Support for Arkansas Week provided by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

The Arkansas Times and Little Rock Public Radio.

Welcome to the show.

Sunday is the one year anniversary of powerful tornados that tore through Arkansas, causing major destruction and many residents still working to put their lives back together.

The National Weather Service reported that on March 31st of 2023 and EF three, tornado tracked just over 34 miles from West Little Rock through North Little Rock, Sherwood and Jacksonville.

A few hours later in eastern Arkansas, a separate tornado devastated the city of Wynne, including the destruction of its high school.

Five people were killed statewide in the weeks after the tornadoes hit.

We were joined on this program by the mayors of both Little Rock and Wynne, and we were happy to speak with each of them again this weekend.

Joining me first is Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr.

Thanks so much for being here.

We appreciate your time and welcome back here in the show.

You know, the damage is still visible in Little Rock.

So many neighborhoods are still working to put the pieces back together.

Tarps remain on the tops of some homes.

Some were beyond repair.

Our neighborhoods will really almost ever look the same.

But what is the status right now of rebuilding in Little Rock?

This one on this one year anniversary?

First and foremost, I want to take time to honor the men and women of the Little Rock Police Department fired department, all first responders.

Our parks department, public works and all the volunteers, neighbors in the city of Little Rock.

From the moment that we were aware of the impending tornado, a high any of three to the moment of its ending, many people descended upon Emanuel Baptist Church, which we made into a incident command center and we truly demonstrated Little Rock's resilience and our unity to show how Little Rock is strong in that time of tragedy and great tension.

So from that point on, we moved directly into emergency response to recovery and now the rebuilding phase.

And so now as we approach the one year anniversary of the tornado, we're seeing businesses back, whether it's the Kroger's on Rodney Pier on this spit costs 2 to $3 million to renovate that particular building.

And the associated businesses that you see, platforms that are being erected in that particular shopping area to eat my catfish to in the Breckenridge area and to many of the homes in Walnut Valley Colony, West Kingwood.

You're starting to see those homes come back.

We always knew that this would be a marathon, not a sprint.

If you look at the major disasters across the United States, it generally takes somewhere between 2 to 4 years to fully be back to normal.

We are fully intentional in not only being back to normal, but being stronger and better than ever.

And so one of the things that we've done at the City of Little Rock to ensure that the residents that were impacted by the tornado, that they don't have any undue regulatory burden.

And so what we've done is we've waived close to 2275 building permits to make certain that the residents know they don't have to get back up to a 2024 code because many of those resume about their homes in the 1970s.

Sure.

And so we want to make certain that they have the ease of access to that building.

We do know that there are many residents that are still dealing with the negotiations of their insurance companies and things of that nature.

So we've been very sensitive from a code enforcement standpoint to not have a heavy hand, but a sensitive hand.

And then when you think about the businesses, we had close to 3000 structures that were impacted.

Of those, 3600 were severely impacted and 275 of that 600 will never come back.

Right.

And so it's our goal to focus on a firm foundation of infrastructure and ensuring that we clear the pathway for those residents to build back better.

What are you hearing about insurance?

You briefly touched on that, but that seems to be one of the louder noises coming from these neighborhoods that they're having trouble dealing with.

Insurance companies insurance aren't you know, isn't covering.

In other cases, people got things pushed through rather quickly.

I guess it's a case by case basis is definitely a case by case basis.

I think one of the things that we have learned or knew where you don't necessarily pay enough attention to is that when you think about that particular pathway, that's what I would call is the entryway to West Little Rock.

You also know that the average home in West Little Rock right now is probably $450,000.

And so when you take a look at that, many of those homes may have been passed down to different generations.

There may have been first time homes for many different people.

And so the cost of when they purchased it may not be the same rebuild cost today.

And so insurance company may only have certain amounts of coverage for the home than it actually is.

And so then you have this gap.

And so for many reasons, they had decide do they rebuild and then take on additional loans for that.

