dealt with overcrowding, leading county officials to roll out a pilot program called the Community Rebuilding Initiative (CRI) in the old Crisis Stabilization Unit (CSU) building with the help of a local nonprofit, Returning Home Inc.

Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has announced an additional $66.5 million in financial assistance for water and wastewater projects for eight entities. The projects serve more than 60,594 Arkansans in eight counties. The Arkansas Natural Resources Commission approved this funding on January 15, 2025.

On January 5, the bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82) was signed into law, repealing the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) that impacts the retirement benefits of certain public sector employees. Eliminating the WEP gives public employees access to their full social security benefits, putting an end to a reduction of benefits for 2.1 million county and state employees

Arkansas Republican lawmakers will continue championing Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ policy priorities during the 2025 legislative session, while Democrats hope to secure enough support to pass a wide-ranging agenda despite the ongoing GOP supermajority in both chambers, according to legislative leaders.

The Arkansas House’s freshman class includes five Democrats and eight Republicans from across the state who said their various backgrounds will inform their interests in Little Rock.

Cleveland County Telephone has received $35 million in grants and loans to bring fiber optic and broadband service to the county. According to the Cleveland County Herald, the county has the highest number of unserved/underserved locations in Southeast Arkansas.

Turning the page to 2025, some new laws will take effect in Arkansas in January. Some are continuations of laws that have already taken effect, like the LEARNS Act and the Protect Arkansas Act which were both passed in 2023. These laws have phased effective dates so there’s a more gradual shift to give departments or organizations time to adjust to the new requirements.