This Hour: Latest Arkansas news, sports, business and entertainment - Action News 5 - Memphis, Tennessee

KIDNAPPED GIRL FOUND

Arkansas police recover 2-year-old Georgia girl

WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. (AP) - Arkansas State Police say a 2-year-old girl who was reported kidnapped in Georgia has been recovered by a trooper in West Memphis.

Officials said Friday the girl was believed to have been kidnapped earlier in the day from Sandy Springs, Georgia.

The agency says it received a bulletin to watch for a 2006 Range Rover with a young child inside. At about 3:30 p.m., a trooper pulled over the vehicle on Interstate 40 near Southland Park greyhound race track.

The toddler was turned over to the Arkansas Department of Human Services. State police spokesman Bill Sadler says the girl was in good condition.

The 30-year-old suspect, whose name wasn't released, is being held in the Crittenden County Jail pending action by Georgia authorities.

MEMPHIS CRASH

Children injured in Memphis wreck

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Officials say a morning traffic crash in Memphis injured children who were ejected from a vehicle.

Wayne Cooke, a Memphis Fire Department spokesman, said six children and two adults were taken to hospitals with injuries that were not critical after the Friday crash between two cars.

Earlier, a Memphis police spokeswoman said the ages of some of the injured children are 9, 12, 13 and 17. The adult injured in the crash is 18.

The ages of the other children and the adult who were injured were not immediately known. The number of children ejected was not available.

The crash took place near a school in the Raleigh-Frayser community in northwest Memphis. The cause is under investigation.

Morning rain caused roads to be wet in the area of the crash.

ABORTION BAN-ARKANSAS

Judge grants injunction in Ark. abortion ban case

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A federal judge has granted a request to temporarily block enforcement of a new Arkansas law that bans most abortions 12 weeks into a pregnancy.

U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright granted a motion Friday for a preliminary injunction against the ban, set to take effect in August.

The state's Republican-led Legislature enacted the ban in March by overriding a veto from Democratic Governor Mike Beebe.

Wright's decision is part of a lawsuit that the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas and the Center for Reproductive Rights brought on behalf of 2 Little Rock abortion providers.

Those groups and other opponents of the 12-week ban say it violates the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Roe versus Wade decision that legalized abortion until a fetus could viably survive outside the womb.

ARKANSAS UNEMPLOYMENT

Arkansas unemployment drops to 7.1%

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Arkansas' unemployment rate fell to 7.1% in April, a drop of 1-tenth of a percentage point.

Data released Friday by the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services also shows the state posted an increase of 1,700 employed people, the first gain in that category since April 2012.

The agency says the increase coupled with a slight decline in unemployment was enough to move the rate from 7.2% to 7.1% for the month.

The national jobless rate for April was 7.5%, also reflecting a drop of 1-tenth of a percentage point.

Sectors posting the biggest employment gains in Arkansas in April included leisure and hospitality, retail, and trade transportation and utilities.

MUSIC-JENNIFER NETTLES

Sugarland's Nettles releases a solo album

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles is releasing a solo album.

Nettles says Friday in a news release that she is working with Rick Rubin and will release the album in the fall.

Rumors that Nettles would release a solo album have been prevalent for a while. Grammy Award-winning Sugarland includes Kristian Bush and is 1 of country music's most successful and honored acts. The duo remains together, but each is working solo currently.

The news comes six months after the 38-year-old singer had her first child, a son, with husband Justin Miller.

Nettles says in the release she is "absolutely thrilled and wholly proud" to work with Rubin, an acclaimed producer who helped country act The Dixie Chicks win a best album Grammy.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.