But also, you just have insurance companies that just may be going through that process.

And it's not always as fast as you would like know.

And it adds to emotion and frustration.

You know, you have a lot of emotion tied up in your home.

Of course, I do know that the city did provide some assistance, though.

Explain what what the city did very, very grateful for our Little Rock Cares program, which emanated from the pandemic.

So during the pandemic, we created a nonprofit to really help and stand in the gap for residents during the pandemic.

And so we kept it on to help out with different emergencies across the city from that time being.

So we were able to raise close to $600,000 to go towards our residents and organizations.

So we were able to, I guess, somewhere around 200 or $200,000, we redeployed to nonprofits that were there on the ground with us within minutes.

And so we gave those dollars back to them to help do more work from a nonprofit standpoint.

And then close to a $400,000 that we were able to work with.

Arkansas United Care, United Way of Arkansas, Central Arkansas.

And so we were able to work with them, and they created this database and went on a case by case.

And basically the average amount of money we were able to get to residents that were truly impacted by the tornado was somewhere around $2,000.

And so that was something that really helps in the times in the immediate and immediate in the media moment.

Was the state helpful and also the federal government?

Yes, I couldn't say couldn't have a better relationship with the state government and the federal government for Little Rock, as well as when to have a FEMA administrator.

Chris will literally within 48 hours, she was in Little Rock touring, connecting us with the region six administrator.

And so that was very, very good.

And we're very grateful for that work from FEMA as well as with Governor Sanders.

As you know, we were there demonstrating unity from a state and local perspective.

Within hours, we were both held a press conference jointly together and so couldn't have a better relationship.

And I'm glad that state and local are able to demonstrate that unity, because that's what we need in our state and across the world as well.

Well, indeed, which is an entirely different show.

We won't talk about that today.

I do want to ask the needs moving forward.

There are pressing needs still this one year later.

I think the needs are still figuring out ways to encourage the insurance companies to really get to a decision and then making certain that from a city perspective, that as these communities are rebuilding, we know that the infrastructure has to be redone, whether it's sewer, that's water development, things of that nature.

We want to continue to create a fertile ground for these communities so they can continue to come back and again, to come back stronger and better than ever.

Mm hmm.

Mayor Frank Scott, any final takeaways in the few seconds that we have left?

I think we just have to continue to share our appreciation that by the grace of God, no one was killed in the city of Little Rock.

And that, too, that we're coming back strong and better than ever.

That the city's here in many times, situations like this, we have to overly stress with the residents that they are not forgotten and they won't be forgotten.

And we're very grateful for them.

And we're going to continue to do all we can to ensure full rebuilding face for the water.

Mayor Frank Scott Junior, we appreciate you being here on Arkansas Week.

Thank you so much.

And we'll be back after this.

Welcome back.

We are reflecting on tornadoes that hit Arkansas one year ago and where things are today.

Hard hit was the eastern Arkansas city of wind, where four people were killed at about 445 on the afternoon of March 31st.

An EF three tornado cut through the heart of the city, destroying the high school and several other buildings.

For Arkansas, PBS is recent high school sports coverage.

We spoke with school administrators and students about what that was like.

One of my maintenance guys called.

He said, You got to get down here.

These are the schools.

Go.

You know, the tragedies happen.

You know, the storms hit.

We we can't.

We had our moment of, you know, just breaking down.

We can't stay in that moment.

What do we do to help our community?

I got a call from one of my buddies and he told me the turf was in his front yard from the football field right after here, that the tornado hit the field and there is no football.

And I'm thinking, okay, what's next?

What's the next step?

Like, what are we going to do?

We were right out here on that field and there's debris everywhere.

There's tile.

First time we really got to meet with the team there, got bulldozers behind our bulldozer in their school.

You know, the kids look on their eyes is like, what kind of nightmare?

I woke up to.

It was a it was a surreal feeling, something I'll never forget.

We have to find a way to make sure our kids don't lose anything.

They don't lose prom.

