For a year now, journalists Janie Ginocchio and Scott Perkins have been quietly loosening some of the uglier knots in Arkansas state government, working loose the connections between politicians, lobbyists and the special interests that write the checks. Formerly known as the ArkLeg Bill Tracker blog, Tracking Arkansas is a Substack newsletter published by Ginocchio and Perkins of Level Up Consulting LLC in North Little Rock. Perkins is a self-described 'social enterprise co-founder, policy consultant, and nonprofit community advocate' who's worked at a number of news outlets in the state. Ginocchio, the 2011 Arkansas Press Association IF Stone Award winner for investigative journalism and former contributor to the Arkansas Times, also brings the journalistic chops. The duo began the bill tracker blog to keep an eye on pending legislation, but soon rebranded as Tracking Arkansas. But new name is 'not as much a shift as it is a dual focus born out of necessity,' Perkins told the Arkansas Times. 'We knew the [legislative] off-season would be ... when our investigative reporting would be specifically critical and manageable, while the personalized bill monitoring and tracking...
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