Mercy Health used an innovative walking program to become one of the healthiest workplaces in the country.
Ozarks At Large
A roundup of events and news for the next few weeks include an alternative way to deliver a Valentine.
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An administrative law judge with the Arkansas Public Service Commission on Friday ordered SWEPCO to proceed on its proposed plan to build a massive new power transmission line through portions of northwest Arkansas. Also, Governor Mike Beebe says that recent cost analyses of operating the state's Private Option expansion of Medicaid justifies the program's passage during last year's session of the state legislature. And the state Attorney General's office warns residents about rapid-refund tax providers.
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Ahead on Ozarks, a conversation with young adult author An Na. Also, we learn what it takes to become a police officer.
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We speak with An Na, author of A Step From Heaven, a book that was awarded the Michael L. Prince Award when it was published a decade ago. Critics and reviewers commended the book's characters for speaking like a child without being too precocious or condescending. The author will speak in Fayetteville later this month.
Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Ahead on this edition of Weekend Ozarks, we visit the kitchen of Jen Lewis, take a spin in a state-run clinic that aids veterans in rural communities, and we meet a recovering opiate addict who has found hope with methadone.
Members of the Arkansas General Assembly selected a new Speaker of the House yesterday, and state officials assess Governor Mike Beebe's proposed 2013 budget. Also, Fayetteville Public Schools get thousands of federal dollars to help expand a program designed to bring locally farmed food to the cafeteria. And in Fort Smith, city administrators discuss the city's own budget for next year, which will include money for sidewalks.
"Prove It All Night" by CMH Musicians
Michael Tilley, from TheCityWire.com, addresses a busy week. There was positive news on housing prices and hospitality tax collections, Wal-Mart released earning numbers and there was intrigue at the State Capitol.
Many gathered yesterday in the Epley Building for Health Professions on the University of Arkansas campus as the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing received the George M and Boyce W Billingley endowed chair. The school also welcomed Dr. Pegge Bell as its new director.
Fayetteville is one of the cities worldwide hosting an event in support of people displaced by the violence in Syria.
Becca Martin Brown, from Northwest Arkansas Newspapers, says the Lights of the Ozarks are turned on tomorrow night . . . and then the holiday cascade begins.