Tess Vrbin, Arkansas Advocate, Author at Mountain Home Observer

Tess Vrbin, Arkansas Advocate

Tess Vrbin is a journalist who writes for the Arkansas Advocate. She came to the Advocate from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, where she reported on low-income housing and tenants' rights, and won awards for her coverage of 2021 flooding and tornado damage in rural Arkansas. She previously covered local government for The Commercial Dispatch in Mississippi and state government for the Columbia Daily Tribune in Missouri.

Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

155 articles published

Affordability, healthcare, accountability center of heated race for central Arkansas US House seat

Running for a seventh term, Republican U.S. Rep. French Hill is focusing on what he’s done for his central Arkansas district in the past 12 years. But his Democratic opponent, Chris Jones, is emphasizing what Hill hasn’t done and what Jones would do for the district if he wins in November. One thing Jones would…

October 8, 2026

Arkansas lawmakers begin discussions on state’s budget as election looms

Arkansas lawmakers began a monthlong series of state budget discussions Tuesday, with the state military and labor departments fielding questions about how they expect to spend their money next year. The Joint Budget Committee approved both agencies’ budget proposals with no dissent. The panel will submit each approved budget recommendation to the full Legislature, which…

October 8, 2026

Kentucky governor rallies Arkansas Democrats, says party can compete and win in South

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has a three-step guide to winning in a typically Republican state, he told Arkansas Democrats at a Thursday night fundraising dinner. “Focus, talk normal, and lead with your ‘why,’” he told an audience of about 200 people at the state Democratic Party’s Ballots, Blue Jeans & BBQ event in North Little…

October 5, 2026

Arkansas lawmakers told helping inmates return to society will ease prison overcrowding

Arkansas lawmakers and criminal justice reform advocates agreed Wednesday that improving the systems that help inmates return to society after incarceration will alleviate the state’s prison overcrowding problem. State correctional facilities have 15,362 beds and 16,804 inmates as of Sept. 1, and county jails are often tasked with holding inmates waiting for state prison beds. …

October 2, 2026

Arkansas finance secretary urges lawmakers to keep Medicaid fully funded after $400M spending hike

Arkansas spent $400 million more on Medicaid between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026 than the previous year, Finance and Administration Secretary Jim Hudson told lawmakers Friday. This increase was just above the amount in the Department of Human Services’ operating plan for fiscal year 2026, agency spokesperson Gavin Lesnick said in an email,…

September 21, 2026

Families of Arkansas children with disabilities say more action needed on waitlist

Families of Arkansas children with disabilities packed the Old Supreme Court room at the state Capitol on Wednesday and urged Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders to take further action toward clearing a waiting list for supportive services. More than 2,400 Arkansas families are waiting for a Medicaid waiver that will help them meet their children’s complex…

September 18, 2026

Arkansas pharmacies file lawsuit accusing PBM of underpaying them for medications

Twelve Arkansas pharmacies sued a pharmacy benefit manager in federal court Tuesday, alleging the company illegally underpaid them for tens of thousands of prescription medications. The complaint accuses St. Louis-based Express Scripts of violating a 2015 law that requires pharmacy benefit managers, also known as PBMs, to pay pharmacies at least the national average of…

September 17, 2026

Arkansas will bolster services for kids with disabilities after public outcry over long waitlist

Arkansas will provide additional support to children with disabilities who have been waiting for services, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday, in response to growing demands from families for a special legislative session to address the issue. Sanders announced that the Department of Human Services will provide supportive living services to families on the waiting…

September 16, 2026

Former Arkansas secretary of state hopeful removed from local Republican committee

A former candidate for Arkansas secretary of state is objecting after he was removed from his local Republican Party committee and accused of violating party rules. Bryan Norris, who lost the March runoff to state Sen. Kim Hammer, said the State Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Arkansas expelled him from the Independence County…

September 10, 2026

Democrats see rare signs of hope in solidly red Arkansas’ midterms

The annual Mount Nebo Chicken Fry, a mainstay of Arkansas politics for generations, saw a break from tradition this year. In election years, the Democratic and Republican parties usually rent two cabins as their headquarters for the day while they make their case to potential voters lured to the campground by carriage rides, live music…

September 9, 2026

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