Month: July 2021

Reopening Set For I-40 Bridge Connecting Arkansas, Memphis

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KATV:

The Interstate 40 bridge connecting Arkansas and Memphis is set to reopen next week, the Arkansas Department of Transportation announced Wednesday.

All eastbound lanes of the bridge over the Mississippi River are scheduled to open by 6 a.m. Monday. Westbound lanes are set to open Aug. 6 at a time to be announced later.

The bridge was closed in May after a crack was found on a steel beam during a routine inspection. The closure was estimated to cost the trucking industry $2.4 million per day. All interstate traffic was diverted to the Interstate 55 bridge over the river, known as the “old bridge.”

Hard Rock Hotel And Casino Tulsa Lights Up the Sky With New 65-Foot Gibson Les Paul Monument

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One Feather:

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa is home to Route 66’s newest attraction, a 65-foot Gibson Les Paul, which made its official debut on the Mother Road landscape Tuesday evening.

The newest Hard Rock icon, a tribute to the original Gibson Les Paul Standard 50’s in Heritage Cherry Sunburst, welcomes guests just outside the Grand Lobby. Weighing in at 19,500 pounds, the monument sits 65 feet tall in the sky, following the Golden Driller at 75 feet tall and POPS’ Soda Bottle at 66 feet tall. The Les Paul is equipped with custom, programmable LED lights and will feature nightly sight and sound shows synced to music.

That’s the one Jimmy Page used:

US Will End Combat Mission In Iraq, Biden Says

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Defense One:

The United States is ending its combat mission in Iraq, President Joe Biden announced Monday, though U.S. troops will remain in the country to continue training and advising local forces.

“Our role in Iraq will be…to be available to continue to train, to assist to help and to deal with ISIS as it arises, but we are not going to be by the end of the year in a combat mission,” Biden said at the beginning of a meeting in the Oval Office with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi.

It makes you wonder if, eleven years from now, President Kamala Harris will declare an end to our comat mission in Iraq.

ARDOT Announces I-49 Extension To Move Into Next Phase Of Development

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Southwest Times Record:

The Arkansas Department of Transportation is moving on to the next phase of project development for the construction of Interstate 49 from Highway 22 in Sebastian County to Interstate 40 in Crawford County.

The work to be done is about 13.6 miles long with an estimated price tag of $787 million, including a new bridge over the Arkansas River that may cost between $300 million and $400 million, according to Arkansas Department of Transportation District 4 Engineer Chad Adams.

US Intel Assessments On Afghanistan Warn Of ‘Accelerating Pace’ Of Taliban Hold On Country

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CNN:

US Intelligence assessments paint an increasingly bleak picture of the Taliban’s quickening advance across Afghanistan and the potential threat it poses to the capital of Kabul, warning the militant group could soon have a stranglehold on much of the country in the wake of the US withdrawal of troops, multiple sources briefed on the intelligence tell CNN.

Talibs Call China ‘Friend’ As Beijing-Islamabad-Taliban Nexus Cements In Afghanistan

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The Sentinel:

The broad contours of nexus between China, Pakistan and the Taliban are now visible in plain sight after the militant group has gone public in welcoming Beijing’s role in Afghanistan’s reconstruction and guaranteeing that anti-China insurgents are rooted out of the country. In an interview with the South China Morning Post (SCMP) last week, the Taliban’s spokesperson Suhail Shaheen, sought China’s support for Afghanistan’s reconstruction “as soon as possible”. Shaheen described China as a “friend” and promised to ensure the safety and security of Chinese nationals whose presence would be inevitable if Beijing undertakes projects after Afghanistan’s political transition, where the Taliban could play a dominant role.

Top U.S. Commander In Afghanistan Steps Down, Marking A Symbolic End To 20 Years Of War

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Washington Post:

Army Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller, who has overseen the war effort for nearly three years, relinquished his responsibilities in a small ceremony at the U.S. military’s headquarters inside Kabul’s heavily fortified Green Zone.

