It's been a bordello, a restaurant and now a visitors center...and it's one of our favorite spaces in the region. We spent an afternoon at Miss Laura's in downtown Fort Smith,
Ozarks At Large

The Arkansas Department of Human Services has released numbers that show thousands of low-income Arkansans have shown intent to sign up for the state's Private Option insurance plans. Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families releases a report detailing inequality of enrichment opportunities between schools across the state. And furloughed work-study employees at Northwest Arkansas Community College returned to work this morning after a two-day suspension and before negotiations in Washington showed promise.


An effort to improve understanding in the classroom led to astonishing art.
Becca Martin Brown from Northwest Arkansas Newspapers has still more Halloween events to tell us about today.
Disney's Beauty and the Beast comes back to Walton Arts Center this weekend and we talk with the set designer about what we see behind the characters.

Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Friday, January 3, 2014
On this special edition of Ozarks at Large we listen again to some of our favorite stories from 2013, including: how to make it to age 100 in Huntsville, an odds-defying collaboration between a renown musician and Trike Theater and the creation of the Ozarks at Large quiche cup.
The 2013 Point-in-Time Homeless Census numbers show more children in grades K-12 are homeless in Washington and Benton counties in 2013 compared to previous years.
To access data from the homeless census, visit, sociology.uark.edu.
In today's Week in Review, Ozarks at Large's Timothy Dennis reviews happenings in the state legislature from the past seven days.
A report released Thursday by Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families shows that Arkansas schools rely heavily on out of school suspensions, with many districts punishing minorities at a higher rate than white students, thus limiting their learning opportunities. Ozarks at Large's Christina Thomas spoke with Jerri Derlikowski, Director of Education Policy for AACF and author of the report.
"A Willful Suspension of Disbelief" by Modest Mouse
Becca Martin Brown gives us a roundup of three local eateries, including a comfort food eaterie in Gentry, a pie shop in Fayetteville, and a plate of burgers and history in Evansville.
A concert including Still on the Hill, Outside the Lines, Trout Fishing in America and the Mike Sumler Trio may be sold out, but we have a preview of sorts from the Firmin-Garner Performance Studio.