About this Series
Our monthly speaker series brings newsmakers, writers and politicians together for a behind-the-scenes look at important current events and trends in Arkansas. These lectures are raising money for the Arkansas Times Investigative Journalism Project. Thousands of reporters are being laid off nationwide. But the Times is growing, thanks to reader support from you and other Arkansans. With Sarah Sanders in the governor’s mansion and MAGA Republicans running the legislature, there has never been a greater need for journalistic scrutiny.
In-person tickets are $100 and include lunch in the private dining room at the Copper Grill in Little Rock. Seating is limited to 75. Our previous luncheons have sold out, so please don’t wait to buy your tickets once an event has been announced. Doors always open at 11:30, and the Copper Grill buffet opens immediately after. We will wrap up by 1 p.m. We are also now offering virtual tickets for this series, and attendees will log on via Zoom. Hope to see you there!
Skip Rutherford
Inside This Unprecedented 2024 Presidential Election
And A Look at Some of the Most Interesting Arkansas Campaigns
August 27, 2024
Skip Rutherford, Dean Emeritus of the Clinton School of Public Service and founder of the non-partisan Political Animals Club, will speak on the 2024 presidential election, along with a look at some of the most interesting Arkansas races.
Coming just days after the end of the Democratic Convention, Skip will share his insights into what we might expect during the intervening weeks leading up to Nov. 5.
Joyce Elliott
The History of Voter Suppression in Arkansas
June 28, 2024
Are you fed up with the hypocrisies of the Sanders’s administration and her fellow right wing Republican zealots trying to turn back the clock on the progress Arkansans have made in race relations over the past 70 years? Join us June 28 to hear former Senator Joyce Elliott, executive director of Get Loud Arkansas, give a rousing talk on her efforts to register voters across the state as she speaks about the History of Voter Suppression in Arkansas as part of the Arkansas Times monthly lecture series.
Matt Campbell
The Blue Hog Report
May 30, 2024
In the 14 years since he started Blue Hog Report, Campbell has caused a governor to be audited over her spending of state funds, prompted a lieutenant governor to resign after illegally using campaign funds for gas money, led to a judge losing his law license and serving prison time, and resulted in a superintendent resigning and losing his doctorate degree. He’ll share these stories and others, explaining how he utilized public records and other publicly available information to uncover them.
Max Brantley
The Lost Cause: The Demise of Politics and Journalism
April 24, 2024
Max Brantley, keyboard warrior, lefty provocateur and former editor in chief of the Arkansas Times will hold forth on “The Lost Cause: The Demise of Politics and Journalism During My 50 Years in Arkansas”, Wednesday, April 24 at the Copper Grill. Doors open and lunch begins at 11:30 a.m.
Max is about as subtle as a freight train when it comes to describing Arkansas politicians and their conceits. He spent 25 years at the old Arkansas Gazette before joining the Times in 1991 as editor. Max invented the Arkansas Blog and over the next 30 years became the voice of the blue community in Arkansas. The hypocrisy, cruelty, grift, and greed that has so long characterized much of Arkansas politics was and is on full display in the Arkansas Blog. He is the most loved and hated journalist in the state, depending on who you talk to.
Nate Bell
“Why I Left the Republican Party”
March 21, 2024
Nate is known for his aggressive, take-no-prisoners brand of conservative political advocacy. However, he will tell you that today’s Republican Party has left him and countless others behind as the GOP has wandered into the MAGA political desert.
Lauren Cowles & Rev. Henry-McKeever
Arkansas Abortion Amendment
February 28, 2024
Cowles is a seasoned policy drafter at the federal level and has brought her talents home to help solidify abortion rights in her home state. As part of Arkansans for Limited Government, Cowles works alongside healthcare providers, faith leaders, and impacted women and families to restore safe, legal abortion in Arkansas. She will give insight into how the Arkansas Abortion Amendment language was crafted, including how the amendment provides meaningful abortion access while accounting for Arkansas’ complicated political landscape.
Cowles will be joined by The Rev. Elizabeth Henry-McKeever, who serves the rector (pastor) of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Little Rock. Rev. Henry-McKeever will provide perspective from the faith community, discussing morality of these sensitive issues.
David Couch
FOIA in Arkansas
February 1, 2024
Couch was instrumental in crafting the successful Medical Marijuana ballot initiative and is now bringing his considerable talents to bear on the FOIA. Well known conservatives such as Nate Bell and Rob Steinbuch have joined with Couch, liberal activists and journalists in response to the governor’s efforts to kneecap the FOI Act in the last legislative session. Couch will give you insight into how this fascinatingly diverse coalition is working together to get an initiated act on the November ballot to put Arkansas’s best in the nation FOIA into the Arkansas constitution.
Baker Kurrus
LEARNS: The Ugly Truth
November 29, 2023
Care to hear someone who really knows what they are talking about when it comes to Arkansas LEARNS? You’re invited to have lunch then, with Baker Kurrus, Arkansas Times education columnist, attorney, and former superintendent of the Little Rock School District.
Baker Kurrus, with his wealth of experience in public education, is the state’s most articulate critic of the governor’s Arkansas LEARNS Act. Kurrus passionately argues that the figures don’t add up and the state is headed towards an irreversible dismantling of our public schools statewide.
