HOROSCOPE

Gas prices begin sneaking upward

LITTLE ROCK — Gasoline prices in Arkansas have risen 3.0 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $1.95/gallon yesterday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 1,826 stations in Arkansas. This compares with the national average that has increased 0.7 cents per gallon versus last week to $2.28/gallon, according to GasBuddy.

Including the change locally during the past week, prices yesterday were 39.7 cents per gallon lower than a year ago and are 7.5 cents per gallon higher than a month ago. The national average has increased 3.1 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 28.8 cents per gallon lower than a year ago.

“The national average price of gasoline barely nudged higher last week, driven primarily by stations hiking prices notably in the Great Lakes early last week, pushing the national average to $2.30 per gallon mid-week before those states saw stations again cutting prices and chiseling away at the nation’s average price over the weekend,” said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy.

“With oil prices sinking last week to $51 per barrel on concerns over a slowdown in trade talks with China, many states saw a respite in gas prices. However, as pipeline specifications begin to shift towards the first step towards summer gasoline requirements in the weeks ahead, the overhang in gasoline inventories will likely start to dry up and push gas prices higher.”

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Mississippi Lt. Governor latest politician with questionable yearbook pics

JACKSON, Miss. — As politicians across the country face increasing scrutiny over their high school and college yearbooks, photographs of Mississippi Lt.

Gov. Tate Reeves’ college fraternity wearing confederate Army clothing have resurfaced, as well as stories about a racist 1994 party.

Reeves was a member of Kappa Alpha at Millsaps College when the fraternity threw a party featuring Afro wigs and Confederate flags tied around pledges’ necks.

Some attendees were allegedly in blackface and used racial slurs in a confrontation with two students.

Images from Reeves’ college yearbook were published Friday on the website of a Democratic super PAC American Bridge. The story was also reported by the Huffington Post.

Reeves is the Republican front-runner in the 2019 governor’s race.

According to a 1994 article by the Associated Press, “Millsaps faculty and staff committee concluded a number of fraternity members on Oct. 8 went on an all-night drinking spree, donned Afro wigs and tied large Confederate flags around their necks.”

That same fall, the Millsaps College chapter of Kappa Alpha received the J. Edgar Hoover award, an award for excellence from the fraternity’s national organization.

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Tennessee DOJ investigating opiod deaths

CELENA, Tenn. — Two deaths have been linked to pharmacies in Celina, Tennessee are now at the center of a civil complaint.

Oakley Pharmacy, Dale Hollow Pharmacy and Xpress Pharmacy of Clay County, owner Thomas Weir, and pharmacists John Polston, Michael Griffith and Larry Larkin are accused of dispensing and billing Medicare for prescriptions in violation of the Controlled Substances Act and the False Claims Act.

Along with the deaths, several serious overdoses have been linked to the pharmacies as well. In the civil complaint, the pharmacists are alleged to have ignored many blatant warning signs in patients and to have filled prescriptions for controlled substances outside the usual course of professional practice.

“The opioid epidemic has been devastating for Tennessee and neighboring states,” said Derrick L.

Jackson, Special Agent in Charge at the HHS Office of Inspector General. “Physicians and pharmacists have a dual responsibility to ensure that these medications are only prescribed and dispensed when they are medically necessary.”