Welcome to Arkansas week.

I'm Chris Cain.

We've got a great program for you today.

Coming up a little bit later, we're going to be joined by the Chancellor of UAMs, Doctor Lowry Barnes, to learn more about the exciting things happening on campus, as well as his goals for the future of UAMs.

But first, we're going to focus on primary runoff elections underway across Arkansas.

With several races so close, they were decided by just a single vote in the March primary.

Early voting has begun, and the outcomes of March 31st will determine nominees in key legislative, statewide and local races.

At this time, Washington also remains in a partial government shutdown.

Congress still at an impasse.

No clear timeline for reopening parts of the government.

We're going to breakdown both the state and national political landscape with our panel today.

So we welcome in studio Editor in chief Andrew Demello with the Arkansas Advocate and Washington correspondent joining us remotely, Alex Thomas from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

We welcome you both in.

We'll start with you, Andrew, before we head over to D.C., razor thin margins.

I saw you shake your head over there.

Yes.

When we're talking about single votes, just talking about the importance of those runoffs happening on March 31st, what did you see?

What are some of the most interesting parts of what you saw in this primary election?

You know, some of the most interesting parts that we saw in this primary election, and we're seeing a reprise a little bit, is, you know, what happened with races that, you know, the governor got involved in, in terms of legislative races, you know, the two incumbents that she was supporting and challengers trying to oust them.

She was unsuccessful in those efforts.

And we're kind of seeing reprisal of that dynamic a little bit again in the Secretary of State's race.

That's the only statewide race that we have on the runoff.

It's the Republican race for secretary of state.

And we've got, you know, Kim Hammer, who's kind of the establishment Republican figure, and he has the support of the governor.

Other top Republican figures running against Brian Norris.

And, you know, Brian Norris, Army veteran, he's a project manager, both of them.

It's a different dynamic than you usually see, where it's not a moderate versus a conservative.

These are both very conservative candidates.

It's just very different in terms of style, very different terms of approach.

And you're kind of seeing a split in terms of kind of kind of MAGA type movement.

On who's supporting who.

You know, Norris, in a lot of ways is kind of echoing Trump's rhetoric when it comes to the election talks about the 2020 election being stolen from the from President Trump has the support of, people like Mike Lindell.

But on the other hand, hammer, he's got the support of the governor and the governor's allies.

Some of the, you know, told jester, I believe Secretary of state.

Yeah.

And we you know, we've seen that, you know, it kind of, you know, really, you know, you know, amped up in the last couple weeks, even like the last few days, where, you know, this is really, you know, kind of a heated race.

And whoever wins, it's going to be a three person race in the fall, you know, with a Democrat and a libertarian candidate.

And, you know, I think, you know, Republicans are watching it very closely to see what happens with it.

And, I'm not really sure how that's going to shake out there.

All right.

Speaking of what happens with it, let's now turn nationally.

Alex, what's happening with this latest shutdown?

Of course, we see the TSA lines.

That's one of the more public view points of what's happening in terms of the shutdown affecting parts of the government.

What is the latest what are you hearing from Washington?

Yeah, so it has been a complete tone shift this week in D.C.

from where we were Monday to where we are at the time of this recording Monday, we thought we were going to have a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which includes TSA.

And as at the time of this recording, the vibes just are not there.

People want to go home.

They're tired of the stalemate that's been here in Washington.

And we're not any further on reaching a deal to fund that part of the government.

Republicans have been adamant that they should fund this government agency, which includes TSA and Ice and Border Patrol.

But Democrats have their reservations.

The reason why is because of what we saw in Minneapolis earlier this year, the violence used by agents in that part of Minnesota.

They want to see reforms with the Trump administration's border enforcement efforts.

And there have been talks.

There have been dialogs.

Republicans say that they have done enough.

Democrats say they haven't done enough.

And as we're entering the weekend here, we still don't know what's going to be happening with the US Senate.

On the House side of things, the House of Representatives have thrown their hands up and said, look, we've passed a resolution to fund DHS.

We've done our job.

This is in the Senate's hands in the Senate because of how the Senate works.

And you cannot pass a lot of things with a simple majority.

You need Democrats and Republicans on board.

And there's a lot of finger pointing.

There's a lot of talking, but there's not a lot of action to end this partial government shutdown touched on a couple of agencies there that need to be funded.

And those impact day to day operations of everyday voters.