“Our job now is just not to forget,” Miller said in brief remarks, citing sacrifices by Americans, Afghans and other allies. “With the families that have lost people across this conflict, it will be important to know that someone remembers, that someone cares, and that we’re able to talk about it in the future.”

Kremlin Mum On Next Moves After Putin Article About Ukraine

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AP News:

Russian President Vladimir Putin has described Russians and Ukrainians as “one people” and argued that Ukraine can only be stable and successful if it maintains friendly ties with Russia.

He also charged in an article published on Monday that Ukraine has no intention of honoring a 2015 peace deal to end a conflict with Russia-backed separatists in the country’s east.

“I am convinced that the true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia,” the article posted on the Kremlin’s website states. “Our spiritual, human and civilizational ties have formed for centuries and have been rooted in the same sources, they have been hardened by common trials, achievements and victories.”

In televised remarks on Tuesday night, Putin said he had pondered the article for several months, but now was the time to release it.

In his article published in both Russian and Ukrainian, Putin also accused the West of working methodically to rupture historic links between the two neighbors and to turn Ukraine into a key bulwark to contain Russia.

“The Western authors of the anti-Russia project set up the Ukrainian political system in such a way that presidents, members of parliament and ministers would change but the attitude of separation from and enmity with Russia would remain,” Putin wrote. “Today, the ‘right’ patriot of Ukraine is only the one who hates Russia. Moreover, the entire Ukrainian statehood, as we understand it, is proposed to be further built exclusively on this idea.”

Putin charged that Ukraine has failed to fulfill its obligations under a 2015 peace deal to grant broad autonomy to Donbas and would likely refrain from honoring the deal.

Fort Smith Recognized As 10th United Nations Arts Location In World

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:

Ambassador Ibiyinka Alao and Mayor George McGill recognized Fort Smith as a UN international city for artistic and cultural innovation in peace building and economic growth. It joined the ranks of only nine other cities worldwide with this designation, which recognizes cities that have supported the arts.

Yes, sandwiched on the list between the Scottish city of Aberdeen, and Athens–the city which gave the world Prometheus Bound–Fort Smith is now “one of only a handful of international arts locations throughout the world,” whatever that means.

[UPDATE: 9JUL21]

Fort Smith has been catfished. The ol’ Nigerian UN arts ambassador trick.

Dog Park To Be Lost With Fort Smith Regional Airport Runway Extension

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Talk Business & Politics:

City Administrator Carl Geffken said Tuesday that the dog park would need to close in order for that project to be completed. He said the city is working on a plan to replace the dog park at the airport. The dog park is located at the Corner of Massard Road and Louisville Street on the east side of Fort Smith.

That is an absolute shame. Hopefully the plan to replace the dog park will go more smoothly than the plan to restore the flags at the Riverfront Park.

Iraq Condemns Biden’s ‘Unacceptable’ Strikes, Discusses U.S. Military Withdrawal

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Newsweek:

Iraq has condemned air strikes ordered by President Joe Biden against suspected Iran-backed militias along the country’s border with Syria, emphasizing that discussions were underway with the United States and had advanced to facilitate the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country.

In a statement sent to Newsweek, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s office said Monday that Baghdad’s National Security Council held an emergency meeting in the wake of Sunday’s U.S. targeting of Iraq and Syrian territories on the basis of claims that armed groups backed by Iran used the sites to launch drone attacks against U.S. forces.

“The Ministerial Council for National Security expressed its strong condemnation and censure of the American bombing that targeted a site on our border with Syria,” the statement said, “stressing that this attack represents a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty, which is rejected by all international laws and covenants.”

Most European Troops Exit Afghanistan Quietly After 20 years

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AP:

Most European troops have already pulled out of Afghanistan, quietly withdrawing months before the U.S.-led mission was officially expected to end — part of an anticlimactic close to the “forever war” that risks leaving the country on the brink of civil war.

Germany and Italy declared their missions in Afghanistan over on Wednesday and Poland’s last troops returned home, bringing their deployments to a low-key end nearly 20 years after the first Western soldiers were deployed there.

Afghanistan is not a war to have a parade about.