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(Washington, D.C.) The Arkansas Congressional Delegation today
announced that an annual spending bill containing $4,690,000 in law enforcement
and science technology projects for Arkansas has been finalized by Congress.
The Fiscal Year 2006 Science, State, Justice, Commerce (SSJC) Appropriations
Conference Report passed the House last week and is expected to pass the
Senate early this week. Once the bill is passed by both the House and the
Senate, it will await President Bush’s signature to become law, the six
Arkansas lawmakers said.
The six members of the Arkansas Congressional Delegation who fought
for the projects announced today are as follows: Senators Blanche Lincoln
(D) and Mark Pryor (D), Representatives Marion Berry (D-1st), Vic Snyder
(D-2nd), John Boozman (R-3rd), and Mike Ross (D-4th).
The annual SSJC spending bill is one of twelve appropriations bills
that Congress will pass this year. It includes funding for the Departments
of Commerce, Justice, and State. The following earmarks are included in
the legislation:
$500,000 for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR), Nanotechnology
Economic Development Program. This program will be directly linked to UALR’s
new nanotechnology laboratory, which will house both production and application
research laboratories, as well as provide characterization of nanostructures
for commercial use. Through this funding, Arkansas companies will have
direct access to product development and research at a cost and convenience
not before available to them.
$1 million for Arkansas-Oklahoma Center for Space and Planetary Sciences,
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. This funding will support the Center’s
continuing research activities as they relate to planetary sample return
technology and scientific investigation. This funding will also support
faculty, students, and visiting researchers at the Center. In addition,
the Center will purchase instrumentation for the first analytical laboratory,
as well as establish a regional planetary imaging facility.
$1.1 million for the University of Arkansas, Arkansas Research &
Technology Park (ARTP), Fayetteville. This funding will be used to promote
the success of the ARTP as a driver for economic growth in the region.
Specifically, these funds will be used to support the acquisition of additional
land parcels of strategic importance to the project and to provide for
preliminary engineering associated with project development and implementation
of minor infrastructure enhancements such as sidewalks and entry features.
The balance of funds to complete other infrastructure improvements will
come from federal, municipal and project specific sources. The ARTP is
located only five minutes from the University of Arkansas’ main campus
and Fayetteville's Central Business District.
$750,000 to the Arkansas State Police to update the state’s Automated
Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).
$255,000 to the Arkansas State Police, COPS Methamphetamine Drug Hot
Spots Program. This funding will support law enforcement officials in the
fight against the manufacturing, sale and use of methamphetamine.
$250,000 to the Criminal Justice Institute for methamphetamine education
and training for law enforcement.
$350,000 to the Pulaski County Council for Children and Youth Services,
Our Club Program. The Council works to decrease youth involvement in gangs,
crime, violence, and substance abuse through prevention programs. The Our
Club Program has four components, including a health component, a cultural
enrichment component, a mentoring component and a ropes course. $250,000
of the funding will be used to expand services and reach more young people.
$100,000 of the funding will be used by its Step One Alternative/Day School.
The school assists those youth suspended or termed delinquent from their
own schools and prepares them for their return.
$150,000 to the City of Jonesboro, Arkansas, for its Interoperable Communications
Project. The City of Jonesboro will add a new radio site and high speed
mobile data to its interoperable communications system, in order to best
protect the area, which is a thoroughfare for hazardous materials via railroads
and which houses several chemical stores and cotton gins.
$150,000 for a radio system for Crittenden County.
$25,000 to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department to initiate a children's
fingerprinting program.
$50,000 to the Garland County Sheriff’s Department to replace nine year-old
duty-issued weapons.
$110,000 to the South Central Arkansas Drug Task Force to purchase equipment
and tools to combat methamphetamine usage as well as provide man power
to assist narcotics investigators. |
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