Andrew, how are some of these issues nationally that are shaping in Washington right now and being discussed and debated on impacting the minds of voters as we head towards this runoff?

You know, I think one of the biggest areas that you're going to see is, you know, the way it affects voters and their pocketbooks, you know, the gas prices.

You're concerned by gas prices going up.

Because what we're seeing in Iran right now, you know, impact it's going to have Ohio for, you know, farmers here in terms of, you know, supply cost of fertilizer, and just every everyday products.

You know, I think this is why you see Democrats, especially in the federal races here, focusing so much on affordability, really echoing what you're seeing in, you know, kind of the national messaging right now.

And it's also kind of an indication of the way the politics in Arkansas have changed over the years.

It used to be you could run for state legislature, run for state office, and really focus on the local race, you know, the local issues, you know, what's happening in your district, what's happening, you know, at your community center.

And it's really nationalized.

And we yeah, we saw that, you know, several years ago.

And we've seen this even more so.

And Democrats are hoping to kind of use this to their advantage, you know, as they try to make inroads in what's still a predominantly Republican state.

You mentioned trying to gain some leverage, right?

The Democrats are trying to do that.

Alex, who do you think has the most leverage right now in these negotiations on the federal level?

Right.

So the big thing right now when it comes to the negotiations is can we even reach a deal?

Like that's the hardest thing regarding every single deal and every single discussion that's been out there, whether it's Iran or whether it's DHS.

The problem is we cannot seem to get on the same page.

Congressional Republicans, congressional Democrats have been talking about what they want to do, but the Trump administration has not been very helpful in that regard.

With Iran, it's the same kind of situation where people want peace, but Iran's not willing to budge, and they don't see the Trump administration is offering serious offers.

I guess a common thread would be the Trump administration, at the end of the day, not taking either issue seriously enough.

But when it comes to stuff here on Capitol Hill, again, there's been a lot of talk.

There's been a lot of interest in ending the shutdown, but it's been a struggle to get everybody on the table to shake hands and agree on something.

And the Senate currently is the one who is deciding on whatever the resolution the House passes.

You mentioned.

But you were saying before this, this segment that the Senate right now planning on leaving for two weeks, they could change that decision and try and force this issue quicker.

Right.

So right now the plan is and the calendar was released back in December.

So this has been on the calendar since before the holidays that the Senate will take next week and the next week off for Passover and Easter.

Now that could change by the time this program airs that could completely get thrown out the window.

They could stay through the weekend.

They could stay until the end of next week, but they need to work on a deal to end this government shutdown.

Frustration may win, and we may end up seeing senators fly out of DC at the end of this week.

Or they may say, hey, we got to keep our heads down and we got to get something done.

We got to work together on this.

Some moderate Democrats could flip, like what we saw with the previous shutdown from last fall.

But at the same time, there hasn't been any signs of that happening, at least not yet.

The frustration to us, as Alex mentioned, how much could that impact Andrew turnout for a runoff election, which historically shows lower numbers because they're more targeted.

Runoffs are and they're not a general election, especially in a primary.

So what do you expect in terms of these kind of frustrations from federal level issues trickling down to statewide races?

I think they'll trickle down.

I don't think it's going to be hard to see it, you know, measure it in terms of run a runoff turnout, like, you know, like you said, you know, turnout for runoff elections is is already, you know, pretty they're pretty low and especially since you only have one statewide race.

But you also have, you know, several really interesting legislative races, including five where basically this is going to decide who who's seated in the legislature, as well as some, you know, very interesting, you know, county level, very, very local races.

But I don't know if it's really going to trickle down yet.

I think what to watch for is this summer, how it trickles down into these races and not just congressional races, but like you said, state legislative races and kind of what the messaging is.

And if this kind of seeps into these normally state focused races, you mentioned to the how important Tuesday will be considering some of these races will be unopposed in November.

So what are you seeing in terms of those campaigns ramping up?

What districts should we be watching for?

Proverbial winner, even though, you know, the general election isn't until November, but this primary will this runoff of the primary will essentially, you know, resolve that.

You know, I think one of the most interesting ones to watch is going to be a Senate District 15 that's, you know, the seat currently held by Fred Love, who is the Democratic nominee for governor.

We got Charity Allen Smith and Representative Terry Shepard running for the Democratic nomination in there.

That's a, you know, you know, very, very strong, very predominant, you know, little Rock Democratic district.

And so, yeah, I think we're going to be watching to see what the turnout is like there and what what happens with that?

