by Roby Brock
created by OldLadyGeekster on 10/03/2025 at 16:01 UTC
36 upvotes, 11 top-level comments (showing 11)
Comment by RidgetopDarlin at 10/03/2025 at 16:32 UTC
32 upvotes, 2 direct replies
I’m with Senator Bryan King on this: we’re being fleeced and this project needs to be cancelled. He says it will wind up costing $1.5 B and bankrupt the state.
Comment by deltacombatives at 10/03/2025 at 16:11 UTC
28 upvotes, 2 direct replies
It’ll be more than that, it always is. I grew up right up the road from where they’re putting the prison. No one there had a say in the matter. Everybody involved should be unemployed.
Comment by OldLadyGeekster at 10/03/2025 at 16:02 UTC
22 upvotes, 1 direct replies
You could die of alcohol poisoning if you made a drinking game out of how many times he said "look".
Comment by NFLTG_71 at 10/03/2025 at 17:16 UTC
22 upvotes, 2 direct replies
How about instead of paying almost $1 billion for a prison we take half that money and put it into the states school budget. And no, I don’t mean getting a new scoreboard for UA I mean, actually putting them into classrooms in the form of teachers and textbooks.
Comment by To_Be_Faiiirrr at 10/03/2025 at 17:50 UTC
21 upvotes, 2 direct replies
I love how the Republicans love prisons but hate poorer people, which are the ones they want to put in prison.
Comment by Theparkinggaragekid at 10/03/2025 at 17:19 UTC
16 upvotes, 1 direct replies
So we can afford a new prison, but healthcare for poor people is too much money? Seems like he has his priorities mixed up. I get it..the prison will make him richer, but helping poor people won’t. Republicans love preaching fiscal responsibility while at the same time asking for $825 million for a prison.
Comment by cyb0rg1962 at 10/03/2025 at 17:06 UTC
13 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Reducing Medicaid is a real concern for people of this state. Our wages are so low, on average, that affording healthcare is becoming a privilege of the (relatively) wealthy. Arkansas could step up and fully fund this program in the absence of federal funds. There are rural areas where medical care is only there because Medicaid exists. People will die when it is cut, unless Arkansas makes up the difference.
Also: Do we really need more prisons? Can we not spend that money in more productive ways?
His attitude on the PSC is indicative of why they exist. I don't always agree with them, but, I can't help but believe that we are better off, rate-wise, for their existence.
Comment by wokeiraptor at 10/03/2025 at 18:13 UTC
14 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I know Benton county isn’t liberal as a whole but why do we have to have somebody as bad as Hester as our state senator
Comment by Apprehensive_Fruit76 at 10/03/2025 at 17:29 UTC
8 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Why do we need this prison?
Comment by conwaykram at 10/03/2025 at 20:58 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Can we have half that and get everyone in Arkansas that lost insurance back having health insurance? Why won't our governor and legislators vote for "REAL PRO LIFE STUFF" like health insurance and health care like they do to fund prisons?
Comment by Glittering-Tip-6455 at 10/03/2025 at 21:07 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
When he is up for re-election next year, everyone on Medicaid better remember that he is voting to spend $825m on a prison but is not willing to re-route state funds to help our population with Medicaid. Everyone also be sure to go look up how many of our citizens need Medicaid and how many of those people are employees of Walmart who only get scheduled 33 hours so Walmart doesn’t have to provide benefits. Our state is home to one of the wealthiest corporations in the world and ask our federal government to subsidize their employees’ healthcare and give NOTHING to our citizens. Here is a quote from the article:
“Hester said there are many questions remaining, but the dialogue is going to ramp up publicly as early as this week.
“Look, we just don’t know what’s going to end up happening,” he said. “But what we do know is our country is trillions of dollars more a year in debt. We do not have the money. We cannot afford it. Tough decisions are going to have to be made. Look, I can’t find $1 in our budget that everyone agrees to cut, and look, there’s going to have to be tough decisions to be made and people are going to howl and scream, and it’s going to be tough.
“But at the end of the day, whatever the federal government sends down here to get a responsible budget so that I can rest assured for my kids and grandkid’s future, I’m going to be OK with that. … We’ll figure it out once we have real information, how we’re going to handle that from the state side.”
When asked if the state’s Medicaid expansion program, ARHome, could be in jeopardy, Hester said it will, in part, be determined by the federal funding, which covers 90% of that program’s costs.”