Matthew Moore: We try to do regular segments with newsmakers, with people who are in the know across the state and otherwise. I’m excited to introduce a new segment we’re going to be doing here on Ozarks at Large, and that features the new editor in chief of the Arkansas Advocate, Andrew DeMillo.
Andrew, welcome aboard. We’ve had you on here a couple times before. Excited to have you on as a regular contributor to Ozarks at Large.
Andrew DeMillo: Thank you very much. I’m glad to be on here.
Moore: So, Andrew, for those who may not be familiar with the work of the Arkansas Advocate, let’s start by talking about the work that your outlet does.
DeMillo: Yeah, and thank you for asking. The Arkansas Advocate, we are a nonprofit news organization, and we are part of a national organization called States Newsroom. States Newsroom is the only news nonprofit in the country that’s focused solely on covering state government and state policy. And that’s our mission here in Arkansas.
We are focused on covering state politics, covering government, covering policy and really focusing on how it affects people’s daily lives. We’re really focused on trying to get as much coverage of state government out to people as possible. We have a free website, ArkansasAdvocate.com, that people can visit, and they can also subscribe to our daily newsletter to find out the latest headlines that are happening in state government.
One of the other things that we do is we really encourage news outlets around the state to republish our material. We have republishing guidelines on our site, primarily just giving us credit, making sure that our material is not put behind a paywall. And what we’re really trying to do is fill in the gap that we’ve seen over the years, not just in Arkansas but in a lot of states, when it comes to state legislative coverage.
With cutbacks that a lot of news organizations have to make, they can’t afford having a Capitol bureau. And we’re really trying to assist them with the goal of just increasing the public’s awareness about government and about policy.
Moore: For people who are avid news consumers, especially of Arkansas news, Andrew, your name is probably one that people have seen before. You spent several years working with the Associated Press. Tell me a little bit about the decision to move from the Associated Press to the Arkansas Advocate. And how do you see your work continuing to look the same, but also, how do you see it looking different?
DeMillo: Yeah. I was with the Associated Press. My last day with the AP was actually my 20th anniversary. I was incredibly happy at the AP. I had a great experience, a great career there. And I was not really actively looking at the time that I applied for the job here at the Advocate.
But just timing-wise, it worked out. I reached a point where I’d been at this position for 20 years. I was really interested in trying something new, especially in a leadership position. And what really attracted me to the Advocate was its mission.
The entire time I’ve been with AP, I’ve covered state government. I’ve been at the Capitol bureau of AP. And I love covering politics. I love covering government, and Arkansas is a great state for that, as you know. And that mission really attracted me.
It’s very similar. The challenges are the same. I was one person, Capitol bureau for the AP. And the challenge is there are only so many hours in the day, basically. And there are so many great stories. Trying to find the best ones to tell and find the best ways for people to really connect and understand what’s happening in state government.
So it’s a very similar position there. There are some differences with it being a website. The deadlines are very much the same. When somebody asks us when our deadline is, our deadline is right now. And we’re trying to get things out as quickly as possible, but also make sure that it’s accurate information and as complete as possible, too.
Moore: Well, one of the things I imagine you were a bit worried about moving from a reporter position to an editorial position is that you wouldn’t get to be doing quite as much writing as you had done in the past. Luckily for us, you are doing a regular column with the Arkansas Advocate. You published one on Sunday about the Arkansas Board of Corrections and a few new members who have joined the board and the work that’s happening there. Can you talk a little bit about your latest column?
DeMillo: Yeah. The column this past weekend was a news analysis piece, really looking at what we’ve seen happen with this unusual situation with the Board of Corrections for the past two or three years, where the governor has been at odds with the Board of Corrections over issues like temporary prison beds.
This all seems to be happening at the same time we have this fight over the controversial prison project in Franklin County. The governor now has four appointees on the Board of Corrections, which gives her a majority on the panel and really gives her, essentially, some new power to flex, some new authority there that she hasn’t had before. We’ve already seen that majority trying to assert control as much as possible, moving to fire the private attorney that had been hired by the board. And so I think we’re going to see the governor’s influence a lot more with that.
The one thing that is still going to be a challenge is over the Franklin County prison. The fight there really is in the legislature. It’s not with the Board of Corrections. So she may have some new power and may have removed at least one obstacle, but there’s still that big challenge that she’s going to have ahead of her.
Moore: It feels fitting to discuss that in light of a special election that’s happening on Feb. 3. It’s a primary election for the Republican Party of a Senate district that includes where this prison will be.
DeMillo: Yeah. Senate District 26. That was the seat that had been held by the late Gary Stubblefield, who passed away last year. Stubblefield had been an outspoken opponent of the prison. And this really could end up being a vote that could be key on funding decisions going forward when we look at the fiscal session for the prison project, it’s a heavily Republican district, and we have a Republican runoff that we’re going to be covering. Our reporter, Ainsley Platt, is going to be writing about that, and we’ll have spot coverage from that.
Whoever wins that race will face an independent candidate in the fall. But this is a seat where both candidates agree. They both are opposed to the prison. So it’s been an interesting dynamic where they’re both racing on a very similar platform, very similar position. And it’ll be interesting to see what comes out of that and if this really changes much in terms of the dynamics in the legislature.
Moore: I just want to make sure we’re clear. The general election for that special election is happening later this spring. It’s happening before the special session begins.
DeMillo: Yeah, that’s correct. Since this is a special election, the general election will actually be, to make it even more confusing, on the same day as the primary. Whoever wins that seat will be there in the fiscal session and will be a key vote on the prison project.
Moore: Let’s spend just a little bit of time here as we start to close out thinking about the fiscal legislative session coming up this spring. The prison project will certainly be a big topic of the session. Is there anything else that you’re hearing or that you know of that will be top of mind for legislators, come this spring?
DeMillo: Yeah, I think a big topic is still going to be the vouchers and the cost of that to the public school system. I think we’ll see some discussion about whether or not the state can afford the amount of money that’s been going toward the voucher program, so I think you’re going to see some of that, especially from some of the opponents of it, Democrats in the legislature. And there are a handful of rural Republicans who have opposed it as well.
One thing that’s still up in the air is the state is projected to have a higher surplus than expected. And what does that mean in terms of discussion about tax cuts? We don’t know yet if the governor is going to push for another round of tax cuts in the fiscal session or try later on in a special session. But I think that could end up fueling some of that talk as well, though that is harder to get on the agenda in a fiscal session.
Moore: Andrew DeMillo is the editor in chief of the Arkansas Advocate. You can find his commentary and all of their reporting for free at ArkansasAdvocate.com. Andrew, thank you for doing this. Looking forward to more conversations soon.
DeMillo: Me too. Thank you.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