Because given the numbers in the state Senate for Democrats, whoever is in that seat automatically kind of has, you know, more of a higher profile and a kind of a, you know, bigger voice in terms of your speaking out on issues and especially when it comes to issues like, you know, the Lawns Act, Franklin County Prison, a lot of things that we're expecting to see come up, not just this year, but next year as well, too.

You mentioned the the prison.

We got to talk about budgets as well.

I mean, the fiscal session, you know, starting in April, I know that they, they convened, this past month.

What are you expecting in terms of fiscal session impacts for this year?

You know, the big thing that we're going to be watching is, you know, first of all, education, you know, looking to see what happens with, education, freedom accounts, the school voucher program.

You know, the governor is again seeking more money for the for this, you I think you're going to hear kind of similar arguments that we've heard before, especially from Democrats and some rural Republicans really concerned about the impact that this has on the public school system.

We talked about Franklin County.

That's the big question right now, is, you know, the governor's budget did not include any proposals dealing with the Franklin County, prison Project.

And that is, you know, a big question in terms of what's is what's going to be proposed, if anything, how much?

And that's, you know, story that's not just going to stay attention.

It's getting national attention.

We've had New York Times, Wall Street Journal come in to write about prison that's, you know, not even built yet.

And so that tells you, you know, how much of a focus there is right now.

And given the resistance that we see in the legislature, there's going to be a fight.

You know, we don't know if it's going to be this year or next year.

It's impact primary elections as well as we've seen.

So that that proposal going beyond just the region that is being proposed in is what you're seeing.

Yeah, definitely.

And you know something?

This is one of the few areas you know, the governor has pretty much gotten nearly everything that she wants, you know, through her legislative agenda.

This is the big area where she's really faced resistance, really run into stumbling blocks on it.

And so it's going to be kind of a test, especially as she's kind of ramping up her national profile, viewed as a potential presidential candidate in a couple of years.

And so it's clear that whatever happens with this, there's going to be that attention on it.

And it's going to be a factor in so many areas, Arkansas politics right now.

I want to talk one more question for you, Alex, before time runs out, you mentioned earlier when it comes to funding DHS funding Ice being included in that, that has been a big national conversation point that's trickled down statewide to various regions and states across the country.

Do you see that being, a level where Democrats negotiate, or are they going to be firm and, and stand strong on that issue?

And with that funding, particularly for Ice?

I think what we're seeing right now, the fact that we are now a month and a half almost into this partial government shutdown is Democrats are very serious about reforms following what we saw in Minneapolis.

I don't think there's going to be a lot of interest in ending the shutdown as it pertains to Ice.

They may end the partial shutdown partially and try to find a way to fund TSA and other parts of DHS that excludes border enforcement and the Trump administration's immigration enforcement efforts.

But right now, the way that I see it and the conversations I've heard here on the Hill is that Democrats are very serious and very concerned about what the Trump administration has been doing in regards to immigration, and they want to see some serious changes to.

All right, Alex, thank you.

Andrew, before I let you go, last question for you watching on Tuesday what race outside of Secretary of State, I should say, because I know that's the big statewide race.

What race should be we watching?

What should we be focused on?

From the runoff in the for the primary runoffs?

We're going to see you know, you referenced this earlier.

You know, House district 35 is that that was a race where, you know, the top two vote getters were separated by one vote.

And, you know, that was a much more crowded primary.

Now it's a two person race.

I'm really interested to see what happens with this, how narrow of a race it's going to be.

But all throughout the state, I think, you know, there's going to be just several really interesting ones, especially some very local races.

We got some sheriff races, county judge races that have really gotten really heated.

So yeah, I think there's anything you could choose on there and certainly reminds everybody, get out and vote.

Because at the smallest or the largest levels of political races, that matters.

Thank you so much, Andrew, for coming in from the Arkansas Advocate, Andrew Demello, and also Washington correspondent Alex Thomas.

Thank you, Alex, for joining us from DC.

We appreciate you from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

We'll see you guys next time.

All right.

Stay with us.

Coming up next, a conversation with the new chancellor of UAMs about the future of health care in Arkansas.

Welcome back to Arkansas Week.

UAMs has recently made major announcements, including increased pay, expansion of scholarships, and renovations that will update and expand their campus.

Joining us now is Doctor Lowry Barnes, the newly named chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, to share more about the exciting things happening at UAMs.