They don't lose graduation.

Hmm.

Joining us to discuss efforts to rebuild and win is the mayor, Jennifer Hobbs.

And we thank you so much for being here with us.

Thank you for having me.

Asking now, one year later, what is the situation like today?

We are still in that rebuilding process.

The high school has transitioned at their temporary campus.

We are still in the process to rebuild our wastewater treatment facility that we lost completely.

We'll have to rebuild that.

We're starting to see a lot of homes coming back and be built and repaired, and that's a positive direction for the high school campus, of course, is has a temporary campus where it will be for at least another two years.

So what has it taken to make that happen?

The school has done a fantastic job with that.

They've had great contractors that they've partnered with and that has been up and running for the school year.

And that's a positive thing that it gives them a permanent kind of feel for the next step.

And now they can look forward to the rebuilding of the well.

You mentioned the wastewater facility a few weeks ago.

Of course, the Legislative Council here in the state approved a request to award 7 million in federal American Rescue Plan funding to the city for interest infrastructure repairs, I should say.

Explain what it all will entail, if you will.

So we did have a total loss in our wastewater treatment facility.

And even though we have the assistance is still going to be looking like it's going to cost a little over $9 million out of the city's pocket to rebuild that wastewater treatment facility.

FEMA is a 7525 match.

So we're grateful for that.

But we still.

And that put us in a quite of a bond to have to come up with that $9 billion of our portion.

And so this infrastructure grant is going to be very beneficial to our city.

And so we are grateful to have that assistance coming in.

Was it primarily the wastewater facility or are there any other infrastructure areas that need attention?

No, it was really mainly the wastewater treatment facility, and Mirani did a fantastic job.

He's our general manager of keeping things running.

We never missed a beat with services to our citizens.

We had a lot of water the night of the tornado in that weekend, but they were able to get back to that and repair those and transition that wastewater system.

And nobody ever had a problem in that respect.

That's good to hear.

We're recording this segment ahead of time.

But the governor, of course, was scheduled to visit when Thursday to survey the rebuilding and to meet with you.

Do you feel positive about the support the city's received from the state?

Oh, absolutely.

The governor has been a great supporter for us, and we're grateful for all the assistance that she's given and the state partners, and they've assisted greatly in our recovery process from the school to the wastewater treatment facility and all the way along the federal government as well.

I'm assuming.

Oh, yes.

Has been a great partner for us.

And we a city our size could not make the recovery that we've made without their assistance.

What is the most pressing need there, Mayor?

And we currently still have a lot of citizens going through case management that our need and assistance with the rebuilding process to repair process, and that that's still an ongoing thing for us.

And we are still hoping that we can find a way to do some mitigation and put in some more storm shelters.

We don't have anything city wide for our citizens.

And so we're looking at those options and just day to day.

We spoke briefly with Little Rock's mayor about insurance coverage for your residents.

Have there been problems there?

There have.

We've had a lot of citizens that were underinsured and then some that are still in.

This is an argument, I guess you could say, with their parents.

Anthony's one of the most visual that you see in our community is that United Methodist Church is right on the main thoroughfare, Falls Boulevard, and it's still standing in a crumbled mess.

They can't come to an agreement with their insurance company.

So they that that structure needs to come down and be rebuilt completely.

Well, the emergency alert system, that that's the system, of course, that provides the critical information to radio TV stations during these kind of emergencies.

It originates from Arkansas, PBS towers around the state.

I do want to ask if anything has changed in your city when you get alerts, when sirens begin sounding, for example.

I don't think we've made changes.

I think we can correct it.

Our fire department, who are sounding our early alert alert system as quickly as they had our tornado sirens went for about 45 minutes and the day of the tornado warning our citizens.

And I think that helped side a lot of lives.

And fortunately, we did lose four citizens and that's four too many.

But I do think we can credit the system for saving a lot of that.

I do want to ask if there's anything else you'd like to add as we wrap things up.

