Over the weekend I had a nice conversation with Kristin Fisher of KATV about her new online project “Choose Your News.” It’s a cool feature in which Fisher gives audiences the opportunity to vote on the story she covers.  She’s using her blog, online video and Twitter to keep the public informed with what she is covering.  Her stories also air on the evening news.  Mark Hengel of Arkansas Business has a piece in this week’s issue about Fisher’s work.  If you have story ideas, you can e-mail Fisher at kfisher@katv.com or find her on the Internet.

I’ll leave it to Max Brantley of The Arkansas Times and Rep. Dan Greenberg, a frequent contributor to The Arkansas Project, to battle it out over the virtues of ethics reform in Arkansas.  My contribution to the ethics discussion: this article from The New York Times about president-elect Barack Obama’s transition team barring lobbyists from helping to pay the costs of his transition and from working in areas in which they have lobbied in the past year.  “If someone has lobbied during the past 12 months, they’re prohibited from working in the fields of policy on which they lobbied and will have to cease all lobbying activities during their work on the transition,” said John Podesta, co-chairman of Obama’s transition team.

Stepping away from state and local politics, LR Episcopal Collegiate School PR chief Stacey Jones passes along news that the school will begin its annual drive to collect food for the Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church. They’re asking each student to bring 10 canned food items, and they’re shooting for 100% participation.  This is the single largest donation the church receives to its food program annually.

This comes on the heels of news that food banks all across America are struggling during tough economic times. The New York Times notes, “In the four months since June, demand for food aid has risen 20 percent in areas of the country with the healthiest economies and more than 40 percent in areas with the weakest, leaders of nonprofit food-distribution organizations say. And they predict that the need will keep growing in 2009 if the job market continues to contract, as expected. Requests are so high that some food centers are turning away the hungry. “

In what is no surprise to me, the Arkansas Supreme Court voted 6-0 today to allow the lottery amendment language to remain on the ballot. Voters will now have a chance to approve or reject the measure on November 4th.  Polling shows the lottery amendment will pass overwhelmingly. I’m certain it will.

Stephens Inc. CEO Warren Stephens weighs in on the ramifications of an Obama presidency.  “I am not afraid of Senator Obama becoming President because he is a bad person. Rather I am concerned about his policies and their effect on our economy both in the short and long term. Higher tax rates will discourage investment and capital formation and that is not good for anyone,” he observes.

The Arkansas Times and The Arkansas Project have additional commentary.

In addition to a whopping 9% of Americans thinking the country is headed in the right direction, USA Today reports that the financial meltdown has demolished retirement savings, wiping out $2 trillion  - or about 20% of value - in the past 15 months.

The House of Representatives will take up the Senate version of the bailout bill today.  A vote is expected midday.  AP wonders whether the votes will be there this time.

The Senate passed its version of the $700 billion bailout bill 74-25.   Arkansas Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln both votes in favor of the measure.  So did Barack Obama and John McCain.  Here’s the list of those that voted No.  The bill heads to the House for a vote that is likely to come on Friday.

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that 44% of Americans believe that Republicans are responsible for the defeat of the bailout bill.  21% believe it is the fault of the Democrats.

And despirte rhetoric to the contrary, the country seems split on the plan.  47% oppose it, 45% favor it.

Steven Hurst of AP has a tough analysis piece on John McCain’s campaign in light of yesterday’s vote to reject the $700 billion bailout plan.  If you recall, McCain suspended his campaign and returned to Congress to work on the problem.  As early as yesterday morning McCain projected the plan would pass due in large part to his own bipartisan leadership.  Not only did the bill fail, two-thirds of Republicans voted against it including the entire Republican delegation from Arizona.  This prompted Hurst to opine, “All in all, McCain might have been better served by staying out of the mess and above the fray.”

For people who think that the failure to approve a $700 billion bailout plan only effects Wall Street CEO’s need to think again.  The ramifications are felt all the way to Arkansas notes a story by James Jefferson and John Lyon of Arkansas News Bureau.   The good news is that Arkansas banks are still lending money consistently.  However, retired people and those with substantial 401(k) plans are in real trouble.  “I would say that the immediate impact is more on the retired person than it is on the 401(k) person.  Their portfolio is diminished in value, but many of them have some time for that to come back, whereas the retirees have to take whatever’s out there in the marketplace,” says former U of A business professor Phil Taylor.

For the record, all members of the Arkansas House delegation voted in favor of the bailout yesterday.

$700 billion and lots of strings attached. It’s the necessary first step to getting this economic crisis under control. But it’s not the complete answer. There’s a lot of maneuvering that has to be done to get a return on this investment. Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers has a good op-ed in today’s Washington Post explaining the matter.

UPDATE: So we thought.  The House of Representatives rejected the measure by a vote of 228 - 205.