LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Latest on efforts to exempt farmers from a ban of a controversial herbicide (all times local):

5:35 p.m.

Arkansas' attorney general is asking a judge to dissolve an order exempting a group of farmers from the state's ban of a controversial herbicide.

Attorney General Leslie Rutledge on Friday said the temporary restraining order issued by Mississippi County Circuit Judge Tonya Alexander barring the state from enforcing the dicamba ban on the group of more than 100 farmers and farming entities was invalid.

The state Plant Board's dicamba ban takes effect Monday and will run through October 31. The ban was issued after the board received nearly 1,000 complaints last summer that the herbicide drifted onto crops and caused damage.

Rutledge asked for a hearing on or by Tuesday if the judge doesn't dissolve her order.

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4:40 p.m.

Arkansas' highest court has temporarily halted a judge's decision to exempt six farmers from the ban of an herbicide that's prompted complaints that it drifts onto crops and causes damage.

The state Supreme Court on Friday granted the state's request to stay Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox's ruling exempting the farmers while it's being appealed to the high court.

The state Plant Board's ban of the herbicide dicamba takes effect Monday and will run through October 31. The ban was issued after the board received nearly 1,000 complaints last summer that the herbicide drifted onto crops and caused damage.

The court's ruling comes a day after another judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing the state from enforcing the ban on a different group of farmers.

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10:19 a.m.

An Arkansas judge has issued a temporary restraining order on an herbicide ban.

The state Plant Board's dicamba ban takes effect Monday and will run through October 31. The ban was issued after the board received nearly 1,000 complaints last summer that the herbicide drifted onto crops and caused damage.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that Judge Tonya Alexander issued the ruling Thursday after a motion was filed on behalf of about 85 farmers. Alexander says the farmers faced harm to their crops without the order.

Alexander's ruling only affects the plaintiffs named in the filing and comes as the Arkansas Supreme Court examines another circuit judge's ruling related to the ban.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox ruled March 30 that six farmers were exempted from the dicamba cutoff.

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Information from: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, http://www.arkansasonline.com

News from © The Associated Press, 2018