Mayor Hobbs, You know, it's just been a time of reflection this week for us with the anniversary coming up.

And I just am so grateful for the assistance that we have received from around the state and around the country.

And we've even had volunteers here from out of the country.

We're just very grateful and reflective at this time for those four lives lost and those injured.

Mayor Jennifer Hobbs, the city of when.

We appreciate your thoughts and your time today and we wish you the very best moving forward.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And we'll be back after this.

Continuing Arkansas week as the state is beginning a new effort to expand and improve broadband service.

The state, which is ranked 49th for broadband connectivity, has released a map showing the different levels of Internet availability.

Now, on March 20th, the process began allowing people to challenge the accuracy of this map.

And joining me to explain what all this means is the state broadband Office director, Glenn Howey.

Thank you, first of all, for being here with us.

Thanks for having me.

We appreciate you.

And I saw you wince a bit when I said that the state was ranked 49th.

Yeah, I would push back on that a little bit.

I think any one statistic or ranking system can you can extrapolate out kind of what someone wants from any ranking pushback on that.

And just a little bit, when you look at the remaining locations, about 115,000 homes and businesses across Arkansas that lack quality Internet service to this day.

You compare that against our geographic kind of peers in the region, in the southeast, we're ahead of them.

So if you compare us to Missouri, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, we have less locations today that we need to go in a war to grant for than they do.

And we think that puts us in a really good position.

Well, let's talk about the money.

550 million being awarded through 185 projects to expand or improve service.

Are these mostly rural areas where are we doing this work?

Yes, those are good, good numbers there.

And another notch in Arkansas's belt is that we have been so active in building our broadband across the state for several years now.

So you've got to go back to 2020.

You're exactly right.

Our team has awarded over $500 million across those projects, 130,000 locations across the state.

And that's before we get to what we need to do moving forward.

So because we have been so active really across every county, across Arkansas, we're in a really good position.

Again, compared to our peers.

And we think we are, you know, going to be able to to perhaps one up our fellow states and get this done ahead of time.

Did the pandemic expose this, in your opinion, to the lack of availability or people without it?

Yes, sure.

Look, it impacts these are these are kitchen table issues that impacts everyone's life.

We've used these illustrations kind of before on our county road shows and trips that we've done.

But whether it's a grandmother who needs to utilize a Web camera to see her cancer specialist in Memphis or a rice farmer who wants to increase his his yield by using precision agriculture or the elementary student down in Hamburg who had to go to McDonald's to use the wi fi there.

Right.

This impacts everyday folks and everyday kitchen table issues.

And so, you know, we're very much looking forward to connecting the remaining unconnected in Arkansas and getting this done.

Well, you've been traveling right to various parts of the state, speaking with residents, trying to get them engaged, trying to get them to share with you when and where they need need help.

And what have you been hearing?

Yeah, absolutely.

Look, last year we knew that when it was announced that Arkansas was going to be the recipient of over $1,000,000,000 as a result of the infrastructure bill to build out an upgrade broadband for one last time across Arkansas.

We hit the road and so we visited last year.

We visited all 75 counties.

They had some homework in that process.

We told them, look, you know, yourselves and your neighbors and your communities much better than we do in Little Rock.

So we need you to form county broadband committees at the local level, at the grassroots level, and work with our team to get this thing fixed.

And as a result of that outreach, we had close to 50 counties.

So nearly two thirds of our counties to date have formed official broadband committees and are working with our team to assess things on the ground.

And really when you're on the road, you hear different things.

You're in one community and they talk about how their police force or the sheriff's department loses connection in certain parts of the county so they can't get out and and get to the particular location they're trying to get to, which is a potential danger.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

So the issues that people face every day across Arkansas are varied and different, but universal high speed Internet connectivity will alleviate a lot of these problems.

When you look at the infrastructure, it's interesting on on this program this weekend, we're talking about rebuilding because of the tornado.

But you're looking at rebuilding in the sense of a statewide network.

What does that what does that really look like?