First, Doctor Barnes, welcome and thank you so much for taking some time to join us.

I know you're incredibly busy, not only as Chancellor, but you also did how many knee surgeries this morning?

We did four knee replacements this morning, still operating and now running the entire campus.

Tell me a little bit about that process and what it's been like for you making that transition while you're still operating, at least doing some procedures, but now taking on this leadership role as well.

What's this been like for you?

Yeah, it's been great.

First of all, thanks for having me.

It's always great to share what we're doing and it's been fun.

So I was I was chair of the Department of orthopedics.

I've been at UAMs for 12 years now.

I was in private practice in little Rock prior to that came over as chair.

We've had a had a great run in the orthopedic department, built our department to more than 50 faculty members from 12 of us 12 years ago.

We built an orthopedic hospital in little Rock.

We're building another one in Northwest Arkansas.

So it's been a lot of fun.

And when the, the Chancellor changed and Cam Patterson stepped down.

I was asked to come into the interim role and, at the time and Jay Silveria, the president, who we know if you're interim, you may not be able to be considered for the full time job.

Okay.

And I said, you know, that's okay because, I mean, I want it.

I don't see you headed in to dip your toes in the water, first of all, to make sure it's warm.

Yeah, yeah, but I did and loved it.

Got an incredible team.

People say, you know, what's the biggest surprise you had when you came into that role?

And it was truly that the team was so good.

The leadership team there is great.

They're committed.

They're a wonderful people who are dedicated, doing the right thing for the institution on a daily basis.

So it's been fun and we've been able to have some success and the finances have started to turn around.

UAMs was in a tough spot.

We had lost $100 million in three years.

Wow.

It's not very good.

Yeah.

That's that's yeah.

It's considerable.

Yeah sure.

So we're in the black now.

And so that's getting people feeling better.

That's what you want to promote right there.

Absolutely.

Whenever you look at, just the role itself, and how your previous experience, how did that help kind of shape you ran a department over there, but now you're running the entire hospital.

So what is that like in terms of making that leap to the next level?

Yeah.

Great question.

My background is significant for the role because I was in private practice first.

I was on the Saint Vincent board.

I was also on their finance committee.

So I learned a lot about the workings of a hospital and the finances of a hospital in that role.

Then when I moved over the university, I had been doing research in private practice, but this gave me a lot more opportunity to do research, in an academic setting and to be a part of the educational mission.

So now my background is kind of set me up to do this as an as an older guy.

I'll be 66 next month.

And so other people think it's time to retire, and I'm taking on a new role because it yeah, it's a great, great job, great fun.

And, you know, it's it's the right time for me to do this.

I'm from Arkansas.

It's my giveback period.

And I'm excited about it.

Tell me about the Chancellor's Scholars program and the long term goals you have for it.

Yeah, thanks for asking about that.

A couple of months ago, I found some money in the Chancellor's fund that had not been spent.

What a benefit of being in the black, right?

Exactly.

Find some money for certain things and goals.

And so we did 40 full time, full ride scholarship.

So for medical student, that's four years.

For nurse it may be three years, but for, for those programs, you know, oftentimes people think about UMass has been the medical school.

They forget about all the other related colleges that we have on campus.

We train most of pharmacists in the state.

The college of Public Health, the nurses, all so many of the Pas, so many of the health professions we train and supply for the state.

So part of this program is you get a full time, full ride scholarship for the length of your program, but forever, how many years we support you?

You're expected to work in Arkansas for that many years.

When you finish, because we know of you.

If you work here afterwards, you're staying.

You're going to want to you're going to want to make this your home, absolute home.

Now also raising minimum wage over there as well.

What were some of the, the goals to to get that up to a level of which you think can be competitive and get more people in?

Yeah, some of that getting more people in, but mainly it's about taking care of our own people.

Gotcha.

Right.

We have almost 12,500 employees and we just weren't paying our lowest paid employees enough.

And so once we got in the black, we said, let's reinvest in our most important asset, our people.

So those were making $15 an hour.

Now make $16 an hour.

And it's about a $4.5 million cost to the system, but absolutely worth it.

And the the feedback is has been great.

We made that change.

We made changes in parking so that our employees now aren't paying as much for their parking.

So what we can do to reinvest in our most important asset, we'll continue to do.

Tell me we still have work to do.

Yeah, well, speaking of that, tell me about your infrastructure.

The renovations, the expansions.

What can people expect over there as the campus continues to grow and change?