Sure.

So you look at again, for those who households and businesses across Arkansas that to this day either have no Internet access at all or what they do have today is very substandard for what is needed in our 21st century digital economy.

And we have about 115,000 locations left to go.

And so we do have $1,000,000,000 that will be coming to the state to help build and upgrade all of those locations throughout the state.

The current analytics, if you look at some of the data in the background, would say we can probably pull that off for less than a billion, somewhere between 600 and 800 million to fund to build out an upgrade.

That has to happen kind of once and for all, leaving the potential opportunity for other projects that we can fund in the broadband space not related to infrastructure.

So you think of things like health care and education, agriculture and small business, we have an opportunity to not only connect the remaining unconnected in Arkansas, but also impact lives in other ways and those four economic sectors.

And it's a really exciting time for broadband in Arkansas.

You talk about these 115,000 locations.

What what locations are these cities, towns or individual locations of homes and businesses?

And this goes back to really one of the main focus of of being here today specific to broadband is that a couple of weeks ago, our office released a new state broadband map.

The map, this new state broadband map that folks may have heard about.

It's much more detailed and intricate, new and improved than anything we've ever had before.

So if anyone goes into the new state, probably in MAP and this is their address, it will zeroed in on their location and show them all of the Internet service that's available at their location.

So we've sort of framed it as people for once will be able to find out their broadband story for their location.

And this is critically important because for the next through April 18th, I believe if someone goes on to the state broadband map and enters their address and looks at their location and thinks that they have been mapped incorrectly, they have the ability to challenge that.

And so for the first time in Arkansas's history, the state broadband map that we will use to go and award broadband infrastructure grants to our ISPs later this year can be challenged for inaccuracies in advance of us going on to awarding those grants.

Wow.

And this is the first time that this has happened ever in the state.

It's a really big deal.

And this map say, say, I put in my address and I don't like what I see.

Could I or anyone contact you?

Yeah, absolutely.

So what folks will do is if they go to broadband dot Arkansas dot gov, there will be a link for the state broadband map.

They should click that.

They should enter their address in the top right corner, hit enter and is going to zero in on their location.

So an associated part of this map is that every location will have a color coded dot associated with it.

So if someone out there has no internet at all or they do have a substandard and they're marked as a red dot or a blue dot, that's good news.

That means that our office is going to go award a grant for that location later this year.

Interesting.

You have a date scheduled between now and June 17th.

So tell me the process.

Yeah, it's a months long process.

The first process for challenges can come in from every day.

Arkansans started last week on Wednesday.

That will run through April 18th, and then there will be another 30 day period where the ISPs will be able to put in some information into our challenge system.

And then if we've received challenges from everyday folks and the ISPs have also supplied some information and we have our team will have 30 days to go and sort of adjudicate and make decisions on that, correct?

Correct.

Your office is also preparing for another road trip across the state.

I hear we did.

We just kicked off for calling in our second annual Broadband County roadshow.

Kind of the Unfinished business tour is sort of what we've kind of termed it internally because we have more work to do.

So again, we've had about 50 of our counties organize at the grassroots level and work with us, but we have another third that we need to to organize and get off the ground there.

So we're going back or visiting every county again this year to give them the latest updates.

What's going on, how they can be involved and really once and for all get this done.

When should we expect to be fully, you know, broadband accessible across the state?

Sure.

Great question.

Great question.

When we project out, because part of this is we're not the only entity awarding grants for broadband infrastructure.

The federal government also awards grants through a multitude of other grant programs.

So we have we have framed when we think we can have full connectivity in Arkansas, 2028 is our is our goal.

So in the calendar 2028 and the next four years is our goal.

All right.

The state broadband Office director Glenn Howey, thank you so much for being here in show with us.

Appreciate it.

And that does it for this week's edition of Arkansas Week.

I'm Don Scott.

Thanks as always for being here.

Support for Arkansas Week provided by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette set The Arkansas Times and Little Rock Public Radio.