Yeah, you'll you'll continue to see growth.

We've we had the new orthopedic hospital has been open a couple of years.

We had the new radiation oncology building.

Those are both great additions to the campus.

But you'll see in the coming years the our previous radiation oncology building, the shuttle building, is now being transformed into a maternal health building.

So we'll be doing more deliveries there and have, more clinical expansion there for the women who, who come to UAMs.

Unfortunately, so many of our smaller hospitals are no longer delivering babies.

We have to have somewhere for the women of Arkansas to deliver their babies in a safe place.

And so we're going to be that place.

I want you to think back to when you started practicing.

Think of, well, almost remember that long ago.

Think of think of where we currently are with, medical sciences and technologies.

And I want you to take that same time frame.

I didn't ask you what the time frame was.

I noticed, but take that same time frame and apply it to right now.

And where you see us at that end of that time frame, when you're talking about educating the future and and changing the way that we see medicine and apply it, what do you anticipate?

And you can even go five, ten years from now with the with the most recent applications of AI and some of the different technological sciences, what's happening on campus?

What are you excited about when you see some of these changes?

There going to be so many things that are so different.

You know, we're not going to need a need to have as much for classroom setting.

We see that less and less all the time.

And because we have we can do things technologically.

We can do things with distance learning.

Our simulation centers are incredible now, and they're going to get even better.

I mean, it's pretty amazing when you can have a mannequin that turns its head, coughs, chokes, and responds to what you do in an appropriate manner, so then you can make the next correction.

So the education of all our all our health care specialists can be so much better.

And because of technology.

So research will continue to expand.

And, you know, great discoveries happening every year.

Many of those happening here, you'll see that we have a new relationship with the University of Arkansas and say it will.

So we'll have a consortium working together to do research which will bring a lot to the state.

Tell me about or tell.

Take a moment if you can.

You know, there are medical students, parents.

It could be watching this grandparents, aunts or themselves.

Why should someone want to come to UAMs to not only work there, but stay there like you once did as a a resident of Pine Bluff, correct?

You're correct.

From Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

And now look where you could have you went did you residency I believe in Boston.

You said if a residency here did a fellowship and fellowship in Boston but came back.

Right.

Tell tell us why UAMs should be the choice for someone to learn and then apply that learning to do what you're doing, provide that service to the future.

Absolutely.

So UAMs is the only academic health center in the state.

So that means we don't just take care of patients.

We do research.

We do education.

We're not just a medical school.

We have all the campuses there, all the colleges training, the health professions.

So it means when you come there, you learn what the other folks are learning to, and you work together and you're are more prepared because there's so much education going on around you.

The research really stimulates learning this year, as when we interviewed folks applying for the orthopedic residency program, these medical students, many had 710 publications already unheard of.

But that's where we're going now because of technology and availability.

And UAMs is right there.

We are.

We have what someone needs to get the knee an education, do anything they want to do.

The nice thing is your you can do your gma your residency here when you finish medical school or or you're training, you can continue it here in whatever specialty you're in.

And then when you practice here, should you choose to practice at UAMs, you have an incredible group of colleagues.

And I tell folks that's where learning happens every day.

And everybody's held to another special standard.

When you have a bunch of students or residents working with you, there's no cutting corners.

There's nothing but the best all day, every day.

Or somebody is asking, hey, doctor, why are you doing it that way?

Why don't you do it this way?

How much do they keep you in check every now, all the time.

It's.

Nobody minds asking me what I'm thinking and why.

And is this been some somewhat reinvigorating for you as well, taking on this role and seeing it from this perspective?

No doubt about it, when I move from private practice to the campus to UAMs, I totally reinvigorating I make it made me feel younger on a daily basis.

And I can remember when, coming home one day and saying something about, that none of the residents could keep up with me because I still had so much energy, and I was reminded that I couldn't keep up with them socially either.

Right, right, right.

It's it's a balance.

It's.

But I'm back in that mode again.

It's exciting.

We're doing fun things.

We're changing.

We're going to be the friendliest health care system in Arkansas.

We've got a program to do it called UAMs cares and that everybody's rallying around it.

Can't wait to learn more next time.

Thanks so much for stopping by, doctor Larry Barnes, Chancellor for UAMs.

We'll see you next time.

Thanks so much.

All right.

That is all for this week's edition of Arkansas Week.

Thank you so much for joining us.

I'm Chris Cain and we'll see you next time.